This is my first blog, I think. I admit that I wasn’t really sure what a blog is or is supposed to be, so I looked it up in Wikipedia. I learnt, for instance, that blog is contracted from web log. Blog, unlike frog or clog, slipped into my vocabulary without fully knowing its definition. That’s more or less my experience with the digital revolution. I can’t remember seeing it coming and I’m only now realizing that I’ve been ambushed. I grew up hating computers, but the Internet is a game changer. earthodyssey.net has been running since 2006. That’s longer than it feels, but still I’m far from being a native to the digital world. This is the second version of the site.

During the fourteen months I was traveling overland from Australia to Japan—the first stage of the expedition—I wrote a grand total of ten posts. Every month and a bit, I’d somewhat reluctantly plant myself down at a dusty machine somewhere, usually in some cruddy Asian, tobacco hazed cyber café, and type out a rough story of the past month or so. Not exactly prolific blogging, but I wasn’t completely lazy. Somehow, I managed to tap out 30,000 words. That’s equivalent to about 100 pages of a standard novel. I was cycling up hills and I was still writing. Most days I scribbled something in my journal and by the time I pulled up in Hokkaido I had filled a two-inch stack of A6 notebooks.

Since living in Japan I’ve only kept a paper journal. The fact is I haven’t posted anything about my life here because I haven’t felt I’ve had anything particularly interesting to write about. I’ve just been living a simple life in a quiet part of Japan, saving the cash so I can continue my journey. But I’ve been busy nonetheless with various studies and projects. I’ve been photographing Hokkaido, black and white mostly. I still shoot film with mechanical cameras.

Last year I started writing a book. I’m 50’000 words down that track but I haven’t touched it for a few months and there’s still a long way to go. I’ve been playing around with video too. I made a short DIY film that would be of great use to absolutely nobody I know: How to make studded snow tires for your mountain bike. In case you’re planning a bike trip to Siberia you can see it here. Feel free to post any comments or constructive criticism as you see fit.

I’ve also put in a reasonable effort to learn Japanese. Like anything worthwhile, language learning requires a concerted effort and a considerable investment of time. For most brains that means several years, so choose your language carefully. It’s been one of my motivating factors for staying in Japan longer than I originally planned.