Balance

Who among us haven't relieved ourselves in the traditional Japanese style squat toilet and thought "Oh, it is slightly less embarrassing than behind the bushes."

Don't laugh. It's not as easy as you would have believed. During our family trip in Hokkaido, we happened to find a poster teaching the know-how of proper squatting above that ceramic squat toilet. A step-by-step manual to keep us on an even keel. A detailed one. So much so that we are taught to face the correct direction, to take down pants to ankle, to focus and aim correctly. We laughed until we couldn't breathe.

Laughing aside, I didn't realize the wisdom behind that poster until our family talked about the dreams we had on the road. Well, my daughter's dreams were funny, and so were my wife's. "I don't know," I said. "I didn't have much interesting stories in my dream last night. Not much, really. I dreamed about rehearsing with my colleague who is going to appear in the coroner's court."

My wife could hardly believe in what I dreamed during the family vacation. She tried to hide her disappointment, and appeared to pity me for being such a workaholic.

My daughter nodded, hearing me. "Balance, you know, daddy. Remember the teaching we'd had yesterday: if you lose balance, you are gonna fall down on shit."

Fishing

My travel buddies used to bring us to go fishing during summer trip. A simple yet difficult-to-master pastime that gives us a more jolly experience.

Imagine drawing a line using the softest pencil you could find - I guess that would be a 6B or 10B. Now imagine the nearly invisible line to be cast into the sea or river. Lighter than you're thinking - all fishing lines are invisible but palpable. Stay still and feel for the thrill. You can't see it but you can feel it: the thrill of a fish bite.

I don't get hooked on the hobby of fishing but often enjoy the way I can connect with nature on a boat or canoe.

Calm water. Calm mind. Calm space watching wildlife. That much is the reason good enough for me to go fishing.

Wildlife

To say Hokkaido has some wildlife is like saying Antarctica is a bit chilly.

Animals are everywhere in this northenmost island of Japan. In truth the only regret was that of not bringing my telephoto lens.

We ventured to find firefly and met one. Raft trip rewarded us with chance to meet all kinds of birds: white-tailed eagles and red-crowned crane. A ferry ride on Lake Akan ended up with meeting a yezo sika deer and a kingfisher.

What else can I complain about?

Garden

Before my current trip, I didn’t realise the route aptly named “Hokkaido Garden Path”, spanning 200 kilometres all the way to Tokachi and Rokka no Mori at the southern end. 

Taking Hokkaido Garden Path is many things: a way to feel the summer flavour of Hokkaido, to stop every few feet to press my camera’s shutter, the excuse we all need to slow down and touch the nature. 

But most of all, it’s just beautiful.

Glamping

For a long time I have wished to have camping in Japan. Now we know it’s more comfy and is named glamping. 

That’s glamourous. Less hassles and more civilised with car park within a stone’s throw. Simple as that.  

Turns out it’s like observing a digital Sabbath. We didn’t even have power socket within the camp. 

It’s literally like keeping our phones away or turning off notifications. We could hardly survived without two portable power banks. 

Next time I should have got a solar energy digital device. 

That’s how bad our addiction to electronics can go, I know.

Hokkaido

Hokkaido often reminds us of winter visit and festivals, none more famous than the Sapporo Snow Festival.

That being said, summer vacation at Hokkaido can be equally, if not more, thrilling than winter time.

Teens, parents, and those who aren’t afraid to get their hands a little dirty should have agreed with our pick on the first day of our Hokkaido summer trip. We first experienced forest adventure by pulleys and carabiners. Zigzagging our way on the rope ladder near treetop, we made turn after turn until the best part, when we flew like a flying squirrel on zipline.

Another real start to our adventure is sitting crisscross applesauce in an animal cafe where teacup pigs learn to socialise with humans. We touched them, cuddled them, and took selfies with them. These pigs, also known as MiPig, are cleaner, smaller, more friendly and beautiful all at once, unlike those we found in filthy sty. The MiPigs are smart. So much so that they can be toilet trained to pee in designated spot. Looking back, it should have been we who are learning to socialise with pigs, and not the other way round.

Email

It's hard to say whether technology has made our lives easier or harder.

Email is one of the conundrums. Why does such communication technology make Yuval Noah Harari, author of his megahit Sapiens, lament over the illusion of progress in humanity?

Hasn't email make our lives more relaxed?

"Sadly not," Yuval wrote.

Now that I'm packing before my departure for my summer vacation, I don't struggle with what to bring but whether I should set up an "out-of-office" message. Yet such auto-reply is useless to resist hundreds of coomunications flooding my inbox. 

"We thought we were saving time; instead we revved up the treadmill of life to ten times its former speed and made our days more anixous and agitated."

I couldn't have agreed more with Yuval.