We are the Hayman family....a very
different kind of family. This is a story about an international couple, who are
not working in the conventional sense, with kids that are being home educated,
existing mostly free from the constraints of society, and spending 24/7
together, while dealing with climate, cultural, and personal challenges, and all
guided by our family motto, Taking Chances, Making Changes, Being Happy. These
pages are all about our interests, thoughts, and anything else which seems
noteworthy. Thank you very much for joining us on our ongoing adventure.
Learn more about us.
My son Shai made his first documentary. This is about Bizen pottery, or
Bizen-yaki, which is celebrated as one of Japan’s Six Ancient Kilns and stands
apart for its unglazed, earthy surfaces that gain their beauty directly from
fire and clay. Our neighbor is doing this and was kind enough to let Shai do the
interviews, pictures, and filming. This project really means a lot to him.
PLEASE WATCH AND COMMENT.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!
We
Moved To Okayama
岡山に引っ越しました
Hey friends. We moved to Okayama Prefecture in Japan. We spent 10 years living
on Tanegashima Island until it was time to move on to a larger house and a place
that more fits this family. More specifically, our new home is located in
Setouchi City which borders Okayama City. This place is adjacent to the Seto
Inland Sea which has beaches offering beautiful views of the islands and great
fishing. The neighborhood we moved to is in the countryside at the base of a
mountain. The neighbors are wonderful and we have made many good friends in our
few months in this house. We want to thank our friends on Tanegashima for all of
the good memories on the island. Hopefully many of you can visit us in Okayama.
Until then.
Autumn leaves (koyo, oyou) 紅葉（こうよう）and maple (momiji, kouyou) もみじ（紅葉、黄葉）refer to
the phenomenon in which leaves change color before they fall , mainly on
deciduous broad-leaved trees . In the strict sense, yellow leaves are called
yellow leaves (koyo, ouyou), red leaves are called autumn leaves (koyo), and
brown leaves are called brown leaves (katsuyo), but it is often difficult to
strictly distinguish between these, and so they are all often treated as "autumn
leaves."
Okayama City has a mild climate in comparison to most of Japan. It has the most
rain-free days (less than 1mm of precipitation) of any city in Japan. It is
ranked as the second driest and the fourth sunniest city in the Chūgoku region.
The climate is classified under the Köppen climate classification as humid
subtropical (Cfa). That said, there is still a distinct four season climate with
noticeable differences in temperature and humidity throughout the year. Autumn
is no exception with cool sunny days and crisp cool nights.
Okayama Prefecture is famous for its autumn leaves, featuring beautiful fall
foliage in its famous gardens, highlands, and scenic valleys. Popular spots
include the Koraku-en Garden, Kibitsu Shrine, and areas like Okutsu Valley and
Kanba Falls, where the colors are spectacular from late October through early
December. The Okayama Prefectural Tourism Federation provides Autumn foliage
information for 23 locations distributed throughout Okayama Prefecture. The link
below opens to a new tab and is in Japanese - right click on the page and then
click Translate to English.
Click for the most recent Autumn foliage updates....
Trump and his band of conservative racists are fucking up
the entire world. This could be the coming of a 1984ish dystopian future. Continue reading....
The “thoughts” section of my blog was mostly inspired by the
2016 presidential election and the turmoil which Donald Trump created during his
four years as president of the United States of America....what used to be a
great country. I am miles away from America (now residing in Japan) and continue
to watch American society degrade further into a violent, paranoid, and
materialistic culture. Then in 2024, the unthinkable happened. Continue reading....
Modern schooling systems around the world often struggle to meet the needs of
today’s learners. Though built with good intentions—universal literacy, civic
preparation, and equal opportunity—many schools still operate on a model
designed over a century ago for an industrial society. As a result, they face
widespread criticism: disengaged students, overwhelmed teachers, outdated
structures, and inequities that persist rather than shrink. Continue reading....
RECENT
NOVEMBER 27, 2025 Happy Thanksgiving Hey everybody. Happy
Thanksgiving from our family to yours. This is yet another Thanksgiving in Japan
but our first in our new home in Setouchi City. Akiko is making turkey with all
the trimmings. Although turkeys are raised in Japan on a limited basis, there's
not many since Japanese people prefer chicken. Also, Thanksgiving is "not a
thing" here like Christmas or News Years. Thanksgiving is a food based holiday
and some of the items like sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows or "soaked
bread" (stuffing) as Akiko calls it is simply unappealing to most folks in this
country. Incidentally this year's turkey is larger than usual since they were
out of the smaller sizes but still not even close to the huge birds Americans
consume. Our particular gobbler weighed in at 4.3 kg (9.8 lb), is from America,
and came with a price tag of 12,000 yen which at today's exchange rate amounted
to about 80 bucks. We all wanted a traditional Thanksgiving meal and decided to
"bite it" (excuse the bun pun) on the turkey price.
NOVEMBER 23, 2025 Getting Free Rice Chaff Today we went to Kuyama san's
farm processing area to get rice chaff, which is basically the unwanted husks of
processed rice grains. We walk the couple of minutes to the farm and Akiko drove
the bus over where we loaded 48 cow manure fertilizer bags of the stuff and
brought it home to be used in our garden and at the farm we're using. The chaff
works great as a soil amendment, as an effective mulch for suppressing weeds,
and as the "brown" material for composting.
October 31, 2025 Halloween Party Happy Halloween. We had a nice
Halloween party with our neighbors, the Idie san family. A
lot of really great food, copious amounts of alcohol, and a
long karaoke session in the music room.
October 31, 2025 Family Halloween Costumes This was "the look" for this
year's Halloween party, the first at our Setouchi house. I was um, a heavy metal
rock star, Akiko was witch, Lael was a vampire, Ethan was a zombie, and Shai was
a zombie as well. Anyway, it turned out to be a fun night.
WE ARE SELLING OUR MOUNTAIN 私たちは山を売っています。 Tanegashima Mountain For Sale We are selling 4.5 acres of
forested mountain adjacent to Saikyo Dam and across from
Appoland Park. The property has panoramic views of Saikyo
Reservoir. The forest contains hundreds of hinoki and sugi
trees perfect for building a cabin.
THOUGHTS -
America Free Speech A few thoughts about free speech, the constitution,
and the rights of private social media companies.
THOUGHTS
- Health Yoga
Workout My yoga workout. I was looking for a way to simply
feel better without all of the spiritual mumbo jumbo usually
associated with practicing yoga.
THOUGHTS - Health Strength
Training My strength training workout. Thanks to a torn bicep
(see picture), a hernia, and rheumatoid arthritis, I decided
to return to strength training as a way to alleviate the
daily pain and fatigue.
THOUGHTS
- Living How to be Happy For me at least, happiness
depends on three things. Without them existence can become
pretty dull and boring and that's not the way things need to
be.
There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate.
Human activity is the principal cause. The rate of change since the mid-20th
century is unprecedented over millennia. Earth's climate has changed throughout
history. Just in the last 800,000 years, there have been eight cycles of ice
ages and warmer periods, with the end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago
marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization.
