Easygoing and chatty, although I also like quiet reading time. Willing to travel around with you or give you travel suggestions :).

(Please avoid messaging me with just things like 'Hi' or something. I don't know what to say to those, so I'll probably ignore them. If you have something specific to ask, please just ask in your initial message.)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I like to meet new people, especially people who are travellers.

Interests

Travelling, browsing the internet, reading, riding trains, eating food, talking to people, buying random stuff that I don't need

Music, Movies, and Books

Many and varied

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbed a 500m tall sanddune in Mongolia. It gets pretty steep at the end.

Teach, Learn, Share

I teach English to adults, so I hear a ton of interesting information about events happening around Nagano or interesting places to visit. Even if I can't show you around, I can definitely help you find places that are interesting to you! Here's some cool places in and around Ueda city
- Ueda Castle Park (of Sanada Yukimura fame)
- Bessho Onsen (lots of hot springs, Anraku-ji, old architecture)
- Taroyama (nice, relatively easy mountain to climb)
Near Ueda:
- Nagano City: Zenkoji Temple (very important and old temple with a pitch black crypt underneath - very cool), shopping, 1998 Olympic park, Jigokudani (monkey onsen)
- Karuizawa: Japanese resort area, lots of rich CEOs' houses, shopping, a nice lake and some mountains
- Saku City/Sakudaira: nice mountains, winter sports, hiking
- Kurofuyama: hike up for views of Asamayama, one of the most famous volcanos in Japan, and on a clear day you might be able to see Fuji in the distance
- Matsumoto: home to Matsumoto castle, one of the few original castles in Japan, with the keep dating from 1504, Kamikochi (beautiful hiking area in the Japanese Alps)
- Several nice art areas and art museums: Utsukushii ga hara Art Field, Karuizawa Trick Museum, Shinano Art Museum, etc
Other places:
- The Nagano Shinkansen line has easy access from March, 2015 to beaches in Niigata, Unazuki (Kurobe Gorge train), the whole Toyama prefecture, and all the way down to Kanazawa
- Nagano also has a scenic ride on the Shinano Wideview train to Nagoya, if you want nicer scenery than you'd get on the Tokaido Shinkansen lines.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, mostly. I have a lot of them :P.

Countries I’ve Visited

Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Macao, Maldives, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Swaziland, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Japan