CURRENT MISSION

Hold down real person job while secretly continuing to be imaginary

ABOUT ME

My name is Adam. I have been condemned to live in a tropical paradise, and hang out with an entire island of Japanese people who find me fascinating, though I couldn't say why. Maybe it's the hair.

I teach English to the finest group of thugs ever to grace an elementary school. You ask any one of them, they'll tell you how "banana" is supposed to be pronounced, then punch you in the dick (you know, if you have one).

I also spend an increasingly unhealthy amount of my time between 10 and 30 meters underwater, looking at fish, and picking fights with sea snakes and octopi.

I'm a big fan of Japan in general, and am delighted to get the chance to live in such a truly unique part of it.

PHILOSOPHY

The point is not to finish, but rather to start. Start something enough times, and the finishing will take care of itself.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

At this point, I'm filling the role of crazed island hermit, providing sanctuary to shipwrecked sailors. Don't get many visitors on Kikai. But if you're ever down here, my home is your home.

Whenever I'm not surrounded by water on all sides, I'm crashing with fine people such as yourself.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

The magic of couchsurfing is that for some reason, despite the biological imperative towards self-preservation, and the ever present lure of selfishness and greed (for they do appear pretty sweet on paper), every couchsurfer I have ever met has done everything in their power, and given everything they can, to make sure I enjoyed my time in their home and country, and honestly seemed happier for having done so. From making sandwiches for the ride to the airport, to volunteering to pick me up from a bus terminal in the middle of the night so I wouldn't have to catch a cab, everyone has done their absolute damndest to help me. And before that day, they didn't even know me. That's powerful stuff.

Surfed with:
01/09 Tomer and Zohar - Jerusalem, Israel
06/09 Shane - Chicago, USA
12/10 Kathryn - Kagoshima, Japan
07/11 Lily - Kagoshima, Japan
12/11 Akihiro - Sapporo, Japan
12/11 Satomi - Sapporo, Japan

Hosted:
07/10 Kerry - Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
08/11 Julien - Paris, France

Interests

My current and ongoing interest is the accumulation of new interests. Specialization is for insects.

Island life being what it is, my current top 3:

Diving
Traditional island folk music
Japanese, particularly books in Japanese.

• fish
• insects
• books
• instructor
• magic
• music
• folk music
• fishing
• scuba diving
• volunteering

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The sunrise on Mt. Fuji. One hell of a climb.

Teach, Learn, Share

If I speak it, I'm glad to teach it.

I can teach you how to play a Japanese children's song on the Sanshin (Japanese 3-stringed banjo, island flavor) in about 30 minutes, granted it's an awful easy song. Other songs...might take a while.

I could probably teach you the fundamentals of diving, but I'm no instructor.

Countries I’ve Visited

Israel, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, United States

• 

•