I look forward to doing some of this myself. I plan to move to Hokkaido and live there for a while just so I can experience that kind of life for a change. "The smell of the pine trees..." Yep...I love it, too. Always had a bittersweet feeling about Christmas trees--so lovely, smelled wonderful, good feelings, but they die quickly. One of these days, I'll have myself some nice Japanese pine trees all over my property. Thanks for the post, man!
your welcome. am sure you'll have a blast in Japan... :-)