goto-shi, nagasaki, japan looking for change?

in '02-'03, a. and i lived in goto-shi, japan. a beautiful, rural archipelago located in southern japan, situated a 4-hour ferry ride from the mainland and close to south korea.

the two of us made up 25% of the foreign population.

as one can imagine, this experience was very revealing, humbling, awe-inspiring, and life-changing.

our apartment was located 1/4 mile from the modest downtown of a city of 25,000. it was a 10-minute bike ride to the west to hit the green mountains and a 10-minute bike ride to the southeast to a secluded sandy beach for a sea of japan reprieve.

the island we lived on, goto-jima, also hosted ironman japanif you are training and looking for a good challenge, i'd highly suggest it.

catching up on some of their current local happenings, i couldn't help but notice a similarity in their city flag to another iconographic symbol we have come to know...



hmmm...