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!