I head the mighty Tanto North towards the breeding grounds of the elusive Yanbaru Kuina.

I stop on the way to visit Miwako san. She is a wonderful and talented person. She helped a lot with graphics work in the early days of OIST.

Once I have tied up Tanto to the hitching rail in Yanbaru, Ichiro san and Tomomi put on an incredible meal!

We go out after the meal to find roosting rails. No luck. Next morning at dawn we are after them again. Not much luck, a few scampering across the road but nothing photographable. We see other stuff and it is always good to be out in the very early morning.

I must go back to California. Trump’s crackdown on immigration worries me. They do not like it if you stay out of the States for extended periods on a Green Card.

We go out to get acclimatized to American food.

Not a great stay really. I came to have cataract surgery, which was cancelled owing to worse medical problems. I spent nearly all my time in bed. I lost 15 kilos. I lost mind-boggling sums of money from my pension fund.

However, the friendship and kindness of many people in my time of need was uplifting.