Greetings from Japan!

My name is Kurt Bell aka "softypapa" (softy is our daughter Emily's nickname) and I live with my family in the beautiful and historic city of Shizuoka, Japan.  Shizuoka, is very close to Mt. Fuji which means we get to enjoy the many faces of this venerable mountain as it changes with the seasons.  The two photos below show our city and surrounding area as it appears now as well as during the Japanese feudal era.  It's interesting to note that though these images were created centuries apart, they nevertheless seem to have been composed from roughly the same spot; as the trees in the foreground look similar, as do the foothills in front of Mt. Fuji, and even the snowline on Fuji-san looks the same!  By the way, the rounded plants in the foreground of the first image are green tea, which our area is famous for.

Thank you for visiting my 'about me' page.  If you'd like to learn more about Shizuoka or even the Bell family, then we'd like to invite you to visit our family home page at http://dingdongfamily.com.  If you are looking for treasures from Japan then please visit our eBay store The Old Tokaido.  If you wish to contact me for any reason then please send an email to the address kurt@dingdongfamily.com.  Wave bye bye, Emily...