logs

I’m backfilling most of these entries on August 11, 2026. I use Claude hooked up to my Obsidian (and a stored knowledge base) for a lot of my day to day decision making, and I’ve noticed it has a surprisingly good memory as a result. I’ve backfilled a lot of bullet points from its knowledge. So the rule for this post: the bullet points are Claude’s, written from my notes. The paragraphs are mine.

Day 15: Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Kevin sent his actual September/October calendars as screenshots. His open days turned out much broader than his emails had implied — he’s free during most of Harry’s Niseko week, and free at the very end of October, both of which I’d written off.
Harry applying pressure: other guests were asking about the week he’d been holding for me. That forced the Niseko decision.
Yoshi (Lucky Field) replied — likes the shape of 6 guided days with a rolling rest day, needs check-in/out dates before he can price it, 50% deposit to confirm.
Messaged Shin on WhatsApp asking whether the eastern block could push to Oct 13+, to put a rest gap between Tokachi and the east.
Rebun Island came back into the plan, first as a finale. The reasoning: a return trip is genuinely uncertain, so deferring Rebun is closer to giving it up than to postponing it.
Started talking myself toward “fewer guides, go deeper” — concentrating days on Oku rather than spreading them across five people.

Day 16: Thursday, July 23, 2026

Kevin replied twice in one day. Akan took shape (leave Niseko the 17th, fish the 18th and 19th, back to Sapporo the 20th), the Shikaribetsu trip turned out to be a genuine invitation rather than a brush-off, and he offered Sapporo single days Aug 30–Sep 5.
Moved Rebun from a late-October finale to early September. Better weather, no cross-island backtrack, and it frees the back half of the trip.
Kevin argued for October over September on Rebun — iwana drop downstream as it cools, so 30–40cm fish instead of 10–20cm. Went September anyway. Small fish in tight headwaters is the actual thing I want.
The best thing he said, unprompted: do solo days. Pick a river nobody’s shown you, research the access and the entry yourself, expect it to take a few attempts to crack. That’s the literal point of the fifteen months.
Started leaning toward releasing Takeshi.

Day 17: Friday, July 24, 2026

Harry sent the first invoice of the trip — the first real money. Checked it against the shortened three-day block before paying, since he might have invoiced off the original seven days.
Paid Kevin’s deposit. It turned out to be ¥10,000 per day rather than a percentage, so ¥30,000 for three days. Aug 31, Sep 2 and Sep 4 are locked.
Oku replied: a cancellation opened Sep 22–26 and he recommends the 24th–26th. Camping is on — a private creek-side site, no showers.
Learned about Silver Week (Sep 19–23) from Oku, which immediately blew up yesterday’s Akan plan. Kevin’s verdict when I passed it on: the long weekend he’d avoid at all costs, weekend pressure doubled on every river.
Kevin costed Rebun at Sep 7–10, about ¥289,000. His breakdown had a dropped zero — ¥16,500 where it should have said ¥165,000 — so his own total came out ¥148,500 low. Flagged it politely, which is a strange thing to have to do.
Built the full cost model for the first time: roughly ¥3.53M, about $23,900. That’s $6k over the ceiling I’d set.
Decided the Tokachi week: the lodge at Lucky Field, Sep 27–Oct 3, five guided days.
Cash research. Guides want cash on the day, which adds up to ¥800k–1M across the trip. 7-Eleven ATMs take foreign cards 24/7 at ¥100k a transaction; Japan Post is everywhere but caps at ¥50k and keeps banking hours.

Day 18: Saturday, July 25, 2026

Flights booked. Depart Aug 24, land in Japan Aug 25. The start of the trip is a fixed point now instead of a range.
Lucky Field quoted ¥496,000 all-in — six nights plus five guided days — under the number I’d decided I’d walk at. Sent the 50% deposit, ¥248,000, by Wise. The guide finally has a name: Koudai Araki.
Shin said yes. He and his brother both cover the block, he’s flexible on dates, Oct 8–16.
Released Takeshi. It would have been the third block in the same region, I’d have ~31 guided days behind me by then, and I’d be far too tired to absorb elite technical instruction. Sent a warm apology and meant it.
Rebun lodging solved. Hana Rebun was down to one room at ¥50,000 a night, so Onko Chishin instead at about ¥17,000 — same street, and Kevin is staying there too. He booked the hotel and the ferry himself. Rebun fixed at Sep 6–9.
Four of five guides now locked with money down. Only Shin’s dates left open in the entire trip.

Day 19: Sunday, July 26, 2026

There’s no record Claude has of this day, and that’s because I went fishing with Sophia and her family! I booked a fishing charter boat to fit the 3 of us. I honestly was thinking that the style of fishing might be a touch too difficult for the two of them (jigging), and it did end up being quite physically difficult. I was happy to enjoy a bit of success and catch some amberjack. Honestly, a really sick day fishing, and I ended up with a Croc tan which was pretty funny.

Day 20: Monday, July 27, 2026

Paid Kevin and replied to him, replied to Okumoto, worked the Lucky Field and Shin bookings, Niseko. Takeshi was the one item that didn’t get closed.
Cooked dinner for Sophia’s family, five people — tomato egg, mapo tofu, fish, garlic bok choy, rice.

Day 21: Tuesday, July 28, 2026

“Book flight!” was the entire to-do list for the day — the NYC→SFO leg that had been sitting open since the 21st.
Worked out the Japan packing and bag system: what a ten-week carry actually looks like, and what the checked/carry-on split has to be.