Thanks for all the nice welcome messages!
So you were at the American base in Misawa? Even though Akita is not so far from there, I have yet to take a proper trip up north to Aomori or Hokkaido. Someday...
But yes, the whole Tohoku area is quite beautiful. We just passed the magical week or two each year in which all the rice paddies are filled with water, and the whole land looks like a vast mirror - especially if you look down on it from a mountain. But the shoots are out now, and it's over until next year.
Living here has definitely been an experience for me, after growing up in the Orkney Islands, surrounded by farms.
Oops! Sorry about that. It's nice that they show up correctly on so many computers these days, and I know people like the look of them, so I often post some Japanese in my introductory posts.
Thanks, Chris! My maps so far have almost all been in a very specific style (i.e. hex maps), but within that format I've been trying to improve them as much as I can. The next step would be adding some texture - perhaps a nice parchment background - and working out a better way to take extracts from the maps. (Basically you either have to cut or mask the hexes at the edge, or have angled edges to your map. I'm not entirely satisfied with what I've got so far.)
Yes, Akita is pretty cold in winter, although it doesn't usually go much below 0 (C). Conversely the summer is really hot and humid, and that's the part I find difficult.
It's amazing to find so many people with Japanese connections on this forum! Nice to meet you.
Wow, what am impressive project!! Am I right in thinking that in the long run your map could be used to generate views of various parts of Middle-earth? I've always thought it would be nice to have some photo-realistic (or almost realistic) pictures of Middle-earth. The movies provided a lot, but not enough to satisfy my voracious appetite.
I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this. Thanks for letting me know!
I hope you make it over some day. It can be a real experience, especially if you haven't been to Asia before.
日本語上手ですね! 何年勉強していますか? You seem to be doing pretty well already! がんばって下さい!