to Tokyo Bill's Home Page

This is what I dream of - moderate rock on a perfect day.  This is me on lead, at a comfortable rest halfway up the 5.7 3rd pitch of "Selection"; a 4 pitch 5.8 at Ogawayama, Nagano, Japan.  Mostly bolts; bring a few small cams.

Last update:
April 3, 2009

And here I am on the right, setting a No. 3 Camalot on "Woodpecker", a one pitch 5.9 located on the sea cliffs of Jogasaki, on the Izu Peninsula, south of Tokyo.  Down below. I'm pulling the roof.  Rope drag from failure to add a long runner made the move feel a lot harder than 5.9.  Live and learn!

Here I am again, leading a 5.10c sport route called "Enka no Hanamichi" at Makuiwa, Izu, Japan.  The next move is a huge overhead reach, and then a heel-hook onto the left edge of the roof, but the crux was actually a set of three friction moves lower down on the route. FOR MORE CLIMBING, SEE LINKS BELOW.

About me: I'm 49 years old.  I was born in Manhattan, and recognize that the rest of the planet is merely a suburb.  Despite this, I now live in Tokyo with my wife, Kaori, and daughters, Lauren Shinano and Kathryn Saeko.  I 'm one of a team of foreign attorneys working for a major Japanese law firm. In addition to my obsession with rock climbing, I've been a compulsive reader since the age of nine.  My tastes run to science fiction, thrillers and other trash, but it's not uncommon for me to get through three or more books a week, and I do read the occasional "real" book for variety.  Long time favorite writers include Neal Stephenson and C.J. Cherryh, and I've recently been bingeing on David Weber's Honor Harrington series.  A word of caution:  do NOT read the most recent issue of Accidents in North American Mountaineering just before going on a climbing road trip! Other hobbies over the years have included a prolonged stint of amateur road bicycle racing and a couple of years of karate while here in Tokyo, terminated when I finally got sick of having my butt whupped. I love to eat and drink, although capacity is somewhat limited by size (I'm 5'4" and weigh about 130 lbs).  I speak Japanese and a few remembered words of Spanish from high school. Memorable routes climbed include, among many others, Outer Space in Leavenworth, WA; Moby Grape and the Whitney-Gilman Ridge at Cannon Cliffs, NH; the Fedele on Sass Pordoi, Dolomites, Italy; the Regular Route on Fairview Dome, in Tuolumne Meadows, CA; Snake Dike and the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral in Yosemite Valley, CA; A Dream of Wild Turkeys, Sour Mash, Frogland and Crimson Chrysalis in Red Rocks, Nevada; Ancient Art in Utah, and Lieben and Flight of the Phoenix in the Warrambungles, Australia. The best things that have ever happened to me are Kaori and my two girls.  If I were smart, I'd quit climbing and spend all my free time with them.  But I'm not that smart. ANYBODY HEADED FOR TOKYO - LOOK ME UP, AND LET'S GO CLIMBIN'!

Here's an old pic of Kaori and Lauren enjoying being outside near Kaori's home town of Usuda, in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

And an old pic of Katie, contemplating the meaning f life at home in Tokyo.  FOR NEWER  KID PICS, SEE LINKS BELOW.

Link to the Dolomites 2000 page, with words and pictures covering my trip to the Dolomites in July 2000

Link to the Home of the Furball - home page of his royal highness Prince Peter of Tokyo

Link to the first tokyo crags page, with words and pictures about climbing at Yugawara/Makuiwa

Link to the Rugrats page, with pictures of Lauren and Kate

Link to the Rugrats II page, with more pictures of Lauren and Kate

Link to the first page of Yosemite 2001, with words and pictures covering my trip to Yosemite and Tuolumne in October 2001

Link to Rugrats III, with pictures of my folks vacation visit to Japan at year end 2001

Link to the second tokyo crags page, with words and pictures about climbing at Jogasaki

Link to the third tokyo crags page, with words and pictures about climbing at Ogawayama

Link to Rugrats IV, with more pictures of Lauren and Katie (winter/spring 2002)

Link to Rugrats V, with more pictures of Lauren and Katie (spring 2002)

Link to the Summer Climbing 2002 page, with words and pictures about climbing in the Gunks and the Laurentians

Link to Rugrats VI, with yet more pictures of Lauren and Katie (fall 2002)

Link to Rugrats VII, with (yes) more pictures of Lauren and Katie (winter 2002/3)

Link to Red Rocks 2003, with words and pictures covering my trip to Red Rocks in April 2003

Link to Gunks 2003, with words and pictues covering my days at the Gunks in July 2003

Link to Australia 2004, with words and pictures covering my trip to Mt. Buffalo and Mt Arapiles in November 2004

Link to Rugrats VIII with still more pictures of Lauren and Katie from 2004

Link to Warrambungles 2005, with words and pictures covering my trip to the Warrambungles in November 2005

Link to Buffalo 2006, with words and pictures covering my trip to Mt. Buffalo in November 2006.add your text.

Link to Rugrats 9, with pictures of Lauren and Katie from late 2008 and early 2009 text.

Link to Desert 2008, with words and pictures covering my trip to Red Rocks, Indian Creek, etc. in Octoer 2008