[firewatch]

When I read that piece about Daigen Yanagida I was very happy to see it included his photo.I picked him up off the ice between Big Diomede(Russia) and Little Diomede(Alaska)in 1991.He was being detained by the KGB for having tried to walk across to Russia from Alaska on the ice.The border guards got him on Big Diomede when open ice prevented him from continuing. He's a free spirit,an enjoyable person to know and I wish him well. He's not all that savvy however.When I got him back to my house,he started going through the house like a kid that's got to poke into everything that's new. He picked up my 357,looked down the barrel,and pulled the trigger.I charged across the room and grabbed it from him.I said "What are you doing,are you nuts?" He said,"We don't have these in Japan!" Maybe he's just naturally curious.I hope he lives forever.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I hear you can kayak that channel of water in the summer when the ice is gone, and get into Russia, although they don't particularly like to have to fiddle with visa entry procedures up there and consider people who go between the Diomedes' islands as real crackpots.