Picture of the Day: Spanish Moss Along the Dora Canal

Tavares, Florida
5.2012 

Flying Over Mt. Fuji

I am really sick. I've been working too much and am just worn down. I started developing a runny nose and sore throat while I was in Japan and by the time I got home yesterday I was in bad shape adding a fever and a pounding headache to my list of symptoms. All in all, I had a miserable flight.

There were two highlights from my trip home, however. First, I got a business class upgrade which was wonderful. For as sick as I was on the plane I can't even imagine how rough it would have been back in coach. At least with the reclining seats I got a little bit of sleep.

Second, I had the most spectacular view of Mt. Fuji from the plane. Whenever I take the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Nagoya to Tokyo or fly home from Nagoya I always make sure to look out the window to try and get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji. I climbed it (with Trisha, of course!) back in July 2008 and there is something really special about the mountain. The perfect cinder cone, standing alone is really a sight to behold. I can never see it enough.

On this flight as we flew over the Japanese Alps I had some amazing views of the mountains with gorgeous blue skies and bright white puffy clouds.

I kept my eyes glued on the window and then a little over half an hour into the flight I spotted Mt. Fuji rising majestically out of the clouds. It was so amazing looking that it didn't seem real.

Sights like that always remind me of what a truly amazing world we live in.

Picture of the Day: Doorway Carvings at Ta Prom Temple

Ta Prom Temple, Cambodia
8.18.2011

Shopping at the Hyaku-en Shop (百円ショップ )

The best thing about taking a suitcase half full of omiyage to Japan is that on the way back I have a half of a suitcase to fill up with fun things to take home. For me that means going on a mini shopping spree at a Hyaku-en Shop.

A Hyaku-en Shop (百円ショップ ) is a 100 Japanese Yen Shop and is roughly equivalent to a Dollar Store back home. Hyaku-en Shops are always full of just about anything you can want from gardening supplies to dishes to food. The quality of things that I have purchased at them have always been surprisingly good. When I lived in Japan I did a lot of shopping at the two Hyaku-en Shops in Toyota City, Seria and Daiso.

Although both are good, Seria is my favorite and I had fun picking up some items there on this trip. There were all sorts of cute things in the craft area and I picked up a set of adorable little number plates.

The sewing section always has a nice selection of things and I bought a skein of black cotton yarn. There was also an adorable macaroon felting kit that I was tempted to buy just because it was so cute, but I have no idea what I would do with it.

There was a great selection of washi tapes and I couldn't resist getting a handful of them.

Moving into the kitchen wares, don't you think these glasses are cute? Too bad I had no room to take a set home!

I managed to pick up a few more of my favorite kitchen storage jars with red lids which was what really filled up my luggage. Seria also has a nice selection of chopsticks, but I already have a ton so didn't get any more.

I love all the food picks that they have. They look so much nicer than toothpicks so I always like to stock up when I am back in Japan.

I wanted to bring the whole food section home but settled for two packages of Japanese curry. Yum!

The baking section is full of cute little things like patterned cupcake liners and food molds.

I always find a few random things that make me laugh. I like the creative English on the bag and the muscle breastplate just cracks me up. It reads "Macho Apron" in Japanese. Ha!

Well, there you have my shopping spree at the Hyaku-en Shop. I ended up spending about $25 and have my suitcase to go home completely stuffed. At least I got it all in!

Off to catch my flight home!

Picture of the Day: Leaving Halong City By Boat

Halong Bay, Vietnam
8.2011

Picture of the Day: Statue and Bell Tower at Palermo Cathedral

Palermo, Sicily, Italy
3.23.2012 

Baby Mini Scrapbook Album

Some of my friends who live in Japan recently had a beautiful, healthy baby boy. I was really excited to have a chance to see them and meet their new little man while I am in Japan for work. As a gift for the new parents I made a mini scrapbook album for them that they could put pictures of their baby inside.

To make the baby album I took a basic chipboard mini album and gave all of the pages and the cover a very light coat of teal spray paint. I didn't want to soak the pages and it ended up having a neat very subtle mottled look. With the crazy humidity it took almost two days until the pages weren't tacky anymore and I had to be careful to fan everything out while it was drying so the pages wouldn't stick together later.

Once the album and pages were completely dried I set about decorating the cover. I used some white linen tape that I use for mounting photos and wrapped it around the front and back of the covers. I then took some black ribbon and added it just below the linen tape with some glue. As a final touch I used some black letter stickers to add the baby's name to the bottom right on the front cover. 

For the inside pages I came up with three basic layout variations that I repeated with each page having a blank white photo mat. For the top one I attached three pieces of black and white striped washi tape down the right side with a piece of black ribbon in the upper left corner. For the middle variation I adhered a piece of teal and white chevron paper on the right side with black ribbon and then made a little accent of black and white chipboard periods in the upper left corner. On the final variation I attached more of the black and white striped washi tape across the bottom and layered a few black and white chipboard carats on the right side.

I think the album came out cute and I hope the new parents enjoy putting photos in it as much as I had fun making it. 

Picture of the Day: View of Lake Yamanakako From the Top of Mt. Fuji

Mt. Fuji, Japan
7.2008

Week in Pictures: 7.22.2012

This past week has been a whirlwind with preparing to go to Japan for work at the beginning of the week and then being in Japan for the rest of the week. So far my business trip has been very productive and as an added bonus I've had a chance to see a lot of friends from when I lived in Japan. I always enjoy being back in Japan and this time has been no different. Here is a sampling of some of the photos I snapped this week.

Collage One, First Row
- Right before heading off to Japan I hit up Target to find some treats to bring my co-workers in Japan (omiyage)
- I discovered the first ripe tomatoes in my garden before my trip. They were delicious and I hope when I get back more are ready to eat
- Tuesday afternoon I took off from the Detroit airport after grabbing lunch with Frank

Collage One, Second Row
- Wednesday evening I arrived in Nagoya absolutely exhausted. Barely sleeping for a few days followed by a thirteen hour flight and a thirteen hour time change will do that to a person.
- As I was riding the bus from the airport I saw a lovely sunset over Mikawa Bay
- I wanted to stay awake to try and get adjusted to the time zone so I went to Vegebird to get some delicious kushiyaki (grilled skewers) and umeshu (plum wine)

Collage Two, First Row
- After work on Thursday, I took a walk by my old apartment building and am happy to report it is exactly the same as when I lived there. I do this every time I come back to Japan for work just to reminisce.
- I met up with some friends for dinner on Thursday night who happened to be staying in the Toyota Castle Hotel. When I met them in the lobby I discovered that the Toyota Castle now has a tanuki mascot dressed up in a bellman's outfit complete with a top hat. Of course I got a picture with him. 
- For dinner we headed to my favorite place to eat in Toyota City, Tsubasaya. The have the best tebasaki (chicken wings) 

Collage Two, Second Row
- Tsubasaya had a new item on the menu, amai ebi mayo, which was fried shrimp covered in mayonnaise and topped with jelly beans. It was too strange not to order.
- Following dinner, we headed to Second Story (a tiny bar nearby) for Magic Night performed by Sawa-san. When I lived in Japan, Magic Night was every Wednesday but it has since moved to every other Thursday. Lucky for me, it just happened to be on the Thursday I was in town. Sawa-san had some amazing new tricks and I am always impressed by his act. 
- My trip overlapped with the Nagoya Oktoberfest celebration so I headed over with some people on Friday night. It was a little strange (Oktoberfest in July in Japan?) but really cool. There were huge tents set up with table underneath and the outside was ringed with German beer and food stalls. Up front a German band, wearing lederhosen of course, played polkas all night

Collage Two, Third Row
- What do you eat at Oktoberfest? Sausages, sauerkraut, potatoes and beer!
- Oktoberfest closed down at nine, so we headed out for more eating and grabbed some dumplings
- Saturday morning I decided to head out to Gujo Hachiman, a little town on the Yoshida River in Gifu Prefecture that is famous for the Gujo Owari dance festival and plastic food replicas 

Collage Three, First Row
- While I was walking along the banks of the Yoshida River I stumbled upon a man fishing for ayu, a local fish
- Being in Gujo Hachiman, I had to try my hand at making some food replicas and created a little pastry. Eighty percent of the food replicas that are on display in the windows of Japanese restaurants are made in Gujo Hachiman
- Saturday night I went back to Nagoya Oktoberfest, this time with a different group of friends 

Collage Three, Second Row
- After Oktoberfest closed at nine, we headed to ID Bar, a dance club in Nagoya that I hadn't been to in years. It was like going back in time four years
- On Sunday morning I headed to the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium to see if there was any chance I could get a ticket to the Nagoya Basho (Sumo Tournament). It was sold out but I had fun watching some of the younger sumos walking around outside 
- For lunch I grabbed a bowl of kishimen, a flat type of noodle famous in the Nagoya area

Collage Three, Third Row
- Since I was right nearby, I visited Nagoya Castle, which I hadn't been to in several years. They are rebuilding the Hommaru Palace which was destroyed in WWII using traditional techniques. It was really neat to see the progress on the buildings
- It was hot out so I escaped to the cool and peaceful forest surroundings of Atsuta Jingu (a famous Nagoya Shinto shrine) for a little while
- In the late afternoon I headed to Osu Kannon (a covered pedestrian mall) for some fun people watching.  

What have you been up to this week? Have you been busy or are you enjoying a relaxing summer?

Picture of the Day: Fungus and Moss in Soberanía National Park

Soberanía National Park, Panama
6.09.2012