Picture of the Day: Bake Jizo Statue Close Up

Nikko, Japan
9.2010 

Picture of the Day: Nagoya Castle

Nagoya, Japan
7.22.2012 

Picture of the Day: Temple Window at Enryakuji

Enryakuji, Japan
12.03.2011 

10,000 Pictures

While I was in Japan I hit a milestone. As I was wandering around Gujo Hachiman in the rain I snapped this picture along the banks of the Yoshida River.

It's far from the best picture I've ever taken but it is charming in its own way with the forest of bamboo and cedar on the mountainside behind the cheerfully painted homes. As I was taking the photo I was balancing my umbrella, camera and bag trying to get the picture without getting soaked. I got my picture but I didn't stay very dry.

What is notable about the picture is that when I was looking at my photos later I notived that it is the ten thousandth shot that I have taken with my Canon EOS 7D.

I love taking photos and while many are not that great they are all mine, my memories frozen in time. Here's to another 10,000!

Picture of the Day: Fountain at Kizomizu-dera

Kiyomizu-dera
Kyoto, Japan
12.04.2011 

Week in Pictures: 7.30.2012

This past week has been a little crazy. For the first half of the week I was in Japan putting in some long work hours. My schedule of working during the day, grabbing dinner with friends and then staying up most of the night communicating with US colleagues caught up to me and I spent the rest of the week after returning quite sick. Luckily I am starting to feel a bit better and hope to be back on my feet soon.

Collage One, First Row
- Monday night for dinner I had some wonderful sushi for dinner. Delicious!
- I also had some tebasaki (手羽先), which are fried chicken wings famous in the Nagoya area
- Tuesday night I also had more awesome sushi. I had to try to get my fill before heading home

Collage One, Second Row
- The whole time I was in Japan it was ridiculously hot and humid. Some days it was even approaching a hundred degrees.
- Beating the heat was made a little bit easier by the omnipresent vending machines on the streets. You can't walk much more than a few minutes before seeing one so you are never far from a cold drink
- Wednesday night I met up with some friends at an Italian restaurant, Il Grano, for dinner. They had a wood burning pizza oven and it was absolutely amazing pizza

Collage One, Third Row
- Thursday morning I snapped this photo of downtown Toyota City before taking the bus to the airport
- When I checked in at the airport I was happy to have an upgrade to business class
- Centrair Airport has a cartoon mascot known as "フー" or "Who" the mysterious traveller. Cute, isn't he? American airports should have mascots, too.

Collage Two, First Row
- After I checked into the airport I had a decent chunk of time so I hopped on a train to Tokoname (only 3 minutes away) and spent an hour there wandering around. Tokoname is a little town famous for pottery, particularly maneki-neko. Maneki-neko, or beckoning cats, are said to bring good luck to their owners. This extra large maneki-neko in Tokonake is called Tokonyan about 4 feet tall and 7 feet wide.
- Tokoname (常滑) has a sign posted pottery trail which takes you past the tourist sights in the town. One of those sights is Dokanzaka (土管坂) or Clay Pipe Hill. One side of the path is embedded with antique clay pipes while the other (in my picture) is embedded with ceramic sake bottles
- Tokoname is home to an impressive norborigama (登り窯) or climbing kiln built in 1887 with eight chambers and ten chimneys

Collage Two, Second Row
- After returning back to the airport I hung out in the business class lounge before boarding for my flight
- We left the gate at the airport a bit early which was nice. Early departure = early arrival
- I saw some beautiful views of the Japanese Alps on my flight

Collage Two, Third Row
- I had a chance to see Mt. Fuji swathed in clouds as I was flying overhead
- Saturday was my birthday (how is it that I can be 35 already?) and as part of my gift Frank gave me a Roku Box. I don't have cable but I do have a Hulu account and this lets me watch Hulu on my TV among other cool features. Being at home sick it was really nice to be able to veg out in front of the TV over the weekend.
- While I've been sick I've had trouble feeling like eating anything, but eating pie and drinking tea has hit the spot.

Picture of the Day: Sumo Wrestler at Nagoya Basho

Nagoya, Japan
7.22.2012 

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.

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

Mt. Fuji, Japan
7.2008