29 April 2004
Everything was fine in the garden. The rain merely made the dirt wet. Last night I went out with some of my coworkers to the Shukugawa riverside for a barbeque. We had a great time, but I burned my tongue when I tried to show off by eating a flaming marshmallow. Now there's a spot on my tongue that I can't feel. Hope it goes away.27 April 2004
I purposely don't mention work in this journal, but today was a good day there. That's all for work. This morning it rained like mad. I'm pretty interested to see the garden after such a deluge. I'll be able to check it out in the morning. The radishes could have washed away, but I'm hoping they held their ground. I'll bring some poles down tomorrow, and stake the eggplant, beans, cucumbers and peppers. I've alreay put cages around the tomatoes. One of my friends (Shelly in Portland) asked me to link to some information about my cameras. I had a good time writing up the details, and thinking about the good times I associate with each of them. I want to put up something fancier later, linked to photos, and a bit slicker, but here's a start. Seems I have a lot of cameras, and I just realized I forgot to mention my mobile phone camera. Oh well, that will come with the slick pages. Kumiko made chili again tonight. That's become one of my favorites. You know who else loves chili? Lieutenant Columbo. Kumiko and I love watching Columbo movies. I'd never sat down and watched one until Kumiko brought out an old videotape a few months ago. She's been a fan for years, but I'm newly converted. We have several of them on DVD. Those stories are only about an hour and twenty minutes long, so they move along at a good pace, and have great villains. It's quite a twist on a detective story to know who committed the murder and how from the very beginning, but the detection is always compelling nonetheless. I read and watch a lot of detective stuff. I really wonder if any of it is even slightly realistic. The real stuff is probably pure drudgery. My favorite detectives in order: Hercule Poirot, Phillip Marlowe, Charlie Chan, Columbo. I've read a few Philo Vance novels, but I don't think anyone could really like Vance. He's far too high brow, and lets far too many people die once he's taken the case. In the first Vance story I read, "The Greene Murder Case", Vance was investigating a murder within a rich family of eight. In the end, he found the murderer after six of them were dead. Now I'm reading Inspector Morse. It's a big series with plenty of fans. So far, so good. My friend Dawn, from the Isle of Wight, recommended the series to me ages ago, but I'm afraid of modern writers (I generally read the ones who died about the time I was born). But do you know what? There was nothing to be afraid of. It's good. Always nice to have a new series to exhaust. I wish I hadn't devoured Raymond Chandler so fast.26 April 2004
Only one day off this week, but it was a good one. This morning Kumiko and I went to Hattori Park and checked out the scenery and some big bees and beetles, then went to Conan to buy some gardening gear. She had a headache, so she took a nap, while I went and planted two eggplants, two cucumbers, and all of the radishes. I met another garden neighbor (Tomita-san), and he gave me some information about planting distance for eggplants and told me I could borrow his watering can anytime. Ohnishi-san made an appearance too, and he and Tomita did their best to communicate with me. Ohnishi showed me how to make a little trough to collect water, and how to dig out the soil deeply before you plant something. I found out that Mr.Ohnishi isn't a community garden guy, he has the house next door to the garden, including a much bigger plot of land. He's growing strawberries. After the planting, Kumiko and I went into Umeda to shop for souvenirs for the New York City gang, and for mother's day. We stopped and ate tendon (tenpura shrimp and vegetables on a bowl of rice), and we bought discount tickets to see the movie "School of Rock" when it comes out next month. Don't tell me if it's bad. We both love Jack Black.24 April 2004
When I got home from work tonight, Kumiko had made a fantastic chicken curry. I ate two hearty servings, along with a selection of new seasonal candy I picked up at the convenience store. I bought:I rarely buy candy, but this time I went nuts. Tomorrow I have early shift, so when I finish work, I'm going to go water the garden, then get out my Canon A1 to take pictures of the moon. I've had this desire to take pictures of the moon recently, but things have conspired to keep me from doing it. I even had a dream about it. In the dream I was at my parents' house in Dallas, and there was a beautiful crescent moon with a bright star right on the waxing limb. I went inside to get my camera, but once inside, everyone wanted to talk to me. When I finally got out with the camera and tripod, a car pulled up to the curb, and one of the teachers from my school got out and started telling me this long story. I woke up before I'd taken any shots. I hope the sky is clear tomorrow evening.
- Lemon Cheesecake Kit Kat
- strawberry-coated cones of shortbread, shaped like bamboo shoots
- banana-flavored white chocolate-coated "twigs"
- milk chocolate-covered "crisp cereal twigs"
22 April 2004
There was definately no danger of drying out. When I arrived at the garden yesterday to perform an emergency watering, there was still water pooled on the ground. Even this morning, when I went out and mixed in some fertilizer, and improved the furrows a bit, the ground was still very muddy. I'm a little paranoid about watering after the radish incident. The radishes, by the way, are verdant now. They're loving the warmer air. I planted a second round in starter pots, and these took half the time to spring up as the first round. Does anyone know: If you plant one radish seed, do you get one radish bulb, or several? I met a nice old guy at the garden this morning. His name is Ohnishi. Hopefully, he can give me some pointers. I've been steering my Japanese lessons toward gardening terminology. I might be able to impress Ohnishi-san.I finally did it on Monday. I bought the Ricoh Caplio RX digital camera. They had marked the price down by about 2000 yen, and that turned the tide for me. I really love that camera. I'm having lots of fun taking pictures through restaurant windows at night, and then zooming in on the computer to see the customers' faces. It's fascinating.
I have several cameras now and I'd like to stay in form with all of them. So I've decided to give myself some camera-specific assignments. For example:
Of course, some of those subjects might be visited by other cameras as well, but I think that limiting yourself in certain ways can give you more focus and spark more creativity.
- garden progress: Ricoh digital
- fireflies: Canon A-1 SLR
- apartment details: Ricoh digital
- summer fireworks: Contax Aria SLR
- cats: Yashica Lynx rangefinder
- wisteria: Contax Aria SLR
21 April 2004
It's Wednesday morning. I feel proud. Last night, for the entire duration of my shower, I managed to sing a possibly record breaking medley of songs. I didn't stop singing, though there were some very long extended final notes, while I searched for another song - any song - in my head. I wish I'd recorded it. There was no theme, but each song made me think of another song somehow, so I managed to keep going. Artists covered during the approximately 20-minute performance included Buddy Holly, Deep Purple, Aha, Culture Club, Journey, Survivor, Duran Duran, Blue Oyster Cult, The Big Bopper, The Ramones, Jan and Dean, Stray Cats, Pink Floyd, Bobby Vinton, The Platters?, Quiet Riot, Night Ranger, Beastie Boys, and almost certainly others whom I'm forgetting. On Sunday, I woke up early and rode over to the garden for the big planting. When I got there I was surprised to see how professional the other sections of gardens looked. Everyone who has started has made beautiful rows of raised beds with trenches between, perfectly straight and uniform, and looking very smooth. I hadn't planned on doing that, but I would be ashamed if ours was the only one without rows, so I found a shovel that someone had left out there and went to work. The result is not beautiful, but it is passable. I'm learning from the people around me. Now I realize that they didn't use a shovel to cut they're rows, they used a kind of angular hoe. I don't even know the name of it. Anyway, it was hard work, and the sun was roasting me, so I had to retreat after only two rows. I went home and put on a long sleeve shirt, and bought a wide brim hat and gloves, and put sunscreen on my face before going out again and completing the rows. By that time there were a few people out there, so I was able to spy a little and pick up some techniques. I did put the tomatoes and peppers into the first row. It rained all day on Monday, so I wasn't able to do any more work. Still too wet on Tuesday to work in the garden, but I went to Conan home center and picked up a big bag of organic fertilizer to put down when I have a chance tomorrow morning. This morning I have a Japanese lesson, so no chance. I hope they don't dry out too much today. The sun could be murderous. Maybe I should go water right now.17 April 2004
Tomorrow I'm planning to put the first plants in our new garden. I went to Conan this evening and bought three kinds of tomato plant, as well as some yellow and red bell peppers. I think I'll plant all of them (only 4 tomatoes and 4 peppers), plus the remaining radishes tomorrow. I also bought a good-looking gardening fork to go with my awesome-looking spade. On another topic, my friend Kevin, from work, found a place in Ishibashi (4 train stops away) that processes and prints 36 exposures for under 500 yen (approximately US$4.60). In contrast, Yellow Camera, the chain lab I've used fairly consistently since coming to Japan, would charge about 900 yen for the same service. I had thought that was the cheapest place around, so I'm pretty excited about this new one. They seem to do quality work. Kevin had been saving all of his exposed film until he found a cheap place to process it, so he has 19 rolls in their lab now. Can you imagine getting that many rolls back at once! It would be a sensory overload. A visceral feast, as they say in movie reviews. Speaking of feasts, tomorrow night I'm going to meet some co-workers in Kobe. We're going to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian restaurant. Kumiko and I have been there once before (also with my work colleagues), and we both agreed that it's great. The waiters roam around with huge spits of meat. They come to your table, and shave off slices onto your plate, using machete-like knives. The selection of vegetables is decidedly minimal. Meat on a stick is the main attraction. I'm all for food that comes on a stick - corndogs ("American dog" in Japan), yakitori, popsicles ("ice candy" in Japan), etc. The Brazilian place has just taken the stick to a whole new level.15 April 2004
Special day today. Not only is this payday, but it's also the end of my special experimental dietary period. I think, however, that the core of the diet - no fast food lunches - will stay for a while. I haven't lost weight, but I do think that eating primarily sushi for lunch has given me more energy. All of my plants are doing well again. The radishes that survived the drought are now flourishing, and have just sprouted a second set of leaves, so some of them now have four. The basil and shiso that I'm growing from seed have just sprouted as well, and even the cumin, which I planted straight out of the spice bottle, is doing really well. It just looks like grass right now. Finally, the strawberry seeds that I got as a gift from Mosburger (a hamburger shop), have come up just this morning after what seems like ages. I hadn't thought they were going to make it. Kumiko's going to pay the bill for our plot of land this morning, so we'll be all set to grow. I wish I didn't have to go to work today.13 April 2004
Well, we went to Yoshino, and regretted it. It's a 2.5 hour trip out there, which was no problem in itself, because it's a nice train line through some interesting country. We passed several country stations, where I would love to get out and walk around to see what we could see. We should have done that. Yoshino was just too crowded to enjoy. According to informed sources at the soba restaurant at the base of the mountain, we were too late, arriving as we did around 12:30, to get to the top of the mountain where there were still cherry trees in bloom. So we decided not to wait in the long line for an overcrowded bus to the top, but instead waited in a shorter line for the more picturesque ropeway, which only goes halway up. Getting off that ropeway car, however, just landed us in the middle of a madding crowd. It was difficult to walk and the road was surrounded by souvenir shops on both sides as far as we could see. I don't think we'll go back there. I would like to go back and explore the stops along that line, however. It's getting warm now, and this trip made me realize I need a hat if I'm going to go tramping about in the sun. I need a big Tom Sawyer-looking hat. When I was a kid, I watched Grizzly Adams on Sunday afternoons, and I wanted a life like that. Talking about "greenhorns" and having a bear that understands complex instructions, like "Go get Mad Jack and tell him to bring old No.7 and a rope." I wanted to live in a log cabin, and cook breakfast over a campfire. Now I just want a Tom Sawyer hat and a digital camera. Time tempers those primitive urges. Kumiko and I watched the final episode of "Life of Mammals" last night. It was really disturbing. It checked my enthusiasm about chimpanzees. There was an aweful scene of chimpanzees hunting smaller capuchin monkeys and then eating their babies, and another scene of a group of chimpanzees ganging up and beating one of their own group members to death. It made me angry and sick. After monkeys though, it switched to the developments of humans, and that made me proud to be a human! We're number one!11 April 2004
Tragedy struck over the weekend. On Saturday morning Matt Melton woke to find his radish sprouts shriveled and baked. After performing an emergency rehydration, only about 30 percent of the once bumper crop were able to return to the upright position. The surviving sprouts are being tended diligently. Mr.Melton was quoted as saying, "Looks like you've got to water these things every day." In other news, today, Sunday, was a pretty good day. It started in bed, progressed to goofing around on the computer, then moved quickly into laundry (sheets today). The indoors part of the day was punctuated by a nice trip to the photo lab and a leisurely bicycle ride, after which I rode to my favorite store, Conan home center, where I bought some plants (common sage, sweet basil, and Korean peppers), as well as some plywood I'm going to use to stiffen up our framed posters, which are just saggy right now. We had to take them down, actually. Not because of the sagging, but because of some kind of mildewy discoloration to our walls, which seems to be related to the styrofoam backing boards. Hopefully the plywood will eliminate that problem as well. Kumiko came home around six, and we went to her folks' place for dinner with them and the cousin, Satomi and aunt, Mizuko. Kumiko's mom made two of my favorites: chicken karaage and a gratin with fresh cod. She also made a really nice green salad out of vegetables unknown to me. We're planning to go to a place called Yoshino in Nara prefecture tomorrow for some natural beauty, then we've been invited to a dinner party at our friend Katherine's place. Now I'm going to go crawl into those nice fresh sheets.10 April 2004
More camera shopping today. Thanks to a shift-swap I had the day off. I went down to Umeda this time with the object of looking specifically at small digital cameras. I'd been struggling with the film vs digital question, but now I've made up my mind that it should be digital. My "serious photography" camera will continue to be my Contax Aria SLR, but I want to have the option of digital as well. I just want something I can easily carry everywhere, with better quality than I'm getting from APS. I've looked at everything now, and I'm still undecided, though I have some strong candidates. Everything costs more than I think it should. My favorite right now is the Ricoh Caplio RX. In the past I've thought of Ricoh as a weirdo brand. It's always been lurking in the unpopular shadows, hanging on to life somehow. More recently, though, I've started seeing Ricoh as more of a high-end brand. Unpopular, for sure, but they seem to make high quality stuff out of metal, now, rather than plastic. I like metal. It feels good. This one has an aluminum body, and a very fast shutter response. That's something that really bugs me about my Nikon Coolpix of yesteryear. There's no predicting when the thing is actually going to fire off the shot after you've pressed the shutter. This Ricoh claims to have the fastest response of any digital camera on the market (though I doubt if that includes digital SLRs). It also has a short barrel, wide-range (28 - 100mm equivalent) zoom lens that I like despite its lame variable maximum aperture of f:3.1 - 5.8. Basically, though, it's overpriced. It's only a 3.2 megapixel camera. It doesn't come with a case. It doesn't , believe it or not, come with a rechargeable battery. That costs extra. Even the memory card is sold separately. It comes with 8mb of internal memory only. All that, and it still costs 41,000 yen. Luckily, Yodobashi Camera is giving increased point card rewards on digitals right now. I would get 18% back in credit, meaning I would instantly have 7,380 to help with the battery and SD memory card.
Bored?
Here's something different. I ran into Kumiko in Umeda on her way home from work. What a coincidence! We decided to head over to Sakuranomiya for some evening cherry blossom action. That was a good decision. The weather was perfect. The trees were a little past viewing prime, with a little green mixed in with the pink. But I actually prefer them that way. Makes them look like trees, rather than powder puffs on sticks. The evening light was beautiful, and I had my dad's Canon A-1 working at full throttle. Lots of "seemed right at the time, but potentially boring" shots, I would imagine. That's alright.Taking them is the real fun. There may be a couple of winners on there. Only the developer can tell. There were food stands and carnivalesque stuff set up on only one side of the river, so you could choose between beautiful and peaceful on one bank, or beautiful and exciting on the other. We went for a little of each. On the way home we stopped by the parents' house because Kumiko's aunt and cousin are visiting from Yamanashi. Then we came home and watched an episode of David Attenborough's "Life of Mammals", which must be the best nature series ever produced. It's just great. Kumiko fell asleep after about twenty minutes, as usual, but I stayed up for another couple hours and watched an episode of The Avengers as well. It was a good episode from the 1965 season called "The Masterminds". The nation's top minds were being hypnotized, and used to collectively organize difficult crimes. That is all.9 April 2004
We got an invitation to a wedding party from my friend Barry. It's happening in May, and when I first heard about it, I thought it was too soon and too expensive to consider (Barry lives in New York City). But we did a little research on fares and on our own work schedules, and found we could do it after all. It sounds like a really nice party, cruising the waterways of Manhattan with live tango music and a Spanish tapas buffet. Barry's fiance, Marga, is from Madrid. We're pretty excited now. We've booked into a decent hotel near Central Park, and gotten our flight and work schedules arranged."I'd like to take a sail on Jamaica Bay with you.
And fair Canarsie's Lakes we'll view.
The city's bustle cannot destroy
the dreams of a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy."- Lorenz Hart
7 April 2004
Now you can click on the small pictures on the right to see a bigger image (650 pixel) with a short explanation. In case you're keeping tabs, tonight's dinner: carrots and fish with miso sauce.6 April 2004
It's almost time to go back to work. I'll leave the house in about an hour. Hung the laundry out this morning. It looks like another beautiful day. We have a nice view of cherry trees in the park below. Good fun yesterday with Yuu. No 747s passed overhead while we were at the airport, but it didn't matter. There were plenty of planes and interesting people too. The main Itami regular (the toothless one) was there having a good time. A middle-aged lady came up and started talking to Kumiko out of the clear blue. Her opening line (in Japanese), was something like "You speak English very well." She then introduced her daughter who is studying French at Osaka Foreign Language University. Kumiko talked to them for a few moments. The conversation was all directed at Kumiko. Yuu and I were pretty much ignored, though she did ask Kumiko what her friend (Yuu) is studying. All in all, it was an odd, but pleasant exchange, which Kumiko and Yuu laughed about on the way home. We watched Mike's Christmas DVD when we got back to the apartment. Yuu would like a copy if possible, Michael. I made shepherd's pie and Kumiko made a couple of great salads for dinner. I baked the pie in a loaner oven, as ours is in the shop for making weird noises. A really nice guy came out to look at the oven yesterday, from Sanyo Electric repair service. He spoke English pretty well. I think he'd been gearing up for the visit, because he had some good phrases ready. We'll get our oven back in about a week.4 April 2004
Well, Sunday is drawing to a close. It's almost 10 o'clock at night. I went to Yaotome Camera and Yodobashi Camera in Umeda this afternoon. I've been carrying my APS Elph as an everyday camera, but I'm just not satisfied with the image quality. I suspect that the lens just isn't that good. It could be the film, but that doesn't seem so likely. I'm kind of torn as to what format to buy next. I've already gone through this once. I bought a Konica 35mm point and shoot camera about 2 years ago. It was a decent camera. The lens is good, and it's a good size, but I dropped it once, and since then it hasn't been able to focus when using the flash. I actually took it in for repairs, but it still didn't work. I've given up on it. So of course I want a digital camera, but I feel like I have to have a small 35mm camera as well. I'm still in love with film. I should probably just buy a digital and be done with it.3 April 2004
Ahh, Saturday night. The work week is over, and I'm looking at about 65 hours off from this point. Yesterday we got a special delivery of toilet paper. Something recently possessed Kumiko to search out and buy the most expensive toilet paper she could find. I don't know why. Anyway, it was delivered (40 rolls for about 5000 yen). Not so terribly expensive, but still about 2.5 times our normal paper. It feels nice and soft, but nothing revolutionary. In essence, though, I am writing home about it right now. I'll have the day to myself tomorrow. The cherry trees are in full swing now. I don't think the weather is going to let me enjoy them, but we might have a chance on Monday. Kumiko has the day off too, and our friend Yuu is coming over for dinner. We're going to walk over to Itami Airport for some plane-spotting before we eat. We'll undoubtedly pass a few cherry trees along the way. I saw a cool old Mitsubishi k-truck today, being used as a mobile sweet potato roasting platform. Too late, unfortunately, to make it onto my new k-truck paean page.
