29 April 2005, evening Whoa, I am stuffed full of sushi! For lunch recently, I've been eating at the sushi shop near my office. They have an item called engawa, which is the frilled fin of a flounder. Flounders have long, low fins that stretch most of the way around their body. The taste of that fin, combined with a shiso leaf is pure heaven. It's my all-time favorite bit of sushi, and it only costs 126 yen for two pieces. To me, it's better than the 500 yen a piece engawa we've had at Uoshin, which is our fancy place to go once in a while. So anyway, this engawa has been playing on my mind, and today I had a class with this fantastic super genki 12-year-old girl, and we talked about sushi, and I just had to eat sushi tonight for dinner. Kumiko and I went to a place near our house called Tore Tore, and it was pretty okay, but they didn't have the engawa of my dreams. They did have engawa, but it tasted like crap. Tonight's best sushi was unagi (eel) followed by some kid sushi (corn salad and crab with mayonaisse). Kumiko and I are watching Jamie Oliver right now on Food Network. I'm reading a book called Playing the Moldovans at Tennis and it's cracking me up.
whiskey crate26 April 2005, morning We're okay. The train crash was pretty close, but on a line we very rarely use. We heard about it yesterday morning, on our way back from a tour of the Asahi brewery works in Nishinomiya. We went there with some of Kumiko's ex-work friends, Sakurako, Koyanagi-san, and Inoue-san. The tour was very Japanese. Only the five of us, but I always felt as if the guide was talking to a group of 20 or 30 people. No deviation from the set speech. It was fun anyway. The inner workings of a giant brewery are pretty amazing. Cans of beer move around at amazing speeds for one thing. And the pure scope of it was incredible too. They pointed out one giant silo-like structure where the unbottled beer is stored (one of dozens) and told us that if a person drank the equivalent of a large bottle every day, it would take over 2000 years to exhaust that single silo. We saw scientists sniffing and tasting and putting beer into crucibles and centrifuges and other devices. We saw giant robotic machines that put on the labels, bottle it, can it, seal the cans, box up 20 packs, put bottles into crates, and generally send the beer hurtling around the room in every direction at blinding speeds. The tour guide was very pretty, and in the end she directed us into a room where we could drink as much as we wanted for 20 minutes, so I forgave her the impersonal manner. I recommend the Asahi tour to anyone who finds themselves with a couple of hours to kill in Nishinomiya. It was also free. After the tour we had soba at one of my usual workday lunch places, then went back the same direction to the Hakushika sake museum. It wasn't a tour of a sake brewery, just an unguided walk through a museum showing how it used to be done. Quite boring really. I don't recommend that one. I do recommend skipping the museum, and going straight to the gift shop, where you can sample different sakes and snacks and stuff. Kumiko made French toast for breakfast this morning. It was excellent.
mother, daughter, grandfather22 April 2005, morning No sign of sprouts yet. Still watering. Kumiko had her party and it came off smashingly. Now we have a fridge full of leftover party food, which is great. We had strawberries for breakfast, and I had a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal imported from Wichita, Kansas. That is all.
Last of the cherry blossoms.20 April 2005, midnight Kumiko and I made the first of many morning trips to the garden on Tuesday. From now on, it will need watering every morning. The weather is much warmer this week. We're having some beautiful days, and I'm looking forward to seeing the little okra sprouts come up in the next two or three days. I think they'll be first, if this variety holds to what I saw from last year's. I've been taking pictures on my way home from the office every night, experimenting with long exposures (2 - 60 seconds) and small apertures. I can't meter for that kind of shot, so it's all just guessing. Tonight Kumiko is expecting 20 people at our apartment. Her friends from work are coming over to celebrate her USJ departure. Anyone who's seen our apartment will wonder how they're going to fit. I'm wondering too. I'll only catch the tail end of the party when I come home from work. Should be quite a reception for me.
the changing face of our local sento17 April 2005, evening Phew! I'm exhausted. After my early shift yesterday, I met Kumiko in Nishinomiya, and we went to dinner at Sue and Richard's house. That was really nice, but we drank a lot, and then woke up early this morning; Kumiko for school, me because I wake up early when I drink. I had a relaxing enough morning, but for some reason my right eye started swelling up. It happens sometimes when I'm busy and stressed. I just put some sunglasses on, and rode over to the garden where I finally planted some seeds: beet, okra, cucumber and turnip. That took a lot out of me, but I had a lot I still wanted/needed to do. On the way home, for example, I stopped by Uni-Qlo and bought 8 pairs of gray socks. It's the only color I ever need. Then I came home and took a bath, because I was dirty and my back hurt and I thought it might help my eye as well. I watched two episodes of Red Dwarf (thank you Sue and Richard) while the tub was filling up. It got very full. Out of the bath, it was time to drag my old heavy suitcase down to Umeda, because I thought Mairwen might be able to use it rather than buy a new one to take home. It wasn't what she needed, so I just abandoned it by some lockers at the station. It's probably attracted the bomb squad by now. After saying final farewells to Mairwen, I got on the JR loop line to do my normal day off photography routine. I chose Morinomiya station this time, which was fantastic. It's right next to Tamatsukuri, and at one point I even wandered into Tamatsukuri-cho. It was already 5:15 when I arrived, but I found plenty to photograph in the remaining daylight. Can't wait to see those pics. I want to go back to Morinomiya and walk another direction. I ended up at the Osaka Museum of History/NHK broadcast center, which is a fantastic looking building made up of two curved towers connected by a big glass sphere on the ground. You can see Osaka Castle from the grounds. From there I called Kumiko, who was finishing school, and we met in Umeda and went to eat tonkatsu. I had only eaten a piece of convenience store chicken all day. We were both dead on our feet, but very hungry. On the train home we just quoted Peter Sellers in "Murder by Death" over and over and giggled. It's nice to be home now and freshly showered.
I'll be posting sakura pictures until all the blossoms have fallen. Very soon.14 April 2005, midnight Kumiko's asleep in front of the TV. We were rewatching "Murder by Death", but she had dinner at her parents' house this evening, which means wine and no chance of finishing a movie. Lucky for me, she brought back a dish of her mom's famous tara gratin (potato and cod gratin). My appetite is back in action. I've been reading a mystery novel which I read about in Amazon reviews called "Trent's Last Case". It's a sort of lesser-known classic, which is cited as being an influence to other mystery writers like Agatha Christie. I've noticed that about half of the mysteries I read have some element of masquerade or mistaken identity involved in the solution. I think it's an abused concept. People in mysteries are too easily fooled by imposters. Anyway, this Trent book has the same element, and I suppose that may be the source for so many others. I put up a new photo collection of shots from my walk around Tamatsukuri station two weeks ago. I really liked that place. I took all these shots with my Zeiss Super Ikonta.
13 April 2005, before work I'm well into the recovery stage of a bout with bad salmon. Almost fine. I had Golden GrahamsŪ for breakfast, and an omelette, courtesy of Kumiko. Still fighting the pollen for control of my nose and eyes, though. I think this will be an easy day at work. I still have nothing planted in the garden. I just haven't been motivated in the mornings and it's been raining when I have time off. I need to get out there soon, and plant my white egg turnips, ruby queen beets, catskill brussels sprouts, aconcagua peppers, certified organic miniature white cucumbers, and red burgandy okra. I ordered them all from Heirloom Seeds in Pennsylvania, who specialize in older non-hybrid varieties that used to be popular, but are now hard to find. You just need a mother who is willing to flaunt customs laws and mail them to you in your country of residence.
waiting for the geisha to start dancing, April 4, 200511 April 2005, late evening I failed to realize beforehand that the sayonara hanami party was also a sayonara for Mairwen. Must everyone leave!? It's such a drag to watch good friends leave your immediate life. The only positive aspect is that each departure adds to our list of places where we can stay for free. We can now add Wales (Cardiff?) and Sydney. I'm holding up the computer, which is needed if we're to watch another thrilling episode in David Attenborough's "The Life of Birds", so I'll wrap this up here. It was a good weekend.
09 April 2005, late evening I've missed several days of journal-keeping. I suppose because I haven't been feeling well. I've never had a problem with allergies until now. Something in the air is killing me, and I've been taking decongestants and using nose spray and eye drops for the past 4 days. I believe I've developed a dependency on nose spray, so now I'm going cold turkey, and I can't breathe at all. What a feeling! I'm looking forward to the next two days off, but I think they may be hell if I remain in this condition. Tomorrow we'll attend a sayonara hanami (cherry blossom viewing picnic) party at Shukugawa in honor of Tammie and Patrick, who are both going for good next week. The trees are in full bloom now and very beautiful. I had lunch (green salad and an unfrozen burrito from 7-11) under the trees outside my office today. The blossoms were falling all around, and lots of folks were snapping away with cell phone cameras. I, of course, had stronger firepower, in the form of my Fujifilm Klasse, loaded up with expired (by 2 years) Kodak Ektachrome 200. Here's a picture I took last week on the same expired film.
cherry blossoms near our apartment in Toyonaka, April 3, 200505 April 2005, late evening What a great day we had yesterday! We woke up early to get ready for Miyako Odori in Kyoto. I cooked some great big miso-marinated salmon steaks in the broiler, which we had with rice for breakfast. It was a winner. Then Kumiko went over to her parent's place, where her mom and Mrs. Hashimoto helped her don a full-on kimono. She says it took an hour of fussing and checking a video tape which illustrates the procedure. It was a really classy-looking kimono though, and Kumiko looked great in it. She says it was only the 4th time in her life to wear a kimono (not including simple yukata). I took a fair number of pictures. Let's hope they come out. I think they will, because I got more photos back without light leak, but mysteriously a couple that still showed some faint traces. I've learned to minimize the problem by only extending the lens and bellows when I want to take a shot, and then folding them back in afterwards. Anyway, we went to Kyoto, and met Tammie and Patrick and Mairwen and Chris at Starbucks in Gion, then walked across the street to the Indian buffet place we went last time. They have some decent curries and tandori chicken, and to drink I ordered a mango lassi and Kumiko got a pomegranet lassi. The food there is by no means great, but the place is convenient and all-you-can-eat and Indian, which to me are three great qualities in a restaurant. Afterwards, we strolled on over to the hall where the Miyako geisha do their spring thing, enjoyed another tea service presided over by two truly ugly geishas, and then got some kick-ass seats near the front of the auditorium. Then the lights went out and all the world was geishas. Most of them were ugly too. But their movements were lovely and their clothes were incredible, and it was an experience I won't forget. Some of the geisha really looked like transvestites. I think the quality has dipped since meiji times.
03 April 2005, evening Kumiko and I got up early and went to the park this morning. I wanted to take cherry blossom pictures, but found they really aren't in bloom yet. Last year, they were in their peak this week. I verified that by checking the Moon Station Foxtrot journal archives. MSF celebrated its 1st anniversary last month, by paying the web hosting company for another year of service. I managed to shoot off a couple of rolls of 35mm despite the blossom deficit. We ran into Kumiko's folks, making their daily rounds at Ryokuchi Park. Later, after lunch, Kumiko took a nap (she had a headache), and I went into Osaka to take pictures with my Super Ikonta. I made my mind up to explore the area around some station I'd never been to on the loop line, and that's what I did. I chose Tamatsukuri, between Morinomiya (Osaka Castle area) and Tsuruhashi (Korea town area). It was a good choice. Tamatsukuri turned out to be a lively place with lots of shrines and a nice park, and people hanging out on the street, and lots of other cool stuff for photographers. I took 7 rolls of 11 exposures each. I had to buy a new light meter today before I got on the loop line. I've noticed that my old one (I think my father bought it about 10 years ago) wasn't registering in low-light conditions, and today I tested it against a new one of the same model and found that it always registers too low, but not consistently, and that there's no way to adjust it. So that was that. I bought a Sekonic Twinmate, which works beautifully. It got a workout this afternoon. I had a great time taking pictures. Can't wait to see them. Fingers are crossed that my light leak is truly fixed, otherwise I could be really disappointed with these 7 rolls. Tomorrow, we're going to Kyoto to meet Tammie (back in the country), Patrick, Mairwen and Chris (her Welsh boyfriend) for the Miyako Odori (another geisha dance thing).
02 April 2005, evening We finished watching Vacation last night. I like the part where John Candy says "I like the part where you go way up high!". I actually like every part of the movie except the part where Clark freaks out and uses the f-word a lot. Oh, today I got some color negatives back from my Zeiss Super Ikonta, and I see no trace of light leak! I think I taped it up well. Now I can go crazy with it. I can't scan 120 color negatives at all, so I'm waiting for prints before I'm absolutely sure. Tomorrow is a day off. I may have to brave the rain though. We're about to eat tempura from Kumiko's mom, and "South of the Border Pie", which Kumiko is making from a Better Homes and Garden s recipe book.
train, shadows and reflections in Takarazuka
