« October 2007 | Main | December 2007 »
November 30, 2007
Yum! Salt!
If you visit the blog regularly, you have probably noticed that I am making more of an effort to write something these days. Most be the terrible guilt I felt for not posting anything for a month.
Anyway, I am in Zushi tonight and while I was walking from the station to my apartment I saw the Japanese kanji for "salt" on a sign and that reminded me that I took a picture last year of a salt shop in a small village on Sado Island.
So, I found the picture and here it is.
Of course, it is probably not a real salt shop. Or a real village for that matter. I mean people live there, but it is more of a tourist attraction - everything is maintained as it was in the Meiji era (I am making a lot of assumptions here...it has been over a year since I snapped the photo!).
In any case, the most important thing is that I liked the photo and I am finally publishing it. The other thing to keep in mind is that I have a very strange memory. I usually can't remember what day it is, but I could remember one photo among the thousands I took over the last couple years.
November 29, 2007
Foggy Imperial Beach
It has been a month since I got back from California. Tonight, having nothing better to do, I was looking at some of the pictures and thought I would post one.
At first, I expected to find a nice sunny day picture to put up, but as you can see it can get foggy in the mornings sometimes. I used to like that weather, actually, so this is the one you get to see today.
November 28, 2007
Tokyo Tower
This is a picture of Tokyo Tower. Actually, it is a few weeks old, but probably it has not changed very much since then, so I thought I would post it.
If you live in the Minato area, it is pretty hard to get away from Tokyo Tower. In fact, I can see it now as I am typing this. There are all sorts of cool facts about it, which I do not remember, except that it is very tall. There is also shops at the bottom, which are really fun to shop at if you like cheesy souvenirs. And I do!
It was cloudy in Tokyo today and I was thinking about sunny weather so I looked through my recent pictures and found this one. Woo!
Posted by Kirk at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)November 26, 2007
Another beach stroll
Continuing on the beach lifestyle theme, I met some friends at Kamakura Station yesterday and we spent the day walking to and around Enoshima. The weather was absolutely lovely and the views were terrific. I wonder how many more weekends like this we will get!
This is what Mt. Fuji looked like right after sunset...you may have noticed that the banner on top has changed. I took that one soon after.
I was joined by Max, Freda and Keizo. I know Max from school. I met Freda through another student, but he was too busy studying to come down and join us. And Keizo is a friend of Freda's that I first met a few weeks ago when we walked around Futako-Tamagawa and Todoroki.
Here is everyone enjoying an ice cream, and later helping Max pick out a car for the ride home.
There are also some group pictures...unfortunately not on my camera, so I am waiting for Max or Freda to send one to me. Waiting...waiting...
Here is one more picture from Enoshima looking back to the mainland. It's different, so I thought I would let you see it.
I really should write more about Enoshima, but I do not have my thoughts organised right now. On one hand, it is chock full of souvenir shops and that is not really so lovely, but there are lots of really cool places. It would be interesting to live there, maybe. Well, maybe not. We saw a coffee shop with a fantastic view of the coast line back towards Kamakura. Maybe next time, a leaisurely coffee there would be enough.
Posted by Kirk at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)Zushi Beach Yabusame (逗子海岸流鏑馬)
Well, it has been a month, so I thought it would be nice to update the blog again. I have been kind of busy, but always when I get home it does not seem to be entertaining enough to write about. Well, last week's horseback archery on Zushi Beach being an exception. In that case, I was just lazy. But...I am over that now, so here are some pictures and a brief chat about it.
Every year, there is a demonstration of horseback archery (Yabusame - 流鏑馬）on Zushi Beach. Apparently, this happened for the first time on September 2, 1199. No, that is not a typo...800+ years ago. The martial art was first promoted by Minamoto Yoritomo who ruled a newly united Japan from nearby Kamakura. Cool, right?
I did not get to see very much, mostly because the wind was extremely strong and I kept getting sand in my eyes. I always like being on the beach, but this was less than ideal. The demonstration was supposed to last a few hours, but it ended early. I think everyone was ready to go home.
Afterwards, some of the students came down and we went back to the Zushi pad for a few drinks. It was great fun.
Oh, here is a picture from the festival in town before the archery. The main shopping street was closed for the morning and there were all sorts of food stands and the like. There was also this ceremony, but I was not close enough to really see or hear what was going on.
