A while back, while I was waiting to meet my wife for an event, I found myself strolling around the neighborhood of Imazato and came across a time portal. Okay, not exactly, but it might as well have been. What it actually was, was a local, 1km long shōtengai (商店街), a...
It's getting Spring-y in Osaka these days. Winter clothes are getting put away and short sleeves are coming out. This weekend marked the end of Golden Week in Japan, the string of national holidays that create a week of vacation for most people and it was great...
After all the hype, this year turned out to be a thoroughly grey and wet Hanami on the day we made our outing under the blooming Sakura trees. That's not to say the whole season was like that, of course. It just happened that the day we met up with some Mary's...
It's been colder than usual, for longer than usual this year. That means that Hanami is a tad delayed. That's fine though since I still have some photos from last year's Sakura season to tide us over until the skies are thick with pink petals and the parks are full...
Hooooooly smokes, y'all. First post in eight months, that was a rather substantial lapse in activity here, eh? So where the hell have I been and what the hell have I been up to? First things first, 'cause I tend to ramble. Before I lose you in loquaciousness, I...
About a ten minute bike ride from our flat is Shitennoji (四天王寺), officially the oldest, active Buddhist temple in all of Japan. Pretty darn neato! And while the temple itself seems nice, what took me there was not the grounds themselves but what happens on the 21st...
TOKYO: 18 YEARS LATER 1997~2015 By no means am I “old,” though I am without question getting older. Subtle heralds of this fact make their unwelcome presence known from time to time. Things such as not being able to drink all night and be completely hangover...
On one of Sendai's many hillsides, there's a very pleasant temple by the name of Rinno-ji. Mary and I wandered up there last autumn and loved the quiet stroll up the bamboo-lined steps as well as the gardens on the temple grounds. Straight off the bat, we were...
One of these days, I'll run out of Sendai photos. But today is not that day. :/