Casually

Shooting from an LCD screen certainly affords a different perspective than from a viewfinder.

My Power Shot G3 had lain in a cupboard for months ignored. Yesterday while cleaning the apartment I came across the retired digicam and slipped it into my satchel, thinking perhaps I could be inspired to use it on the way to work today. After all, one of my new year resolutions was to shoot more often and more casually.

Here is what I found...

...on the way to the bus stop

...on the bus

...on the way to the office

...at the coffee stand

...in front of the office (Smokers always try to ruin the morning).


There was also a stop for a self-portrait:

Black-eared kite

In two previous posts (Izushi and Kamakura), I wrote in passing about hawks. It has come to my attention that the more accurate term for the medium-sized, wide-winged bird I saw in these towns is a black kite. While it wasn't incorrect to refer to the brown birds as hawks (since it can loosely mean any bird of prey, according to Wikipedia) the more accurate term of black kite (milvus migrans) is better in order to distinguish it from the far less common true hawks, as well as from other birds of prey native to Japan.

The black kite is a widespread species throughout the temperate and tropical parts of Eurasia and parts of Australasia. The subspecies native to Japan is a black-eared kite, milvus migrans lineatus. (source: Wikipedia, "Black Kite")

The Japanese word for this bird is tobi.

I have a photograph of what I believe is a black-eared kite, taken near Lake Biwa (north-east of Kyoto) in the summer of 2004:

Clouds on Glass...

...In Kobe

Shitennoji Temple, Osaka

What's a new year in Japan without a visit to the local shrine or temple?




It was a gorgeous day and I went to Shitennoji, the oldest officially administered temple in Japan. Built in 593 A.D. it is "fondly regarded as the Buddhist altar of Osaka," according to the Osaka Visitor's Guide homepage.

There are 28 pictures in the Shitennoji Temple photo album.

New Albums

Over the holidays I added 3 albums to my online photo gallery.

(Clicking on the links below will open the album in a new page).

Kyoto
53 images












Shrines & Temples
51 images










Autumn Leaves
28 images

Happy New Year!

Fireworks

I played a little with Fireworks today...


Original image is here.


That's a Tottenham Hotspur hat by the way...

Izushi

Izushi is a 30 minute bus ride from Kinosaki. It's another small town dubbed "little Kyoto", complete with a canal, a dozen or so shrines, wooden houses and shops selling Japanese snacks and wares. To the south, there is a small hill with a path lined with flaming orange torii gates that lead to an aged, half-demolished castle, from which one can get a gorgeous view of the town and surrounding rice fields. Thick redwood-like trees abound, and there is the constant bird-calls of hawks black kites (see edit) that circle above.

Izushi's main fame is soba, noodles made from buckwheat. There are many restaurants specialising in soba; one could be forgiven for thinking it's all there is here. I spent only a few hours in the town, but would love to return another season.

Kinosaki

Kinosaki is a small town on the Japan sea about two and a half hours from Osaka by slow train; it's famous for its hot springs. It is a great place to visit if you have the time.








You need to stay for the night, enjoy at least one of the half-dozen public hot springs, relax in yukata at a Japanese traditional inn, take a stroll through the streets in geta (wooden footwear), and most importantly, enjoy a banquet of crab in the comfort of your own tatami room.

Add to that: take a hike in the nearby hills, peruse through some of the souvenir stores selling wooden crafts, gawk at the prices for fresh crab on sale along the streets, eat tamago-onsen (soft-boiled egg made with hot spring water) and take a short bus to any of the nearby towns competing with Kinosaki for tourists.






It's a good way to spend two free days in the winter. A touch of snow would have made my visit on Boxing Day a bit more charming; instead there was rain and overcast skies. But the crab was absolutely delicious. It's a fun spot for any photographer.

Christmas Day Lights

Christmas Day shots at Nakanoshima, Osaka.


There was a lovely display of simple Christmas illuminations on this island flanked by two canals that run in the centre of Osaka. Throngs of people meandered up and down the paths, enjoying the collection of lights and the unseasonably warm weather.


A spirited light show on the sides of a government building was beautifully matched with classical music.


When the light show was over, everyone whipped out their cellphones to take a picture, inadvertently making their own light show!


A massive Christmas tree stood in front of nearby City Hall, a gift from the city of Droibak, Norway, dubbed "The World Linking Tree." The green sign in front explains: "The trees from Norway, placed in totally different parts of the world will be shining the message of 'Love, Peace, and Friendship'.... We can all understand the beautiful message the trees stand for, even if our nationality, race, religion and language are different. We can understand each other when we look at the heart-warming, brilliantly lit trees. This is a truly international effort as heart-warming as the spirit of Christmas all over the world..."

Heartbreak: Inter 1 FC Barcelona 0

The loss was really hard to bear. I had a good seat and great expectations, but in the end it was dashed hopes and a long, sleepless bus ride back to Osaka.

Frank Rijkyaard made some poor tactical decisions, I think. Oh well. Hats off to Internacional, which scored the winning goal with less than 10 minutes to go, on one of it's few chances on net. Deco and Motta played particularly well. Why Motta was subbed totally mystifies me. He was so solid in the midfield. I bet if he hadn't been subbed Inter wouldn't have scored and Barca would have prevailed.

This was my second time to watch Barca play at the magnificent Yokohama stadium, the first being in July 2005 when they played to an exciting 3-3 draw with Yokohama F. Marinos....

Some shots from the heartbreak: