Tim’s Ramblings

My new canvas prints came in! I got them printed relatively large at 16×24 and they look really nice. I’m really digging the tree one too. Now to figure out where to hang them… Hmmm….

:)

Saturday was the day I flew home. And so my camera phone came in handy for the photo of the day.

Knowing you have a long long flight ahead of you sucks. But seeing “on time” is a wonderful thing.

Granted it’s just one of two flights to get me home but at least I know it will start off good.

Going home today. Leaving the parent’s house in about an hour to head to the airport. Got a long flight and then a rush at Houston since I only have an hour and 50 minutes in between. Yikes. We’ll see how it goes.

Dinner last night at another “Izakaya” (a bar-ish place). 6 photos. The last 3 are behind the cut. :)

This was one of the specials. Hand roll with salmon roe sprinkled on top.

My favorite, “komochi shishamo” or smelt with kids. Basically it’s whole smelt with eggs inside. It’s great. You eat the whole thing :)

Mini gyoza (pot stickers).

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Last night here. Totally forgot. It’s 9:25. I will pack at 10 and go to bed. Tomorrow I’ll stay at my parents and then home on Saturday :)

So, on to the photos!

Outside one of the exits for the Mita subway line at Jimbocho station is a giant hand holding a baseball. The sign underneath states that this is the birthplace of Japanese Baseball. Huh. Who knew? Just ran into this on the way to a meeting.

There’s a big poster for the new Meryl Streep movie. In the US it’s called “It’s Complicated”. And in most commercials you have no idea she owns a bakery. In Japan? They totally changed the title. The Japanese title is “Koi Suru Bakery” which means “Bakery to Fall in Love”…which I guess is a direct translation. Kind of like “Loving in a Bakery”…kind of. Anyway, just thought it was interesting.

Sometimes walking out of the subway takes almost as long as riding in one…some are just looooong…like the Mita station on the Mita line…you just walk and walk and walk and… Ugh…

This was a long trip…it was the typical 2 weeks but…it felt longer… One more full day. It’ll be good to go home…

:)

Today is another one of those days where we’re not going for the artistic. This is another “here’s what I ate” diary thing. Today we went to a place known for their hot dishes. Not just temperature hot but chilli hot too. Eeeek…

But first… A new drink out in Japan for a limited time only. Coinciding with the Final Fantasy XIII release (US release in March) they released cans with character faces on it calling it an “elixer” just like in the game. The original one from a few years back tasted like death… The joke going around Japan was that it wans’t an elixer but just pure poison. I’ll try this one tomorrow once it’s ice and chilled.

Today’s dinner was with my coworker here at a place called ‘”Aka Chilli Tei” or “Red Chilli Place” and yes, it’s all about heat here. And dear god was it hot…

This is the “famous” dish here. It’s just a chicken wing…but with habanero powder. It goes from 1 to 5. 1 being tasty. 5 being…well…death. Needless to say the one on the right is 5 and it was just for me.

Being the one with the camera, I took my coworker’s reactions. Only she saw mine. I can’t imagine I was pretty… Needless to say my entire mouth, lips, everything was in searing pain. She had the “level 1″ but you can tell already how hot it was. Going in clockwise order it’s 1. “Hm…here’s a taste…”, 2. “…hey it’ not bad…”, 3. “…no no NOOOOO!! It’s bad! It’s bad! It’s bad!!”, and about 5 minutes later (since I was eating mine and pretty much dying) her going 4. “…my entire face hurts…my FACE hurts”. :)

Proof we both finished our chicken. The pointy part has no meat…it’s like a handle really of just cartilage and bone. The main part? Done!! And dear god did it hurt… But I’d probably do it again :)

The rest are behind the cut! :)

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So I seem to have acquired a few more readers of this little blog which, over the past year has become basically a photo blog. So, to all the new readers…I apologize. See. When I’m in Japan (or even in the US) many days it’s just me waking up, going to work, meetings, lunch, meetings, more work, office, dinner, hotel, sleep… And in between there is NOOOTHING interesting. Just because I’m in Japan doesn’t mean everything is exotic or different… So there will be days like yesterday and partially today where my photos are just…well…crap.

At least back home I have my photos from the past that I can practice my post processing. But here? Not so much.

BUT, I will do my best! So welcome! :)

Moving on to the main post, long day again… Not much to show for it. So here’s three shots.

Just for fun you can click on these to get a bigger version too, in case…you know…you want a bigger version of the new pop for a background or something…

The view out my window at 6:53am. Yup. Just 1 lonely window in my tiny little room. But it’s a nice view of Mt. Fuji when it’s clear!

Another new drink. Domestic white peach soda. It was…eh… Carbonated. But just really sweet with a slightly tart aftertaste. But I can’t say it really tasted a lot like a peach…oh well.

This is very similar to my current profile pic. This was taken in the 17th floor elevator hall of the hotel I’m staying in when I got back from the office and quickie dinner. That’s about as much expression as I could manage… So. Tired.

…sleepy today…

I already posted the main pics from this for Sunday’s Photo A Day, but I wanted to post the rest.

There’s 8 photos in all. First 3 are here. The rest are behind the cut. As usual, you can click on these photos for a bigger version!

There were a row of jizo statues greeting all visitors at the entrance.

Here’s another angle of the statue of Bishamonten.

Just like many other shrines and temples, this one also had a bronze dragon with water coming out of his mouth that you use to wash your hands and even swish out your mouth before going to the shrine itself.

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One of the companies we do business with here in Japan prints our marketing materials and creates the booths for trade shows and such. As a thank you for the new year, they made these for some of the people here in the Tokyo office and also one for me. It’s a cell phone strap but with a custom carved wooden panel with my name on it. Pretty neat!

New drink here in Japan. “Chocolate Sparkling”. Yeah. Chocolate flavored soda. Was it good? Um… Hm… It smells very much like chocolate. But it tasted like…cold carbonated hot chocolate without the thickness. It was odd… Totally odd…

(-_-)

Went to a local temple, Shoukakuin, with the parents today. It’s a local place but it’s packed with statues of monks and gods. Almost like it’s someone’s hobby. It’s also there to house the statue of one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan.

There are TONS of photos from this place along with a suspension bridge nearby. But I still have to go through all the photos sooo for now it’s just 4. More will be coming. I promise.

You can click on these for a bigger version too.

So, for now, here’s the shot of the main temple.

This is the diety that the temple is built for. One of the 7 Lucky Gods (Shichifukujin) of Japan, this is Bishamonten, the god of war, warriors, and treasure who symbolizes “Dignity”.

And the next two are just a small small sampling of the statues of monks and deities in this pretty small complex. For these, definitely click on the 2 images for a better view as these are quite small. I figured this will be an easier way of showing the statues than just one full size photo after another.

:)

Today was shopping day. Once I made sure my coworker was on his way to Narita from Tokyo Station, I was on my feet all over Tokyo for various things until well past 6. Tired… and hard to believe it’s already past 10pm…and I’ve hardly done anything. Ah well.

Anyway, there’s 10 photos this time. After the first 3, click on the link for the rest!

We’ll start off with some cute little keychains and charms at Asakusa Temple.

They had calligraphy award winners at Meiji Jingu Shrine. These are done by kids as young as 1st grade. Impressive!!!

The moon was already out at like 2pm. It was kinda neat.

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