Some People Call it Heaven, originally uploaded by jasohill.
I call it Hachimantai.
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It was near five o’clock yesterday when I looked out my window and noticed the waves in the sky. The sun had not set, but I knew there was something up with the clouds. So I grabbed my camera gear and took off to find a better perch in which to shoot them. Here is what I got:
It appear as if a large ribbon had formed over the sky.
This amazing lenticular cloud appeared out of nowhere.
More of the lenticular cloud with Mr.Iwate.
The lenticular cloud and the ribbon wave seen together.
Mt.Iwate seen with the ribbon wave and a bridge.
I’m compiling a quick list of resources for people living in Japan should they desire to donate to the relief effort in Haiti. I only have a couple at the moment, but I’ll be adding more as I find them. These allow you to make a bank transfer if you don’t have any other way to donate. If you don’t live in Japan, check out this article on The Huffington Post to find a place to donate:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/haiti-earthquake-relief-h_n_421014.html
1. Japanese Red Cross
If you want to send money to the Red Cross in Japan, please visit this page to get the bank transfer info you will need to send money:
http://www.jrc.or.jp/foreignrescue/l3/Vcms3_00001448.html
If you need assistance with instructions in how to do the transfer please leave a comment and I will give you a quick overview of how to do a Japanese bank trasfer.
2. Doctors without borders Japan branch:
https://www.msf.or.jp/donate_bin/onetime.php
This one time donation allows you to donate with a japanese credit card.
Spring has finally come to Japan. It was a long winter with a lot of snow, but it’s now just starting to pay off. The flowers started coming out today and that means the cherry blossoms aren’t far behind.
I went out after work to find some nice flowers that would work well with the setting sun. There was a lot of haze in the air, so I took this set of daffodils and flowers that haven’t even bloomed yet. The haze gave a nice diffusion. It’s difficult to shoot daffodils. They are a bright yellow that doesn’t expose well. What I did hear was turn down the brightness in Aperture and increase the black point until I had the contrast I was looking for. I never actually use the contrast lever in Aperture. It’s just too hard. Happy spring everyone.
I’ve noticed an interesting trend in the last few years. It appears more and more people are coming to Japan and using an email address that has, “I think I’m lost” or “lost in Japan” embedded inside. for example: ithinkimlost2530, or lostinjapan23. I am puzzled why they are using this expression and how it came about in the first place.
My first suspicion was that it might be related to a popular Internet forum for English teachers in Japan called(amazingly enough), “I think I am lost.” I was thinking people would visit the site, then take on the title in their email as an homage to their favorite forum. However, I’m pretty sure I had seen it used even before the forum had been created. So I’m left to wonder if this might have originated in a book or something. Either way, I find the entire thing rather cliche.
I’m really not a huge fan of the expression, but I can’t say why it irritates me so when I hear it. The people that use this phrase might actually be scared and alone when they first get here, which would be the most rational explanation, but that doesn’t cover the people create the email months before they even leave their country. I like to imagine that the kind of people that are satirized on “Stuff White People like” are exactly those who would enjoy using this expression. It’s trendy and pertains to a way of thinking that I cannot grasp. As if being in Japan is a Zen experience and they are soul searching while they are here, so they declare themselves fragile or ‘lost’ to show the world how truly spiritual they are.
Japan has never really been like that for me. I enjoy the culture, the people and the everyday conveniences, but I’ve never really thought about being here in a ‘spiritual’ sense; as if it were something trendy I’m supposed to do before I return to the “real world.” For me Japan is the real world, and I treat it as such everyday I’m here in the way I interact with the people around me. Sure I’ve been scared, alone and actually lost in Japan, but I’ve never felt the need to declare myself lost.
Perhaps that is why I can say with certainty that I am “not lost” in Japan. It could also be that it’s Monday and Monday’s tend to sour my disposition.
[Update] If you use the “lost in Japan” expression in your email, perhaps you can explain why in the comments. I am truly curious.
I took a lot of pictures last year. Most were landscape photos, but I had a few portraits in there as well. I recently went through some of the best ones and chose “See you on the other side” as my photo of the year. It represented my awakening as an artistic photographer.
It seems kind of silly to pic what you thought was the best you took, but I feel it’s an important lesson in understanding your own tastes. If you are a photographer, I’d recommend you chose what your best photo of the year was as well.
This week Iwate just turned into a strange horror film. I could see the signs a couple of months ago, but I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. You see, Iwate has always had a ton of moths in July and August. They range from really small to as big as your entire face (wing span included.) I’ve never minded them before, and I actually found some of them to be quite beautiful, but something was a little different this year.
It all started when I headed out to the grocery store to pick up some, well, groceries. I parked my car and headed toward the main doors. Then I looked up. The entire wall was covered end to end with moths. I had never seen anything like this before. Big ones, little ones. Blue ones, green ones. Some laying eggs, others swarming. I could not believe my eyes. I ran into the store, and saw that many of them had found their way inside as well. Many of the clerks were swooshing them with brooms. But the clerks were outnumbered. I found the entire spectacle almost funny. I just assumed it was a cyle year for moths and that was the end of it, grabbed my groceries and went home. Then things got personal.
Yesterday I had some laundrry drying outside. I folded up all my shirts and put them in my shirt drawer. This morning I went to grab one of the shirt, and when I unfolded it I was greeted with the most shocking thing I’d seen in a while. I huge moth, half crushed, but still moving, was smearing yellow eggs all over the shirt and spewing some sort of webbing around the eggs. Now, I’m a big nature fan, but I’m don’t like it when nature takes it road show to my bedroom. Basically, I freaked, threw the shirt away and my stomach has been upset all morning. All this of course lead me to write this blog post.
As Steven Colbert might put it. I am placing the moths on notice. They’ve crossed a line.
Windy Iwate Mountain, originally uploaded by jasohill.
You’ll probably notice some changes around here. I’ve upgraded the website to WordPress 2.32 and have decided to go with a new theme based around the K2 interface. I’ve also chosen a new theme for the blog. I will still be focusing on Japan of course, but I will be working more of my photography into the stories as well. I’m going to move this blog more towards a photoblog of Japan.
To start this off I present you the first picture of Iwate Mountain I took this year. As you can see, it’s fairly windy up near the top, where the snow is being blasted off the side of the mountain. I went on a twenty minute drive to find the best shot for this. The entire time, I was worried the winds were going to die down. Lucky for me, they actually got stronger. This is why they don’t recommend you climb this sucker in the winter.
Faces at the Tokyo Game Show, originally uploaded by jasohill.
The Tokyo game show came and went again this year. I can’t say there was really anything all that interesting going on this year. There weren’t any new console announcements, or highly anticipated games to speak of. The only thing I took away from it were some decent photos, and a chance to catch up with some friends. I suppose in many ways, that is what it’s all about, but it’s a heck of a lot of money to spend.
One thing I should mention is that it was ridiculously hot this year. I walked around in a soaked shirt most of the day. Not that this was bad enough, but the stench of fanboy order was also in the air. Japan doesn’t like deodorant, and this is a fact you could smell. I might just consider saving my pennies next year.
La Lune, originally uploaded by jasohill.
Did you catch the total lunar eclipse on August 28, 2007? It wasn’t hard to see from Matsuo, Hachimantai City. All I had to do was look up. There were clear skies all evening. Still, it wasn’t an easy subject to capture. Even though my lens is a 200mm zoom lens, I still had to do a lot of cropping to get this image.
Many of my students has no idea how a lunar eclipse happens, so I spend the first fifteen minutes of my classes today giving them a quick astronomy lesson. Most seemed bored, but there were a fair number of students that wanted to know more. I’m glad I was able to reach out to them.
Update: English meaning section. I almost forgot to post what the Japanese word for Lunar Eclipse is. In Japanese you say gesshoku(月食) for a lunar eclipse and nisshoku(日食）for a solar eclipse. They mean “Moon Eat” and “Sun Eat.” If it’s a total eclipse of sun sun, you say kaikishoku(皆既食）、and of the moon, kaikigesshoku(皆既月食.）The more you know…
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