We’re leaving on a trip to the States tomorrow. First visiting my dad in Minneapolis, then my mom’s side of the family in San Francisco. Looking forward to it; it’s been about a year and a half. I remember the last time I went back, for the first three days everybody seemed unkempt, dirty, and fat, but then when I got used to it again I was struck and pleased by all the variety that is largely missing here in Japan. I wonder how it’ll seem this time.
This is the view from my window. The fall colors are just getting started here, but apparently they’re already winding down in Minnesota. Too bad. At least they have good ribs.
So, my next post will be from the States, although it will take a few days to get there and get settled. I’m still trying to figure out how many lenses I can stuff in my backpack without fear of damage. I was going to go with the diminutive 35/2 alone, but lens lust calls, and all my babies are saying, “Zak, how can you leave me behind? Think of all the opportunities you’ll miss!“
Tully’s babe?
Or traditional brooms lit by setting sun?
A perennially popular look here. Equivalent of goths in the States, maybe.
(Click to enlarge or these girls will be converted by Mormon missionaries.)
Taken at Tully’s, when I was theoretically working on a translation of a clinical trial protocol.
(Click to enlarge or this man will eat you for breakfast.)
There is a whole industry in the newspaper world of articles about Japan. What happens is hack journalists who know nothing about the country come here, find the stupidest, weirdest thing about the country they can, then write about it as if a) they are actually knowledgeable, and b) the whacky individuals they have found are somehow representative. This article in the NYT is a prime example. When I read something like this in the NYT, I realize that much of the other reporting they do must also have little basis in reality.
I guess any untalented journalist can sell the NYT a story about how the Japanese are whacky or how the Chinese are a threat. I guess it’s a good gig. Maybe I should get in on it.
Yesterday I wrote a little about bokeh. Here are two more photos from the same set that I like, followed by one more of Genbo taken shortly thereafter that also illustrates the 70-200’s nice bokeh.
I’m in the process of selling the lens to help pay for a new flute, but looking at these photos makes me realize I’ll miss it. Ah well, it’s a good thing they make a lot of these things (as opposed to shakuhachi, which are inherently one-of-a-kind).
Japanese people love hydrangeas. They’re all over the place. A veritable blight on the landscape.
OK, not quite. I like them too, although I don’t think they need to be quite so ubiquitous as they are here. The entire hillside leading up to Genbo’s daycare is planted in hydrangeas, and I took these photos last June when they were blooming.
Notice how the out-of-focus areas have a pleasant rendering. This is referred to as bokeh. The term is originally Japanese, but it’s easier to say than “out of focus rendering,” so it’s been adopted in English as well. In Japanese, however, it also means “senility” of various kinds—in fact, the term has been frequently applied to yours truly for reasons that will be immediately obvious to anyone who knows me well.
The 70-200 VR lens I shot these with is known to have nice bokeh. Some lenses have a nice and smooth (”creamy” as camera geeks like to say) bokeh, while that produced by other lenses will be more jagged. There are people who spend inordinate amount of time comparing and arguing over various qualities of bokeh on the Internet. Or so I hear.
I like to think that both my lenses and I have a nice bokeh about us.
I’d love to visit the Nikon factory in Sendai, where they produce the professional bodies and lenses. Too bad it’s on the other side of Japan. Here they assemble things in “cell” fashion, where small teams construct each camera by hand from start to finish. No assembly-line production here. That’s for the Thailand factory, which I’m sure produced my camera body.
Ever since I worked as an interpreter for Toyota/GM at a manufacturing plant in Fremont I’ve loved factories. They are complex, intricate places, and the way different processes and systems fit together is incredibly interesting.
I also remember when I interpreted for an industrial chemist on his tour of a pharmaceutical plant here in Japan. The way his face lit up with enthusiasm as he described why this plant’s way of filling phials was the best was truly great to behold.
There’s a song from the band Cowboy Junkies that pretty much captures how I would love for my children to remember me. Sometimes I get tired or irritated and am not as patient as I can/should be, and that’s OK to an extent, but I always remind myself that I can do better.
I’ve been listening to this song over and over again lately, not just because Margo Timmins has one of the most beautiful voices in music, but because the lyrics are so touching to me.
My mother sang the sweetest melody
Although she never sang in a musical key
I’d hear her through the house
My name called out loud
My mother sang the sweetest melody
My mother’s hands were always cool and soft
And like her eyes they would caress with every touch
She would listen to my chatter
As if every word I spoke mattered
She’d hold me close and whisper in my ear
She’d say, “girl you are a part of me
I have made you strong
When you grow up and are on your own
Remember to win them with your song”
My father sang in perfect harmony
And though he never sang in a musical key
You could hear him when he’d enter the house
The kiss he’d give my Ma
My father sang in perfect harmony
My father’s words were always sure and clear
And like his presence they would rid me of my fears
When I crawled up on his knees
I was safe as I could be
He’d hold me tight and whisper in my ear
He’d say, “girl you are a part of me
I have made you strong
When you grow up and are on your own
Remember to win them with your song”
My mother sang in perfect harmony
Although she never sang in a musical key
You can buy the MP3 of this song here, and even listen to a sample of some sublime crooning (the grey button that says “Preview All”).
