Monday, February 21, 2011

A tiny little earthquake. (ちっちゃい地震や。)

地震情報

http://tenki.jp/earthquake/

I'm surprised it got all the way over here, really.

Not a whole lot of shaking, but enough to make me get up and run to the window to see if a car had hit the house or something similar.

... so earthquake still isn't the first thing that jumps to mind. Ahem.

This is Edo, signing off marveling at the weird things our planet does.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A winter wonderland? (不思議の国の冬?)

Not for this desert-dweller.

Something about waking up to this scene on a Friday morning just didn't sit right in my brain.


Suffice it to say that I am completely taken aback by the presence of snow (in the air or on the ground) if I am not currently vacationing in some sort of ski-resort type locale.


I don't think we're in Arizona anymore, dear readers.

I suppose it did give me something to post about, though. Silver lining and all that.

Apparently, Japan in general has been blanketed in abnormal amounts of snow this weekend. In fact, yesterday saw most of the Kii peninsula jammed, delayed, and otherwise inconvenienced by the unexpected dump from the heavens.

It actually made those pictures up there look silly in comparison.

Unfortunately, I came home past dark, and thus was unable to take any photographs for your viewing pleasure.

And they say spring begins after setsubun (the third of February.) Ha.

This is Edo, signing off wondering why all this snow stuff has been romanticized to death when really, all it is is wet socks waiting to happen.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Racking my brains... (頭をひねってる。。。)

Trying to think of a suitable topic for this week's post.

So far, I'm drawing something of a blank, in case you were wondering.

... yup, yup, total blank. I don't even have any exciting pictures to share in yet another round of "hide the lack of content with shiny things."

... wait just a minute. Not having the original source material by no means renders the principal unsound! I can put it into practice with whatever is readily available!

Genius! It's genius I say!

... now, what do I have readily available...

...

...

Ah ha.


Pictures from 伊勢神宮 (Ise jingu; Ise Shrine.) The jackpot.

I had forgotten all about my little jaunt over that-a-way in the end of December... Silly me.

Ahem.

Above, we have the main 鳥居 (torii), or Shinto gateway to the shrine. I was going for artistic... But I'll let you be the judge of that.

I like clouds.


And why wouldn't you, really?

... although these shots may very well be irrefutable evidence in the case against my bid for a stint in professional photography.

Oh well, I think they're pretty.


The bridge over the river into the shrine. Not very crowded at the end of December... that doesn't happen until January. Then, hold onto your socks. (Or tabi, as the case may be.)


An old, Miyazaki-esque (in my mind) torii further in. I had to stop and hold my camera at a bit of a weird angle to keep people out of this shot, but I think it's worth it. They'd totally spoil the feel of things.

... and just now I notice those obaa-san in the corner. Curses. This picture has just been downgraded from mystical shot of wonder to bland tourist photo #3452. Poop.


You can't take pictures of the actual shrine (apparently Amaterasu doesn't really go for that sort of thing), but this is pretty cool. No clue what it is, but hey. Pretty is as pretty does.

And last but not least...


The 洋服の青山 which I distinctly remember from our trip to Ise during AKP. It stood out to me from my seat on the bus and said "Behold: this is the inaka. Think of me as you return to your urban wonderland, and remember my people."

... who knew I'd be living less than an hour away in the years to come.

That's not really irony. But it's interesting anyway.

This is Edo, signing off with a whole folder of Ise pictures that she can pull out at a moment's notice. Moo ha ha.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

If pictures are worth a thousand words... (写真って一千の言葉の価格なら。。。)

Then really, these picture dumps are actually quite lengthy works of prose.

I guess it all depends on how you look at it.

I look at it as... easier than thinking of something to write. Ah ha ha.

And now that I'm actually putting some effort into maintaining my other blog... well. You can guess what happens when attentions get divided.

Suffice it to say that you are lucky to be getting pictures.

Let's see... I'll try to go in chronological order.


This is a cool traditional dance thing (yes, the name currently escapes me, don't rub it in) that Melon and I walked in on accidentally while wandering through the Aeon Mall by Kyoto station.

The best part, in my opinion, was the fact that half of the musicians were women, and I'm pretty sure the dancer was as well.

The point here is that traditionally, like Kabuki, this art form had a big ol' "NO WOMEN" sign strapped across it. However, unlike kabuki, it would (as evidenced above) likely not survive were it to maintain such strict regulations.

So hey, kudos for letting outdated traditions die, I say.


This was the creme brule desert that came wrapped up our set meals from an Italian restaurant restaurant in  新風館 (しんぷうかん, shinpuhkan) the following weekend. Unfortunately, this was by far the best part of the meal. Regardless, I can always appreciate good desert.

... unfortunately, however, my camera hand was not quite quick enough.


What can I say, it was tasty and I had just choked my way through half of a thoroughly disappointing pizza, flavorless soup, and a mediocre salad. I was desperate for some deliciousness. Not to mention we had to deal with a thoroughly unhelpful waitress on top of it all.

And look. It had kiwi. De-licious.


I keep promising that I'll write about Takarazuka... but I just never get around to it. Ugh.

Well, until the day comes that I actually get the inspiration to sit down and write the proper lengthy post that the performance truly deserves, suffice it to say that it was amazing and I am truly happy that Melon suggested we go.

(Also, that banner thing hung there for a good five minutes before the show started, and we suspect it was so that everyone could get their pictures to prove that they'd been there. Good idea, really, and pretty much everyone with the ability to do so took full advantage of the situation.)

And, last but not least...


Yes, yes, it is my pasta dish again, but this time I left out the anchovies... simply because I was feeling a bit cheap and lazy. Not to mention the fact that my anchovies are getting pretty old and grody... 

Regardless, I could not really gauge how well the dish fared sans-fish, because I misgauged the amount of juice in my small lemon and added way too much. The dish was overpowered, and I thus have no idea if I can continue to leave out the anchovies or not. Further experimentation is warranted. 

And that, as they say, is that.

Oh, I also bought myself a ticket for a DEATHGAZE live in Nagoya next month. I told you I liked them, didn't I? 

This is Edo, signing off with a live in her sights and a dinner to plan.

PS- I also got my first ever influenza shot today... let's see how that works out, shall we? I've only ever caught influenza while living in Japan, and my health insurance got me my vaccine for only 500 yen, so I figured what the hey. 

We shall see.