The eagle has flown
Phew. Think I’m gonna sleep for a week. The eagle (the surprise visitors ie my brothers family) has flown and I actually went home early last night sober and had tim-tams, vegemite toast and tea for dinner. What an amazing week it’s been. Hectic, frenetic, fabulous, drunken, laughter-filled, adventure-filled, crazy and utterly wonderful. Think I wanna turn 40 every year, it’s so much fun!
Thanks to everyone who helped organise and/or participated in the celebrations!
I’ve been going through the zillion photos and started editing, but it’ll take a while. Here are a few from yesterday – my families last day. More soon.
Kenta
My friend Kenta is an awesome artist. We met up for lunch and coffee on Sunday, in Nishi-Ogikubo. He knew a cool organic restaurant there. The food was delicious, we both had the vegetarian set. I loved the use of a peanut as a chopstick rest.
After lunch we wandered around and found one of those little old-school Japanese style coffee shops, full of the owners eccentric tastes – an owl hooted every time someone walked through the door, the walls were covered in old clocks and strange memorabilia and dozens of chandeliers hung from the ceiling. In one corner there was a traditional kitchen hearth complete with iron fish-hook suspended above the fireplace.
We sat and talked for hours. He’s an interesting guy. He cycled from Tokyo to Bangkok via China, lived in Thailand for a long time, travelled all over Asia, parts of Australia and Samoa and speaks English and Thai equally fluently. His whole life is documented in the most beautiful diaries, most pages with drawings he made for each day.
These pages were written in Thailand.
This was a poem and sketch he made for his Granddad. He had died a month before but his Mum didn’t tell him because she didn’t want him to cut his trip short.
This was in Malaysia.
He’s just had one of his designs put on a tee-shirt at Patagonia and dreams of a simple life where he can travel and draw every day, instead of working in a Thai kitchen as a cook 6 days a week. His portfolio is seriously awesome.
We hugged our farewells on the train platform – he was off to Shibuya to check the in-store display of his shirt at Patagonia, and I was off home to write epitaphs. As I went, I looked at all the rushing people around me and wondered what their dreams are, and if they’ll ever achieve them before the grind of daily life crushes all their fire into ash. God, I hope I do. And I really hope Kenta does too. The phrase “leap and the net will appear” is ringing in my head louder than ever.
The heat rolls on and baby Dudley-Taiga’s almost here….
Hands up all you Tokyo-ites who thought the last days of summer had kinda passed? Yup, me too. Oh how wrong we were… today is 34 and hellaciously humid, as was yesterday. Planning to head out to Yoyogi Koen later for Sigsy‘s bday party but hot-damn, it’s gonna be hot out there. It’s a public holiday here today, so it’s gonna be busy out, too.
Life is good
Yuiko in Koganei Koen yesterday
Christian plays faun
They’ve been married for a couple of years now
Yama-chan disappeared to hug trees for a while
Koganei Koen is a beautiful, huge park. Western Tokyo is full of them, I’m slowly realising.
Went drinking with friends during the week, Kattsun was one of them. This is the best photo I took that night.
The mysterious Motorbike Samurai
Life is good when the weather warms up, the sun comes out, you get some days off and you get taken to dinner by a guy you’ve had a crush on for 2 years.
Technorati Tags: 1.4usm, canon300D, japan, photography, portraits, sigma17-70mm, tokyo
Tokyo Earthday
The main stage
Sleeping babe at a live trance gig
Yama-chan at the end of her tether after I shot about 6 consecutive pictures of her with her eyes closed!
There is something very disturbing about this picture of Christian….
Shen playing his gig (he’s the tabla player to the left)
Midnight super-ninja’s battling in the park…and then stopping to check out pictures of themselves doing battle
I went to the Tokyo Earthday Festival at Yoyogi with Yama-chan and Christian on Sunday. My old buddy Shen played a gig with some friends, and Pete came along a bit later in the evening with his 7 months-pregnant wife Amanda and his super-kawaii 3 year old Charlie (aka Sper-ninja!). It was a beautiful day. Which is a good thing since it was also my only day off.
Can’t keep my eyes open. Oyasumi-nasai.
Technorati Tags: 1.4usm, canon, canon300D, EF50mm/f/1.4usm, events, japan, earthday, tokyo
いってらしゃい　Charleneーさん
Charlene showing off her fabulous new hairstyle!
My beautiful, wacky, wonderful house-mate of the past 18 months is leaving Japan tomorrow, returning to Manitoba in central Canada where there is still snow 2 metres high. It doesn’t seem real. It’s too sad to think about too much. So I won’t. A lot of tears and laughter bonds us together, I’m sure we’ll hang out again sometime, somewhere, in the not too distant future….. The lovely Andrew left for Seattle today, too. Too many good byes in this expatriate life.
But on the other hand, there are also lots of hello’s. My new (old) flatmate (we used to live together with Timbo in Komaba Todaimae), Fuku-chan, has settled in to her room and will soon make a starring appearance here on the blog. We’ve had a lot of fun already – she likes a bit of a drink and a party, and met some of my closest friends on saturday night at Tylers birthday party. It’ll be great for my Japanese to live with a Japanese person again. Every conversation includes some language explanation. It’s great – we both really want to improve our respective language skills.
For my Australian family and friends: I’ve decided to make a trip back to Oz for about 5 weeks in far-away December/January, to celebrate my 40th B-day with all the old crew (family and friends) at my brothers house in Port Douglas, and then travel around the east coast catching up with everyone and maybe pop in to Woodford for the festival… Anyways, if you wanna start planning for a trip to Port D. around the first/second week of December I’d be really excited!
Araku rocks…
If I’m in Shinjuku for a drink and needing some place with a bit of atmosphere, I usually head to Golden Gai. I’ve written about it plenty of times before. It is a collection of cool little bars tucked away in a little part of Shinjuku, in cool, ramshackle, surprisingly clean little alleys, with plenty of history and character deeply imprinted into the walls.
If you ever make your way into Golden Gai, make sure you make time to drop in to Araku, my friend Tracey’s bar. Actually, I believe it’s her families bar… That’s her brother, Richard to the right and boyfriend/bartender extraordinaire, Ashley on the left in the above pic. They are all Australians and long term Japan residents (and actually, Tracey and Richard are the team that bring you the eternally useful mobile phone service TangoTown). Anyways, I digress, as I am often wont to do.
I dropped in there on Friday night for the first time and had a delightful time. Tracey and Ash run the bar on Wednesday and Friday nights, and on other nights of the week the place is staffed by fully bilingual staff so it’s a great place to go if your Japanese isn’t so great (in Golden Gai, if you don’t speak much Japanese you can have a hard time….. ). Anyways, that makes it good for international visitors who can’t speak any Japanese (erm, and the rest of us who are lazy to apply ourselves to extensive Japanese study). It’s got heaps of room, another unusual feature in Golden Gai where the average bar seats about 6 – 10 people…. Araku has room for around 20/25 people, and actually – there were about that many people in there on Friday night. It was pumping. They sell great Australian wines and a range of nibblies too. Open till dawn. Go ch-ch-check it out! (How to find Araku)
Here’s Sarah and Tracey being really still and sultry for the low-light photo… (god, can’t wait till my big camera is back from the shop!)
Technorati Tags: flickr, friends, japan, goldengai, puppy, shinjuku, tokyo
Aureole
Back in December, while she was visiting me on her way back to Australia, Aureole agreed to pose for me while I experimented with all 3 of my cameras to see how they all performed. The Holga won, hands down, creating some beautiful atmospheric images that now form an important series in mOnOchrOmic, the exhibition open now. But the Canon G3 and 300D did OK jobs too. I just posted a few of the better ones to flickr – go take a look at Aureole in the bath….
It was fun doing this. We tried to make the water all milky, using bathsalts and, well… milk. But when she put her head under water, her hair dye ran turning the water a dark red. She is really comfortable in front of a camera, and being as tattooed as she is, she’s a popular subject for her photographer friends. It was a great setting to do an experimental shoot like this, because it was really relaxed and casual and I got to play with cameras and settings and light and so on in a really comfortable atmosphere. I’m looking forward to her next visit so we can try out something new.
[posted with ecto]
Technorati Tags: flickr, friends, japan, kichijoji, photography, portraits, tattoo, tokyo
The kids are alright
My brother finally updated his Flickr account with a bunch of pics from recent kiddy Bday festivities. Those gorgeous kids all have their Mum’s big blue-gray eyes. Evie is such a hilarious character! Fraser is a beautiful, big, sporty softy, and Darcy is just such a big loving, lovable goose. Now I’m feeling all homesick. By the way, those of you who still have no idea what a frangipani is, that’s one sitting prettily above Frasers ear in the middle photo above….
Today: only 2 classes, a visit to immigration, a swim at the pool. The forecast shows the big happy smiling sun-face and 14 degrees. Yeah, nice. Have a good day whatever you’re doing!
[posted with ecto]
Technorati Tags: Australia, family, homesickness
Opening night party pics and sundry items…
The opening night party was a hoot. Thanks to everyone who came, and especially to Tyler, Yuta and Lisa for helping me hang the photos – and continuing to do so after I left to go teach a class for an hour and a half… (doh!). I just made a new Flickr album with a bunch of happy snaps and polaroids from the mOnOchrOmic opening party. Go check it out.
Anyway, as for the exhibition itself, so far, so good. Sold 5 prints (3 to strangers), had 2 frames drop off the walls and get damaged (*sigh) and made a bunch of new friends. Mikorin (the owner of the nomiya where I’m exhibiting) has been amazing, she’s such a thoughtful woman, I’m fortunate to be able to count her as a friend.
The past 10 days or so have been so crazily busy, I feel quite dazed now, and I’m kinda worried that there’s no chance on the horizon for some down time. The only day I have some free time is Thursday, and I have to go back to the immigration office to pick up my new visa on that day. Really hope they found it in their stingy hearts to give me a 3 year visa this time, I’m heartily sick of the annual hassle. Hope I don’t melt down any time soon….
If you live in Tokyo, please do try to come down and take a look at the exhibition. It was a lot of work and I’m quite proud of it. I would be honoured if you made the trek to pink gai in Kichijoji to check it out.
Technorati Tags: flickr, friends, japan, kichijoji, parties, tokyo, toycameras
Happy Birthday Evie!!!
Today the funniest and most beautiful girl in the world turned two. Happy birthday, darling Evie! Evie is my god-daughter and niece. I took these photos of her during my trip to Australia in May last year… She’s grown so much since then, and has taken to Skype web-cam chats like a true champion. She calls me Party Marty and loves to chatter away in baby-glish for ages with the headset on, gazing at herself and her Party Marty up on the monitor… it cracks me up every time!
Technorati Tags: family
The new tattoo
My friend and super-tattooist, Ms Aureole McAlpine came to visit me in Tokyo on her way back from various tattoo conventions in Europe. She gave me my second tattoo – a follow up to the foot tattoo she gave me last year. We used a similar design idea, something that blends Japanese and Australian culture – using stylised water-designs with sakura flowers arranged in a Southern Cross constellation (as seen in the sky only in the Southern Hemisphere)… It hurt a little more than the foot tattoo, mainly because it took twice as long and used twice as much more colour and ink.
Charlene, Tyler and Steve were the support team…. they fed me some much needed beer afterwards. It was an intense experience and I was quite exhausted by the whole thing but gawd, I do love the final result. It’s quite beautiful and the colours are just gorgeous.
I made a flickr set of the proceedings…
Fucking laugh big loud on train
Sometimes communicating with the locals can be a little mind-altering. Between my bad (but improving, to be sure to be sure) Japanese and their bad English, though, we somehow manage to make ourselves understood. And it’s a fun, creative process, one that has endeared itself to me. The art of communication, with all it’s cultural and personal eccentricities, brings me great delight (and regular frustration)… Not content to just sit back, soak up and correct the dodgy Engrish we hear and read all around us all day, every day as English teachers, MissSin & I have chosen to celebrate – with a full embrace, everything we love about Engrish.
How do we do this? Read on, read on. I hope you laugh a lot.
Technorati Tags: friends, funny, japan, life, teachingenglish
The latest Music Meme: The iTunes shuffle interview
Looking out a late night Chuo train window at another late night Chuo train….
I’ve been tagged for a meme which I first saw on sushizume and then on sigsy in tokyo and then – where the actual baton-passing happened, on J-Sters fabbo new look (and new link?) threads of gold.
The task?:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.
No cheating! (anyone else wanna have a go?)
This week in pic’s
Haku is a hilariously cheeky Chinese boy I know. I’m photographing the boogers up his nose here. No actually, I was trying to catch his beautiful brown eyes but failed miserably. Still, I like this photo a lot.
I stumbled upon this scene in Kichijoji last weekend.
Charlene at our fave kichijoji bar
!Beatdown! punks getting drunk
Add a couple of other late nights with J-buddies, an all-nighter in a colour-developing photo darkroom in Shinjuku (with no heating), and then visualize about 32 English lessons (and their preparation) in various school rooms, community centres and cafe’s around Tokyo…. and you will understand why I slept 12 hours last night. Really gotta settle down on the burning-the-candle-at-both-ends-thing. Ha! Off to the pool, need to de-calcify my back. Have a great weekend ya’ll.
Technorati Tags: friends, funny, japan, kichijoji, parties, photography, streets
A different life part 2
In keeping with the Australian bush theme, here are some pics my brother sent me of their recent holiday on a cattle farm near Cooktown, in Far North Queensland – complete with authentic Aboriginal cave art. Enjoy.
Technorati Tags: Australia, family, life, photography, travel
A different life
On my fathers side of the family there is a long history of ‚Äúbush‚Äù Australia. My great grandfather was the owner of one of Australia’s largest cattle properties, Brunett Downs, which has long since been broken up into much smaller properties. My Dad spent most of his young life – from age 15 to the time he met Mum, working out west around Longreach and Cloncurry and so on, working with cattle or on huge cattle stations. The bottom picture here is him, aged around 20. He was the real deal. A working cowboy, able to roll his own ciggies with one hand while the other held the reins.
My cousin Andrew fancies himself a bit of a bushie (due to the family history, no doubt), despite the fact that he lives in a little cottage in Ascot (ok, ok so his folks own a small farm, too)…. he likes to head out to the bush where some of his mates are real bushies, and today he sent the family these pictures from his latest trip. They are such great photos that I thought I’d share them with you all. Australia. An amazing, drought-stricken country. Such a different life.
Technorati Tags: family, life, Australia, travelphotography
Speeding towards that time of year…
‚ÄúSo we’re speeding towards that time of year
To the days that mark that you’re not here
And i think i’ll want to be alone
So please understand if i don’t answer the phone
i’ll just sit and stare at my deep blue walls
Until i can see nothing at all…
And now my sorrow seems so far away
Until i’m taken by these bolts of pain
But i turn them off and tuck them away
’till these rainy days that make them stay
And then i’ll cry… to these sad songs…
So i’m waiting for this test to end
So these lighter days can soon begin
i’ll be alone but maybe more carefree
Like a kite that floats so effortlessly… ‚Äù
Azure Ray, song title “November”
I think I hate rainy autumn days. My flatmate flew home to Canada today to be with her Mum for her cancer surgery. It’s all been very sudden. She’ll be gone a week, all things going to plan. I think I’ll be drunk all weekend. Grieve the passing of summer, accept the approaching winter, worry about my flatmate and think about my Mum and Dad a bit. It’s almost been a year since Dad passed away. The passing of time shocks me. I recall again the words of Robert Frost: ‚ÄúIn three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.‚Äù
BTW, email problems are still not fixed.
Another death in the family
My little buddy Percy died about an hour ago. This is the last photo I took of him – that’s him on the right, with Gertrude. It was taken a few days ago when he was on the comeback trail (or so I thought). Last Monday I cleaned their big new superdooper mega-tank, and was a bit worried by how mossy the slate bricks were getting – so opted not to put them back in till after I gave them a big scrub later on that evening. I thought they would be able to get up onto the basking rock without the use of those bricks but it seems I was wrong. Red eared sliders aren’t the strongest of swimmers – they need to take pit-stops.
When I got home Monday night, Percy was upside down in the bottom of the tank, not moving. I grabbed him out of the water and I was pretty relieved when he started moving… After a quick search on the net, I followed the instructions on how to save a drowned turtle and after a few hours I was pretty confident he’d pull through. I kept him in a separate tank with a really low level of heated water and put him out for walks every morning. He was getting stronger and stronger but he wasn’t interested in food at all.
This morning, after his walk, I put him in the feed tank with Gertrude. I don’t know what was going on in the poor little fella’s head, but he started walking under the water with his mouth wide open breathing in water. I pulled him out quickly and hung him head down to drain the water but the damage was already done. He spent the last hours of his life gasping for air and making laboured noises (yes, as I wrote that last post). It was pretty horrible. Reminded me of some other deaths I’ve experienced in recent years. It’s a sad day.
I buried him out in the garden, next to the stone lantern. Rest in peace little buddy.
My Family: Portraits
David and Elissa, my brother and sister in law on Newell Beach, 30 km’s south of Daintree in Queensland. I love this photo!
Evie, my goddaughter and niece. Isn’t she beautiful!
Evie comforting her brother Fraser after the boys at footy gave him hell about his blue hair
My nephew Darcy after being told he couldn’t sit in the front car seat on the way to Cairns. I love this photo, he looks so vulnerable and cute.
People
Since I don’t see these people very much any more, I was determined to try to get some decent portraits.
And since I haven’t been posting much lately, I thought I’d make up for it by sharing some of these portraits with ya’ll. There’ll be some more to come…..
Happy St Patricks Day is a loaded phrase…
My brother woke me with a phone call this morning.
him: Happy St Patricks Day
me: MMmmm, yeah, you too.
~silence~
“Happy St Patricks Day” is something of a loaded phrase for we two new orphans. If everything had run according to plan, this St Patricks’ evening we would have been enjoying a whopper of a party with a bunch of family and old friends at the Buderim Heads Golf Club, in Australia. Now, we may have some Irish blood, but we’re not so Irish as to fly people in from all over for a party…. so, no. It wasn’t to be a St Patricks celebration.
The special occasion?
Our fathers 70th birthday. Yes, the Hugh-man would have been 70 today. Happy birthday Dad, wherever you may be floating around in the ether. I miss you.
And Happy St Patricks Day to the rest of you, from an exceptionally windy Tokyo.
