Stonemonkey Gets The Big Prize - G'don'ya J!

I've decided to restart attempts to get kudos from other photographers. My friend and cohort Jason G just got a 2nd place award from Better Photos. It's a really good site, and has a lot of great photographers. I myself have only gotten an honorable mention... oh well... :)

Jason's Award Winning Photo

Rob's Honorable Mention

Give Me Ninja!

"The Ephemeral Ms. White" by Lecram Sinun

Found a great sketch on line while surfing other blogger sites... Read the sketch it's really funny... By the way, the rest of his blog's pretty cool too. (also, I renamed his sketch, sorry LS, just sounded like a better title for my blog post)
Sketch

More to love!

101k! YES!

BOO!

A moment of Vanity

Autumn Suddenly

Yes, it is most definately Fall. Wen't for a ride today, and hardly broke a sweat. That is to say, I was riding at my usual pace, but the temp was perfect. It's nice, I like Autumn in Japan. They say it's their best/favorite season.

Bo Peep

Cos-Play is a national passtime for many young women in Japan. Strangely enough, they're fairly reluctant to strutt for the camera. Once a girl told me in class that it's a form of rebellion. Many feel that the cutlure treats them like useless pretty girls, rather than smart women. So, they dress accordingly to make a point. Which of course is lost on the recipients of the statement.

Addended 10/25/05
Ms Bees Knees said...Cos-Play? What does that mean? I thought they were Harajuku girls like in that Gwen Stephani song. Or is that something different?

Nope BK, you have the general idea though. I figure (cuz I've only been to Harajuku once) that there's two flavors of ladies there. One is the Harajuku Girls of Stephani fame. Those are the ones who are putting on Tokyo Modern Fashion/Post School Girl Style. The other is Cosplay (pron: kosupudray). Costume Play is similar to what you see here. They dress themselves very Holly Hobby, or similar to their favorite Manga (J.Comics) Characters. For boys and girls, by the way... There's a similar area in Osaka called Ame-Mura (America Town) that has a lot of Cos-Play types. So it's not restricted to Tokyo (or Osaka for that matter) Hmmm...TMI I think at this point.

Ready, Set, Go Home...

Doing photography, and teaching in Japan has been an astounding experience. I'd been shooting pictures in Japan for about two years, when the interest really took hold again. This adventure I'm on has been amazing, and I'm very much planning on making it last as long, and in as many places as I can. A friend commented recently that I have become "seasoned" since he last saw me. And the same could be said about him (and his lovely wife) as well. I'm glad people can see the change that I feel. Now that it's time to head back, I'll have only memories of this time. Even though there will be more events like this in my life, I'm sure that this will remain among the most significant. But, of course, I've said that every time... Oh, well.

Golly.

This was my favorite image during the summer. My new favorite is Eternal Coy Eternal.

As I'm ramping up for insertion back into reality, I've been surfing my history. After an unfortunate loss of memory upon the transition between post university, and real life, I took more precautions to reatain my memory. Then, had a close call between post Mac and Japan life, but with the help of the Tuck retained said memory. Now, as I was reviewing these memories, I came upon an image I never completed. I have a vague memory for what it was for, but it's a curious artifact from my past. Enjoy. I've watched an entire season of Alias in one week. Apologies.

Looking Up

Ya know, I keep looking up. People always say, "keep your head up." I tell ya, my neck's really getting a kink in it today. It does lead to a nice photo now and again though. Send some love.

Eternal Coy Eternal

Wen't to Himeji Castle for the third time during my stay here in Japan. I have to say, of the 10 or so castles I've seen, Himeji-jo is the best. They also have a garden tour that you can take first, which is a great walk as well. I've got about 40 good pictures I'm going to upload to the JaR Imagery site sooner or later... hopefully sooner. The coy that I saw there were amazing as well. I decided to write a Haiku too.

Coy are pretty cool.
Coy are pretty and neeto.
Coy are white and red.

Grace's Acres in Hood River, Oregon

This is Grace's Acres. Grace Tebbs was my Grandmother. Shortest in the family, but the only one who played basketball. Go figgure... My Ma and Pa (since they're farmers now) built a place on the property, and started up the orchard again. I love this place. Up the hill from Hood River. It's a beautiful place in all seasons.

The Butterfly Metaphor

Not that I believe it or anything, but I swear to you I've seen nearly a hundred butterflies in the last two weeks. I think it's actually an issue of biology and the cycle of insects.
There are almost no mosquitoes this season also.

Nice.

Wood or Slater

So, as I continue to join the world of the Net, I discover new little things about myself. Now, of course everyone hates to hear themselves on audio. I do too. I got a microphone for my computer, and I used it to send a voice message to my parents, and, upon listening to it, I had a strange question pop into my little brain-pan. What I can't decide is who I sound like. I'm debating between Christian Slater (not doing a Jack impression), or Elija Wood if he were six feet tall. What do those of you who've heard me think? And I think I do this wierd nasal thing sometimes. Do you guys notice that? This is what blog's are for, right?

Amanohashidate and Japan Sea

Please visit my photography website for more images.

Amanohashidate

Quite a mouthful. I realized that since I'm wrapping things up here, I had a few things still on my list. Unlike the bike incident, the Japan Sea turns out to be a wonderful place. Had I planned on staying longer, I would definitely make it one of my work places. Amanohashidate is one of those tourist towns that has but two major features. And they're beautiful. I went there over the weekend. It's views are great. The sky there was magnificent.

... grab your ankles and look behind you ...

The main point of Amanohashidate is to see the "Bridge in Heaven." The bay has a long beachfront that stretches from one side of the bay to the other. And upon each hill there's a lookout. As you can see in the pictures, people go up to these lookouts, bend over and look between their legs. And, if you look long enough, they say you can see the bridge to heaven. I personally think it's the blood rushing to your brain that makes it work, but that's me. See if you can see it yourself. I saw a couple making a wish. And though I didn't get the picture, there were these cute ladies that laughed and laughed after they tried it. Quite a sight to see four grannies trying to bend over... yeah, just too funny to type about...

... if you have the spare $50 check it out ...

From Kyoto it's only a three hour train ride to see it. Unfortunately on the way back they put you in an unairconditioned diesel train. So I was a bit sick when I returned. But the blue sky, ahhhh, what a day.

... Oh Yeah, and Remember to Get in a Bike Accident Before You Leave Japan ...

... and sometimes there are things to blog about ...

Well, after 4 years having only two bike accidents is pretty good. (knock on cherrywood) First, I'm okay, thanks for asking. The accident wasn't as serious for me as it was for the bike, poor guy. If my Mom hadn't bought me a bike helmet I know I would have been worse off.

... okay, $100 sounds fair ...

So, here's the short version. I'm riding around Umeda, the main part of Northern Osaka, and there's way too many people (as usual) so I decide to take a side street, then take another short cut, then switch on to the taxi turnaround. I'm trucking along, and I round this corner, and there's an Executive Taxi in my path. Now I DO manage to stop, though I couldn't get them to understand that later, but it doesn't matter. But the taxi driver isn't as good as I am at these sudden situations, so he crunches into my bike HARD! I go into, what I've termed "spidey mode" where I spawl out, and try to keep some semblance of balance while the front bike tire twists underneath the front of the car. My first thought is, "oops, you dumb shfit you were being all cool, and it bit you in the assphalt as usual." But the second thought was, "if you give this freakin taxi driver even a hint that you think it was your fault, he's going to walk all over you, and anyway, he wasn't even paying attention, stupid idiot." So I began to swear. The kind of swearing that I've learned from the Aussies and Kiwis that I've met over the years. Of course in the back of my mind I'm a little sad that I have to be mean to this taxi driver. But then I remember that he's an Osaka Taxi Driver, the lowest filth in the transportation industry. And this guy is an Executive Osaka Taxi Driver, which means that he's complete bottom feeder material. And as soon as he steps out of the car, I can tell, he's going to try to make it my fault. But the adrenaline has already been routed to the correct part of the brain, so I'm good. So, I point at the bike, speak in nasty fast English, and tell him whatfor about how he could have stopped if he had been paying attention. Which IS true, the guy wasn't even paying attention to where he was going, just zipping along his fancy taxi and all.

... "can you call the police? you know, police? BANG BANG" ...

I love that moment. So, he goes running off thinking that he's going to get extra time to tell the police what an idiot I am. And I know that the police don't like taxi drivers. I figure this guy must have forgotten, or he thought that I was some green foreighner who would crumple under the polices gaze. But what he doesn't know is that I'm a veteran of dealing with Japanese authority figures, and public servants. So I let him run off to do his thing, and have a smoke. Meanwhile, I call the "education planning section" of my company for some translation advice. I explain the situation by the time the cops finally arrive. Two of them come, one, a well kept young woman, wearing a flak-jacket, and the other a clean-cut beat cop who doesn't eat too many doughnuts, and probably keeps his weight down playing with his two cute kids. I'm the winner. Anyway, after that it's just waiting for the right moment to suggest a price. I know that the taxi driver will try to get out of trouble, so I talk about damage costs, and he suggests that he can pay me right now, and I say that I can go to the bike shop (less than 5 minutes walk away, great service) and get it fixed there no problem. I've got nothing broken, and refuse an ambulance, show them my tiny little scratch. And they buy it, hook, line $100.

... what a great way to begin the ending ...

So I go to the bike shop, drop off the bike, head over to the Outback for dinner, have a Chicken Ceasar Salad and a Coke, go back, pay $50 for the new wheel (a beautiful new Shimano wheel, I might say), and head home. Yep, today was a great day! Oh, and I got some great pictures of Osaka Castle to boot. Yep, great! I love Japan.

... I'm gunna miss this place ...

Must Focus

Recently a friend put up some brilliant Black and White photos that she took. And I was reminded of two things.

1) This blog is supposed to be more of a photo blog, so people will go
look at my actual photo site. I got caught up with the whole blogging, and
commenting on the situation back home. But I came to Japan to get away
from all the politics and hubbub.

and

2) I still haven't made a penny more from photography, and the whole goal
is to make money with these images. Yes, I won't be compromising my art to
make money. I don't even think I know how, so there's no point in doing
anything that I don't like.