Chris

Now this looks cool

2007-11-10T08:09:59Z

I'm back!

2007-04-23T15:17:57Z

Well, I'm back (for those of you who knew that I've been away). For those of you who don't, I've spent most of the last two weeks or so in Japan. Here's the highlights of the trip (cos there's way too much to put in one LJ post).

So, I was harassed into buying a camera at last, primarily by Gavin, the guy who sits next to me at work (he used to live in Japan) and my Aussie friend Alison, who insisted that she wanted to see everything I saw. I acquired a cheap camera (Pentax Optio A20) and started playing with it. Most of the images below were taken using its automatic setting, as I don't really know what I'm doing just yet. I've kept the number of images here to a minimum - I took over 280 photos!

The holiday I had booked was described as a self-guided tour. What this really means is that some days I was on a prebooked tour, other days I had free (or could book to other tours myself).

So, I started out in Tokyo. When you see images of Tokyo, you typically think of the flashy, neon lit streets a bit like this one:

That's the Ginza shopping area. Think a multi-street version of Oxford Street and you won't be far off. I found this place on my first day there when I was trying to stay awake to minimise the jet lag.

However, even in the hyper-modern capital of Japan, there are very traditional areas that provide a very vivid contrast. The best example I saw was at the imperial palace as shown in this photo:

A guardhouse at the imperial palace.

Apart from the imperial palace, I visited the Meiji shrine and Asakusa-Kannon temple in Tokyo itself. The shrines are for the religion Shinto and the temples are for Buddhism. The shrines tend to be surrounded by trees. In the case of a major shrine like Meiji, this gives the impression that you are in the middle of a forest, not the middle of a city. The temples however are much more clearly a part of the town/city they are in, with houses and shops very close by.

A painting on the ceiling of the Asakusa-Kannon temple.

My third day in Japan saw me on a coach heading north of Tokyo to a place called Nikko. This is famous for the Toshogu shrine to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first of the Tokugawa shoguns. This place at first glance may seem ostentatious, but the sheer skill of the crafters that made the place shines through. If you ever go to Japan, this is one of the places to visit.

	The 5 tier pagoda at the Toshogu shrine
	The area below the shrine.
	The gateway to the shrine
	Recognise these three? This is where they come from. They guard a stable here at Toshogu shrine

The next day, I was off on a tour of several smaller places. The first was Hakone, a famous "onsen" or hot spring area, which included a trip to mount Fuji.

The one decent photo I got of Fujiyama, taken about 2300 metres up it!

Unfortunately, this would be the day when it rained and I didn't feel like bathing naked outside in the rain, even in a hot spring.

The next day, we continued westwards to Takayama, a small mountain town famous for its sake and festivals. Quite typically I left the town the day before the spring festival (and the sake got drunk in Australia while I visited Alison). It is quite picturesque with some very old streets:

After Takayama, we moved on to Shirakawa, home of the A-frame houses (well, one of the villages in the area). I always thought that they were originally from the alpine area of Europe, but apparently the idea was pinched from this area of Japan. Here's a piccie:

Next was a little town Gokayama, to try my hand at paper making (with the help of a young lady). Japanese washi paper is made in this region and is used for all sorts of purposes (I picked up some to repair my Japanese style lamp with).

The last stop in this section of the tour was an agricultural town called Kanazawa. We didn't have much time there, but the gardens were superb. I have refrained from posting the many cherry blossom photographs I took because they were spectacular here. If you get the chance to go to Kanazawa Kenrokuen in April (for cherry blossom) or May/June (for the Azaleas), take it!

	Cherry blossoms in the gardens.
	The gardens in the rain.
	The cherry trees before Kanazawa castle gates (along with a lot of tourists and the odd tour guide).

Finally, I reached Kyoto after Kanazawa. This was the last of the three big things I wanted to see in Japan (the other two being Fujiyama and the cherry blossom). So, what did I do here? Well, first I took a short tour of Kyoto and Nara (the capital before Kyoto in the 8th century). This included a trip to Nijo castle, where I walked on the nightingale floor and the Golden Pavilion, a temple where two of its stories are covered in gold leaf! This was once a residence of an Ashikaga shogun who became a monk after he abdicated the shogunate. Here's a piccie:

In Nara, I saw a massive Buddhist temple. I believe this is the biggest wooden structure in the world. Take a look at how big it is:

The statuary inside is similarly massive:

Although you cannot tell the scale from the photograph, each of the leaves you see at the base of the statue is bigger than me!

I spent the next day wandering around Gion in Kyoto (the area where the Geisha work) until it was time for me to see the Miyako Odori ("cherry blossom dance", the dance the Geisha do only in April, cherry blossom season). It is very different from what you would see in a western theatre (go read Memoirs of a Geisha for a much better description that I could ever give of Geisha dancing). Here's a couple of photos to give you some idea of what it looked like:

	The nearest equivalent to a chorus line (although they only dance). Also, in at least one respect more skill is needed by these performers than by the Geisha in the main roles
	Two of the Geisha in the main roles.

The last big highlight of the trip was to visit Himeji castle. This is the best preserved castle in Japan, and has been used as the setting for films such as Shogun and some of Kurasawa Akira's films. This castle is very photogenic, so here is a couple of the best shots:

	The castle behind the cherry trees.
	The castle from the castle's gardens.

Congratulations on making it this far. You may have noticed that I have not talked about any museums. This is because I did not have time to go to any museums. There were at least two areas of Tokyo I wanted to visit that I did not have time to go to. That said, I did manage to get a couple of photographs of Japanese armour:

	Samurai armour on display in Himeji castle
	Ninja armour on display in the oldest street in Takayama.

Irony?

2007-04-03T08:10:46Z

I believe you could use this as a definition!

Phone Problems

2006-10-11T19:14:24Z

As some of you know, I've been having problems with my mobile. They should hopefully be over although I've changed providers. However, my SIM card got blatted before we could transfer the numbers over.

This means I don't have anyone's numbers anymore. Could you please text your phone numbers to me guys. I'm still on my old number.

Thanks!

Dead Phone

2006-02-02T15:36:37Z

My mobile has died, just as someone was phoning me. If you need to contact me, work email or home phone are the way forward.

Good News

2006-02-01T21:09:34Z

Some of you know my friend Angela. Well, she gave birth to a baby boy named Ben this morning (9lbs, 2oz for the ladies out there). I'll try to persuade her husband David to part with pictures when I finally get through to him.

My Flat...

2005-12-22T16:06:01Z

Downstairs has been broken into again. It is now clear that the thieves have keys to the front door of the building. At a guess they are drug addicts looking for anything to sell, as opposed to professional thieves, as my pay slip was on the floor in the hall.

Until Somer Housing replace the lock on the front door (and I'm not holding my breath on that score), I request that ladies who come around to visit do not come alone. Yes, I know this is paranoid, but I am not prepared to take risks with my friends, and there have been at least two assaults in this building in the last few months. If you want to visit and are coming alone, phone me and I'll meet you elsewhere.

Chris

Memories

2005-08-17T06:10:17Z

Happy 30th birthday Toni.

Enjoy the day, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Question

2005-03-21T13:43:46Z

How can Disney release the ultimate Pixar collection without including Toy Story?

Commenting

2005-02-09T10:04:13Z

I'm having occasional trouble posting comments to people's livejournals atm. If I seem quieter than normal, this is the reason, not that I'm not reading your journals.

Talking of such things, icklemichael, could you friend me, seeing as you complained about me not reading your friends-only LJ :-P

Alas, Brad

2005-02-08T14:28:19Z

I'd like to thank en4rab for his attempt to help me with my television problems. However, the nifty little device you made did not make any difference.

I have phoned Somer again to harass them about it, and they told me the engineer should be around in the next two days to fix it. I believe it when I see it (and I'll be phoning them on Monday again if things go as expected).

HMV is evil!

2005-01-31T13:37:56Z

Their 3 for £20 offers are just too tempting.

Yes, someone did just have a little accident in HMV, and actually managed to use a second of the vouchers that HMV were giving out before Christmas.

Feeling stressed/down...?

2005-01-13T16:26:17Z

Here is a solution for all of you people who may be feeling stressed or down.

baaaaabyanimals

Warning - cuteness overload

just a link

2005-01-04T10:50:44Z

I dunno what this is. I'm just putting it here so I can check it out when I get home. Apparently it's quite funny, but given that I'm at work...

Good Morning Everyone

2004-12-03T08:47:24Z

I feel goooooood!

How're you this fine, if somewhat brisk, day?

Soooo tired...

2004-11-22T11:23:22Z

Well, it's been a busy few days for me, and I'm still recovering from them.

Thursday was my mother's birthday, so the plan was to go see her. That didn't happen as she was away for the week.

Rather than waste the day I'd just booked off before finding that out, I decided to go visit featheredwings. I wanted to visit her this month anyway, as it has been 10 years since we met (yes, I am getting sentimental in my old age).

So, I went out to the local off-license to buy some champagne (after consulting Ana at work as to what I should be buying - I don't normally get champagne), and pootled off to London in the afternoon. We had an excellent time sitting around watching films, eating (the pepper sauce at the rotisserie Liz took me to was superb) and drinking (not too much at this point).

cyberpvcfairy joined us at dinner. It was great to see her again. We sat around talking until Matt pointed out that it was 11pm, and that I really ought to be going if I were to catch the last train. I wander down the road, grab a taxi, and think Islington to Paddington, 40 minutes, no problem. You wouldn't think that you'd hit traffic problems at 11:30 at night! So, I missed the last train back by 5 minutes.

I wandered back to Liz's to spend the night, and we stayed up drinking and talking until silkyfish turned up, as she was also crashing around Liz's (Matt had left by this point). Sarah joined us for one drink then went to bed, as she had an important case later that morning.

Next thing I knew, it was 6am, and I hadn't booked friday off (oops!). So, we crashed for 3 hours (Sarah woke me up at some point, but I went straight back to sleep) and I phoned into work to let them know that I was not likely to be in (and definitely not in the morning).

We mooched around a bit, got breakfast, I paid Liz what I owed her from the night before (darned bank - I finally have an active card, but don't have a PIN yet). I eventually got to Paddington around midday and got straight on a train. The journey back was fun, as the hangover had hit by that point (well, we had been drinking for 11 of 12 hours!) and I felt rather queasy for the journey. I got back to Bath, went home and just crashed for a few hours (after bumping into Ruth on the way home).

Got up on Saturday, did my washing, then went to visit my parents. I'd got my mother a Peruvian pirate's egg (an egg-shaped bit of iron pyrite with bits of white quartz and what we think are garnet naturally embedded in it). It was just as well Liz didn't get to see it, as she'd've tried to pinch it (shiny! sparkly!) :-P.

I stayed there for a few hours then went to visit another friend of mine, Angela, who lives nearby. I spend a little while there (although we rarely get to see each other, we talk often on the phone) while avoided being harassed by her cats. Of course, I tried to hassle her into visiting, but I don't know if it'll happen...

So, after 3 days of lots of travel (parents/Angela was a 2 hour drive each way), I am knackered despite having a lie-in and failing to go to Entropy.

Soooo true...

2004-11-12T15:50:37Z

this was a comment posted in response to a Neal Stephenson interview.

It mirrors my experiences quite well...

Sometimes...

2004-11-12T09:08:18Z

The replies on mock_the_stupid are funnier than the original.

Taken from this thread:

Ahaha. My boyfriend calls me 'Cthulhu' as a term of endearment sometimes.

No, he doesn't know who Cthulhu is. He just heard me making reference once and thought that 'Cthulhu' sounded adorable. And so it stuck.

Now that's a term of endearment I never thought of using (although I suspect some of my friends would find it funny if used on them).

Okay....

2004-11-02T16:46:38Z

http://www.giantmicrobes.com/

'Nuff said.

And just count yourselves lucky I don't dig out the cat prin URL!

I hate it when...

2004-10-27T13:36:20Z

I have nothing to do at work.

I hate it even more when I officially have nothing to do at work.

Good News

2004-10-26T10:53:23Z

My friend Angela's oldest sister, Melissa, had her second child in the wee hours of Monday morning. The labour was very short (they just had time to get her to the hospital). Mother and son are doing well (and no, ladies, I don't remember the weight - I'm a man!)

Weekend

2004-10-25T10:43:26Z

featheredwings came to visit all of us here in Bath this weekend. It was good to see her again (and I hope to see her at least twice more before the new year).

She turned up late afternoon on Saturday (partly due to drinking with beric) and we promptly went to meet (Nemesis?) Tom (who was also in Bath to catch up with people) in The Raven (formerly known as Hatchetts). Ruth and entropyjim joined us later and we all sat around chatting for a while.

We went to try out the Indonesian restaurant Java (on Gay Street - where the italian Trattoria da Carlo e Franco used to be) for dinner. The beef was good, and Liz enjoyed the crab. Next, it was to the Bell to meet up with Jim, minus10, Martin and Mark for a wander around various pubs, ending up in Mandolyns with even more people (Ruth, Tom and another Martin) which ended up with quite a few cheap shots being drunk. Of course, after that we sat up chatting as usual.

Sunday was much more relaxed, getting up late, going down the Midland for lunch and generally chilling.

Oooh...

2004-10-21T11:06:07Z

Read the short story that the movie The Thing (or here for the original) yesturday.

Originally called "Who Goes There?" by John Campbell - it's good stuff!

Tum te tum te tum

2004-10-20T09:16:51Z

Well, I survived the weekend, which included goth hawkmen(!) (see entropyjim for more details over Entropy's third birthday) and Alan deciding that it would be a good idea to tickle me while my glasses were all steamed up (it isn't!). I caught up with 95% Jon who regaled me with tales of Norway, but evacuated soon after (I don't get on with smoke).

Nothing much to report for the rest of the week except that Jo was in fine form for last night's Mah Jong session (comments wise that is - Claire crushed the pair of us in the game).

Oh yeah, everyone send hugs to featheredwings, cos she deserves them. Looking forward to seeing you this weekend, Liz.

A good night

2004-10-16T15:50:14Z

Last night was cool.

Karen came over, we grabbed some chinese and sat around chatting and watching the entire first season of Robin of Sherwood. Great fun, especially watching Karen go nuts trying to identify the castles in there.

Much alcohol was consumed, much relaxation was done, and only a slight hangover in the morning (yay - she didn't give me her hangover this time! Not that she had one anyway...)