Love Punk
Originally uploaded by naGEEK.

I posted my pictures from the Fuji Rock Festival 2004. Only nine months late, about par for the course with me. Give a shout out if you see anyone you know ;)

Sakura
Originally uploaded by noe0712.

We have a new addition to the apartment. A shiny black plastic, glass, steel and silicon obelisk of sorts that does all sorts of interesting things. You can watch movies, read manga, listen to mp3’s, and if you have

There is a cheery tree downstairs. Actually, there are two trees side-by-side. My plan is to photograph the tree as it goes from bare to blossoms and then back to bare. Here are the first three days:

April 1: It is currently in its ugly stage.
April 2: Still ugly.
April 3: Getting a bit better.

UTCP

This is not my commute.

My commute consists of fifteen minutes walking and a seven minute train ride, perhaps the inverse of a typical “Japanese” commute, optimized for an under-10 walk but a potentially over-90 ride on the rails.

I have to gain altitude on the way to my station, in summer this leaves me dripping by the time I get there. If I am running late, which I am more often than not, it means that I am in fact, running…to try and make the train. My door-to-train record is seven minutes, a feat I hope I never have to repeat.

My walk takes me past the giant sports field of our local high-school, which is far and away the highlight of the trip. Recently the baseball team had three metal drums set up behind home plate with fires in them. They were conducting practice as usual, and I could not stop to decipher the reasoning behind the drums (see: running late) but it was curious. Otherwise, it is always a refreshing site, youth and energy and the serious pursuit of play and all that.

I have reverse commute so I can always get a seat, I imagine this has made a significant impact on my enjoyment of life in Tokyo, for when circumstance takes me with traffic, I find myself considerably less enamored of high-density urban environs.

I think my perfect commute in the universe would be a forty minute ride on an empty train. I really love trains, and riding them is one of the more enjoyable parts of my everyday life here, and I will sorely miss their ubiquity after I am gone.