Sundays are for curling...

...just not quite what you probably imagine... (51/365, 20 Feb 2022)

Today was the final day of the Winter Olympics, hosted in Beijing. Although not a huge winter sports person (unless you count surfing which actually has better waves in winter, but I digress), the curling event has become something of 'must watch' sport over time. That is probably because the Japanese women's team is so enigmatic, it is hard not to get caught up in their enthusiasm. 

I will say at this point, the snowboard competition was quite something to watch as well, but it didn't quite capture the nation's heart in the way the curling did (despite some excellent, indeed gold medal winning performances by the Japanese athletes--Japanese sport really has come a long way in the last thirty years...but that's for another post at another time).

Anyway, the curling final meant that most of the nation was glued to the telly from about 10:00am until just after lunch when the Japanese team conceded to the Brits, and took the silver medal. Congrats, but I still don't really understand the game--a touch of chess x lawn bowls on ice by the looks. None of which has anything to do with today's pics except it gave me some time to plan out the afternoon's excursion. 

You see, yesterday on Instagram, I discovered that a new camera magazine has just been published. So, you ask, what's the big deal? As a photographer (amateur, rank) Japanese photography magazines over the years have provided great inspiration. As a student, I used to buy the Asahi Camera mag mostly, and occasionally others as their cover stories attracted my interest. In recent years however, the magazines have ceased publication, leaving photographic hobbyists with not much in the way of reviewing our craft, igniting our imaginations. (I did manage to get a copy of the last issue of Asahi Camera, July 2020, ceasing after 94 years...)

And, I mean, this is a photography blog, after all...

I could have made an extended excursion to the Ginza where I haven't been since...well since before Covid really, but the weather was not great today. A little more research and I learnt that one of the larger bookshops in Ikebukuro (yes, where I was yesterday) carried copies...that'll do, I thought, and I'll take a slightly different route to see what I might see. 

So I did. But of course, being a bookshop, well, dear reader...you know the rest I reckon.

A few raindrops on the camellia

These were a surprise, on the back streets of Ikebukuro

Yes, I should be cycling

Here it is, Shashin, (Japanese for 'photo')

All of which to say, I've got a lot more reading to do of course, curling up on the lounge perhaps, in the more orthodox way, but I can also dream on in my photographic aspirations. 

Snapped today with the iPhone 12 mini because I figured I'd probably be carrying home more than one magazine. (Narrator: she was right, she did, for research purposes.)