Day 102 2016: Back to work...

Day 102: ...let the teaching begin

Well, not quite. The term starts today. My first class isn't until tomorrow. I still have some time to prepare. And tonight we've decided to meet at a Malaysian Halal restaurant close to home for our Indonesian friends to have a little 'comfort' food as it were. 

Ikebukuro is one of the main train junction areas in Tokyo, one that has been closest to home for me for thirty years or so. It is becoming quite cosmopolitan with a range of different restaurants to choose from. 

Tonight, while I was waiting, I tried for a couple of slow shutter, dark shots of lights and reflections...

The Ikebukuro fountain

The Ikebukuro Fountain: this water is not for drinking

...and the curry.

Dinner is served

Very nice.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, iPhone 6S, 6.20pm, 6.21pm, 6.59pm, 11 April 2016]

Day 101 2016: Back to work...

Day 101: ...no wait, this is a Sunday seminar

Indeed, very little rest for those travelling all over the countryside...just ask me. Sunday today and, as it happens, the 70th Anniversary of women's suffrage in Japan and so too the first election in which women could both vote and stand for election, 10 April 1946. Right now, there's a host of seminars and symposiums on to recognise this milestone. 

And if that means getting up and about on a Sunday to attend a seminar, then so be it. Women in politics is part of my job and an academic's work is rarely confined to Monday to Friday times. 

So off I went, at sit in and listen as women spoke about their politics on this particular day. There was also a book released, which naturally, I bought...

Making a statement

Tulips

Presenters, authors, organisers

A rare catch: cherry blossom and pine

A different variety, known for its layers of petals

A cascade of petals down a trunk

...an academic's work is never done. Nor is an amateur snapper's work complete without getting the last little remnants of the sakura on the way back to the station....

Job done, for another day.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, iPhone 6S, 4.40pm, 5.03pm-5.12pm, 10 April 2016]

Day 100 2016: Farewelling a friend...

Day 100: ...but not quite saying 'goodbye'

There is a fair bit about today that has been a year (and a bit) in the making. Death and funeral rituals vary across countries and cultures. My friend Jinko, I've known for over thirty years, died last year in March. Cancer. Yes, bloody cancer. The funeral happened shortly thereafter and her remains have been kept in the house (where I am now living) ever since. It is not uncommon. For the last year or so, Yosh, her husband, has been meticulously planning this day, today, when we come together to commemorate the interring of her remains into the family crypt, in her hometown in Nagano Prefecture. 

I had to do the official photographic duties of which there are approximately 300. I won't show them all here...suffice to say that since Jinko herself was an amazingly inquisitive snapper herself, I'm sure she would have taken many more. it was in her spirit I was given permission by family and friends to take as many pics as needed. 

It was a different photographic experience for me, being rather reserved about these sorts of things (and concerned about the shutter clicking at more solemn moments). 

It was a Shinto service and in one of the different sorts of cultural twists typical in this little town apparently, we were each asked to take turns in place a little of her remains into their final resting spot. Yes. Really.

Tulips in season

Ceremony begins with a bow

The offerings

The family and friends

After the service...and another enormous meal, we walked our way back to the station via the Hokusai (woodblock print) Museum...and lots of flowers. 

The cherry blossoms

Soba noodles

Outside the Hokusai Museum (no photos allowed inside)

An outstanding specimen

A walk in a park

A flower which takes its name from the blessing wand used in shinto rituals (see above)

A blue sky day with cherry blossoms in perfect full bloom...it is just how Jinko would have ordered it.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 18-55mm, 10.00am-3.58pm, 9 April 2016]

Day 99 2016: A trip to the country...

Day 99: ...a year (and a bit) in the making

The time has arrived to farewell, or perhaps more accurately, lay our friend to rest. For the ceremony tomorrow, we travelled to Nagano today to stay overnight at a hot springs resort and gather with other family members. Friends have travelled from Indonesia as well. But that is tomorrow's story; today we travelled. 

And travelled. 

And arrived, and then...

The lifts

Mushrooms cooking right at your table setting

Wasabi and friends

A favourite candid shot, Jinko's husband Yosh, and the corridor; the door was open for a second...

...well, ate, basically.

Much food (and some drink). But it was very nice. And being at a hot springs (onsen) resort area, you could bathe in the springs as often as you liked. And we did. But there are no photos of that, dear reader, for perfectly obvious reasons. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 3.28pm-7.23pm, 8 April 2016]

Day 98 2016: To the 'other' campus...

Day 98: ...the introductions continue...

Today could have been a lovely day to go and explore the 'other' campus of my university, the original one in the western suburbs of Tokyo where it all started in 1924. Unfortunately, the rain put a stop to that. It is bad enough to have to navigate the Tokyo train system in the wet without having to worry about a camera as well.

Still, it is a lovely campus (the bits I saw) and I look forward to getting back there soon. I'm not teaching on that campus this year but there will be times when I'll be expected to go there. Hopefully the weather will be kinder.

Today it was orientation for the first year students in the political science department and we were all asked to introduced ourselves. Yes, a long trip for 2-3 minutes but in the end, it is important to do so.

Back home and I went to the local park...wet weather and cherry blossom petals might offer another opportunity. Raindrops on petals...what's not to like?

I also wanted to check the new camera disk...we've some important business coming up in the next day or two and I wanted to make sure everything is working properly.

It is. And I promise, these are new pics of different blossoms...

Sticking to the trunk

Still probably my favourite view

Reaching up

Late bloomers

Raindrop on petal on leaf

Carpet underlay

The weight of a raindrop

Reflected in the rain

...just in case your think I'm putting up repeat pics...I couldn't possibly do that. There really are this many opportunities for blossom pics.

Tomorrow, it is time to go up-country, Nagano. Will report back soon.


[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 5.18pm-5.25pm, 7 April 2016]

Day 97 2016: Here a form,

Day 97:...there a form...

It is fair to say I am getting the hang of the place although my days seem to be presently filled with, well, form-filling. More and more keep coming. Sometimes at cross-purposes...

Never mind. It will be done soon enough and the term proper will start next week. I have the preparations in train for that too. So it also fair to say that my days are pretty much confined to the office as I wade through the paperwork. 

There was a little bit of rare colour in the morning sun to get ready to face the paperwork though: 

A bit of colour to start the day

We are getting to the end of the cherry blossom season, at least here in Tokyo...the blooms moves up north as the country starts to warm up...they take it so seriously, there is a nightly update on the news. 

There are still a few hints of blossoms along the waterfront, though the breeze has started to blow them away. But there is still a picture or two. From now for the next couple of weeks we can expect to see pink carpets all over at the petals begin to fall...

Road-side, trying hard

Sakura with trunk

Baton change...cherries to tulips

And the tulips are on standby, ready to get on with the show. 

[Camera : Canon EOS 60D, 28-80mm, 5.31am, 4.17pm-4.23pm, 6 April 2016]

Day 96 2016: An experiment...

Day 96: ...in between filing data

There are some tasks that just can't be put off forever dear reader...like administrative tasks. Especially all those bits and pieces one must do as a new employee.

Today was that day, part one of what looks like quite a few days work. I have to upload all my data onto the university website over the next few days but it is not just a matter of uploading a cv or similar. Each and every entry on that cv has to be entered separately under different categories, taking in different data points. It is going to be a long process. 

Stuck at the desk. Head in the screen. 

So. I had an idea...

Sometimes, in my photographic excursions, I just like to try out different things, experiment a little. Today I thought, given I have a view of a working harbour, how does that change over the course of a day?

And so I did just that: 

There was a cloud

And a tug

Still waters

Farewell the Nippon Maru

Cloudscapes

Train

End of day (for me)

And on the half hour, each time, I turned from my screen to the camera viewfinder to see what I could see. Subtle differences I think. Data loading can't be too grim when this is the view.

[Camera : Canon 60D, 28-80mm, 10.32am-5.29pm, once an hour, 5 April 2016]