Another photo today from the Yosakoi dance at the recent International Show at SOU.

Posted on May 11th, 2013 under Japan, Oregon. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ashland oregon, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Yosakoi

Near Kori Station (古里駅) just past Tanzaburo (丹三郎)

I mentioned yesterday that the power lines in Japanese cities can be spoil an otherwise interesting view. The same goes for the countryside in Japan. Today’s photo comes from this part of our Mt. Mitake Hike.

Posted on May 10th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: mt. mitake. Comments Off on Power lines in the Japanese countryside

Tokyo Sky Graffiti 1

I watched another fantastic Lucy Walker film the other night. “Waste Land” deals with a number of issues. One is how you can turn garbage into art or how one can see art in what others may only see as an eyesore.

Today’s photo, from the recent art gallery in the Stevenson Union Building on the Southern Oregon University campus, could fit in that category. I have frequently mentioned on this blog how distracting the power lines in Japan can be to otherwise interesting views. Ota turns those power lines into art with this work. I tried to do something similar with a photo from late last year in San Francisco.

Posted on May 9th, 2013 under Japan, Oregon. Tags: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Tokyo Sky Graffiti 1 by Mariko Ota

Today’s photo was taken just over three years ago, in early May, at temple grounds I explored just outside Shakujii Park in the suburbs of Tokyo. Next month I’ll be back in Japan for the first time in three years. I won’t be in Tokyo in June, but I will be for a few days in August.

Posted on May 8th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, shakujii, temples, Tokyo. Comments Off on Scene from Sanpoji (三宝寺)

Jeff Hanneman of Slayer in his Tyrone Wheatley jersey in Japan in 2009

One of Slayer’s guitarists died a couple days ago. I can’t say that I’m all that surprised. While a flesh-eating bacteria, apparently contracted by a spider bite in 2011, is being partially blamed for Jeff Hanneman’s liver failure, the last time I saw him in 2009 he didn’t look very healthy. He looked great when I saw him in the 1980s and 1990s, but it didn’t seem to me in 2009 that he would continue for long.

I’m sorry to see him go. He wrote some of my favorite Slayer tunes.

Posted on May 5th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, slayer. Comments Off on Jeff Hanneman (1964-2013)