I didn’t get to go in 2024, due to concerns about my health (it was less than a year since my open heart surgery, quadruple cardiac bypass) but now I feel a lot healthier, and gotten into even better shape, so now the planning begins for Spring 2025!
I already have an apartment in Tokyo reserved for 2 months, starting near the end of March, and going through the middle of May, so 2 months in Japan! I’ll try to post more updates here, at least better than I have been about updating!
I finally after 8 years managed to update this website! I cleaned up a few things, updated the version of WordPress and some plugins, and actually published the photos I promised to!
I went to AnimeUSA over the weekend and really enjoyed it, and managed to get photos of some very creative and talented people, that I shared on my AUSA convention 2024 page.
I’ll be posting more and cleaning up more (Promise! No really, I really will!)
So, it’s been a few months or more since I updated this blog, but now I’m going to try to be better about it, since I’m taking a break from Facebook for a while.
Recently I joined folks from the project I’m on for an “all-hands meeting” which actually ended up being a nature hike/problem-solving adventure in a local park. I took it on myself to be the photographer, but I didn’t get to take all the pictures I wanted since we broke up into small teams, and I participated more in some exercises than others. I also refused (despite much attempts to persuade me otherwise) to take part in the zip-line exercise.
A good time was had by all, and we finished up at a winery that was right next to the park, plus the weather was comfortable for a late Fall day, so all in all it was one of the best all-hands I’ve been in!
Enjoy the pictures!
After leaving Hase, I made my way further down the Enoden, bound for Enoshima Island, but along the way this small town caught my eye from the train, and I convinced my buddy John that this stop might be interesting. It turns out that the stop was Shichirigahama, which I had investigated months earlier on Google Maps street view. The real place is much nicer in reality than the pictures showed!
Shichirigahama is a small seaside tourist town, which has a lot of surfers, and a very nice beach facing south. Since it was still early November, it wasn’t very cold, so there were still people surfing and enjoying sitting on the beach even at sunset.
It’s such a picturesque place I found myself just taking picture after picture (after picture!), of the sun setting over the mountain, of Mount Fuji, of surfers, and just the waves. Fortunately I’ve spared anyone reading this the boredom of seeing all 250+ pictures of the same thing (although there are still some dupes here!)
Enjoy the “Shichirigahama Surfin’ Safari”! ^_^
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Just a few shots of the Hase station, waiting for the next train, and a couple of pictures taken from inside the train on its way to the Shichirigahama station.
So, after riding the Enoden for a few minutes, it was time to get off at the station in Hase town, where the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) of Kamakura is situated. Like most of the towns along the Enoden, Hase is a tourist town, making the most of the local attraction. A lot of tourists come because of the Buddhist aspect, and a lot more come just to gawk (yeah, I’m guilty of the latter.)
Not being Buddhist myself, I didn’t get the spiritual feeling, but as a techie, to me the Great Buddha is an impressive engineering feat! Cast in bronze sometime in the 13th Century, the statue is hollow, allowing people to go inside for a mere 20 yen (about 30 cents US). The temple grounds around are also very impressive, with sculptures both man-made and natural.
This day was particularly fun, because there was a tour group from an elementary school, and some of the kids were split up into groups, each group assigned to speak to a foreigner in order to practice their English. The group that approached me and my buddy John did a very good job of introducing themselves, asking if they could ask questions, and handled their English fairly well. The questions were basic, “Where are you from?” type questions. It was fun watching them “ambush” other foreigners, too, although I have to wonder if all of the foreign tourists spoke English.
So, here is the gallery of photos I took in and around Hase and the Great Buddha of Kamakura.
Here are some pictures of my day spent riding the Enoden train, a historic train line that runs from Kamakura to Fujisawa, with the main stop in the middle, at Enoshima Island. Enoshima has been a tourist spot since the days of the Shogun, and the Enoden gets its name from “Enoshima Dentetsu“, Enoshima Electric Railway. Kamakura is famous for its large statue of Buddha, which I will post in another set of photos. The train runs along the beach on the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo, with stops at several beach towns along the way. I stopped at one of these, Shichirigahama, which turned out to have a nice view of Enoshima Island, as well as Mount Fuji (but only in silhouette, as usual…). It very much reminded me of the beach towns of southern California, especially with the surfers, and apparently the Enoshima area is known internationally for its surf. After spending way too much time in Shichirigahama, I continued on to Fujisawa in the evening, but due to failing batteries I didn’t get many photos of the city. This set of pictures is from the first leg of the trip, from Etchujima Station near my apartment in Monzennakacho, through Tokyo Station and on to Kamakura Station, where I picked up the Enoden to Hase. At any rate, here are some more photos from my trip to Japan in 2012. Enjoy!
Some of the pictures I took on my last day in Japan, in November 2012. With a few hours to kill before the flight back home, John and I figured we’d take a quick train ride to Chiba from Narita, to see whatever sights could be seen on a cold, rainy day. We did get to ride the Chiba Monorail, and at one end of the line they had the street blocked off for the Chiba Ekiden marathon, which was neat to see. Mostly, though, it was raining too much to get excited about anything, which basically matched my mood about coming back to the U.S.
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At any rate, here’s the gallery of photos, enjoy!
I’ve just uploaded photos to the Cosplay and Washington DC galleries, taken on the last day of the Maryland Renaissance Festival, which is traditionally “The Day of Wrong”. That’s the day when attendees dress in whatever costume suits their fancy, as long as it’s anything but traditional medieval clothes. Thus, you end up with people dressed as Jedi, as Iron Man, as anime characters, and others. The last day is usually the most crowded, with people going to see and be seen, as well as procrastinators who can’t wait any longer.
Check out the galleries, and enjoy!
Okay, now all the photos I took during and after Josh and Lacy’s wedding are now online. I kept out the scenery-type photos to put into my “Travel” section, which I’ll post later.
So, here are the photo galleries:
