Monthly Archive: April 2005
30 Apr 2005: Kitakyushu Strange, Part 4
In which we visit a neighbourhood temple and find a down-on-his-luck otherworldly hero moonlighting as a security guard.
29 Apr 2005: Kitakyushu Strange, Part 3
Today, a photo and a pair of haiku about my encounter with an urban warrior who has seen better days.
28 Apr 2005: Kitakyushu Strange, Part 2 [4 Comments]
Unstoppable vending power in Yahata Higashi-ku.
27 Apr 2005: Horse Archery in Aso [4 Comments]
A horse archery festival at Aso Shrine in Kumamoto Prefecture.
26 Apr 2005: Kitakyushu Strange, Part 1 [2 Comments]
First installment of a series of posts about things you won’t find in a regular tourist guide to Kitakyushu. Today we’ll visit the Kokura entertainment district, where you’ll get to see a famous movie monster doing what he does best.
25 Apr 2005: Sugawara Shrine [6 Comments]
Sugawara-jinja is a neighbourhood shrine built in honour of a man who visited the area over 1000 years ago.
24 Apr 2005: Chinese Food, Indian’s-style [1 Comment]
A new Chinese restaurant in Kokurakita, with a name that has me shaking my head in wonder.
23 Apr 2005: Space Conspiracy [5 Comments]
A mix of aerospace and amusement, with views of one of Kitakyushu’s biggest tourist draws. But is there something more sinister going on there?
21 Apr 2005: New Ideas in Marketing
Meaty use of the English language—Tagawa style—in a decidedly bare-bones post.
20 Apr 2005: A Special Day for a Special Unchi [3 Comments]
Yet another post during what was supposed to be Kitakyushu week, that is only tangentially related to Kitakyushu. This time, it’s poop!
19 Apr 2005: Amida-in (Buddha Temple) Takami, Kitakyushu [5 Comments]
A pictorial visit to Amida-in (Buddha Temple) in Takami, Kitakyushu. Traditional buildings, a bell tower, statues, and the goddess of karaoke.
17 Apr 2005: Wrapping Up Food Week [10 Comments]
I’m wrapping up food week with sushi pictures. Yeah I know, it’s an awful pun. Regardless, enjoy these food-related pictures while you can—they’ll be the last ones for awhile as I’ll be giving a photo-tour of Kitakyushu next week.
16 Apr 2005: Creepy Crawlies [1 Comment]
Bugs, and Lots of ‘Em + Thailand + Food week on the Bog = culinary mayhem
15 Apr 2005: England [5 Comments]
Plain, unexpressive, and utterly lacking in imagination. These words may describe the title of this post, but not the subject or our plans. Would you expect anything less from news that’s interrupting food week?
14 Apr 2005: Today’s Ingredient: Merchandising [5 Comments]
Encounter with a celebrity chef: Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai
13 Apr 2005: Legendary Canadian Monster At Large in Japan [6 Comments]
Welcome to the Pit of Ultimate Darkness. What vile beast dwells here? No, I’m not talking about Margaret Atwood. Maybe these keywords will help you figure it out: road trip to the west coast, big lake, Kelowna, N’ha-A-Itk.
12 Apr 2005: Cheap Like Borscht [1 Comment]
Borscht. What is it? It’s beet soup. As far as I know I’m missing the required bloodlines but bear with me as I muddle through since I do have many of them covered through marriage. Why am I going to subject you to a long treatise on the primary sustenance of Slavic peasants? Have a seat and I’ll tell you.
11 Apr 2005: Popeye the Stylist Man
I’ve decided to continue the photo posts and expand on the retro comics theme I started a couple of days ago. Throw it all in the blender know as “Ed’s head” and you get a geography lesson remixed with Popeye and the beauty trade.
09 Apr 2005: Keep Out the Fashion Police!
At the beginning of March, Carly and Margaret—friends from Toronto—were in town for a short visit. We only had one afternoon together but we had a fabulous time, enjoying okonomiyaki (お好み焼き, a kind of pancake with all sorts of savory stuff mixed into the batter), ginger-ale flavoured Halls cough drops, and the “balmy” 6°C-with-snow-flurries weather. Domo-kun was witness to it all. Unfortunately we weren’t able to find any of the seasonal passionfruit flavoured kit-kat bars. Maybe next time.
We took them to Kokura Castle, which is a replica built from concrete in 1959. The castle is quite picturesque and boasts one of the largest paper-doll dioramas in Japan. The diorama is a model of a Kokura as a traditional Japanese castle town, complete with townsfolk and markets, feudal lords, stray dogs, Christian missionaries, ninjas, and an assortment of other nefarious characters. Kokura being a coastal town, the diorama even has people catching blowfish in the Kanmon Strait.
08 Apr 2005: School Cleaning [2 Comments]
I didn’t think I had time to write a long post today, so I was going to just post some photos I took at school during cleaning time. But I got sucked into the writing vortex.
What is cleaning time? At my school it’s the half-hour or so after the last period of the day, when the students “clean” the school. They sweep and mop the floors, take out the garbage, clean the blackboards, sweep up the grounds, and generally tidy up. I say “clean” because it seems like all they do is move the dirt from one corner to another and back again.
07 Apr 2005: Cherry Blossoms and New Students
As I said in another post, April is the beginning of the school year in Japan. Today we had the ceremony for new students. Sort of a reverse graduation ceremony. Only the new first-year students—equivalent to Grade 10 in Canada—and a handful of second- and third-year students who had duties assigned for the ceremony, came to school today.
I took quite a few pictures of the new students, but today I’m just going to show pictures of the sakura (cherry blossoms), which are at their most beautiful today.
05 Apr 2005: Bloodthirsty Little Flower Girl [2 Comments]
After I wrote about spring last night, I realized that some current photos were in order. So I snapped a few on my way home from work today. But what does this have to do with girls, flowers and a thirst for blood?
04 Apr 2005: Spring is in the Air [7 Comments]
Here’s my addition to the spate of spring weather reports that have been making the email rounds. First, the short version for those of you with no time. It’s spring here, too—later than last year—and very welcome after a surprisingly cold winter.