Yearly Archives: 2005

Cherry Blossoms and New Students

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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.

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More New Art

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I’ve been spending most of my waking hours, and some of the hours that I’m supposed to be sleeping, on some new work. The piece I posted last week was the second one. I’ve posted all four below, in order of completion.

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Fukuoka Earthquake, March 20

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Yesterday was our first earthquake experience since coming to Japan more than a year-and-a-half ago. We were enjoying a lazy Sunday morning—Jarrod and I were playing Yu-Gi-Oh, a Japanese card duelling game. Lia joined us on Jarrod’s futon when the shaking started, since Jarrod’s room had the smallest shelves and was therefore the safest. We huddled together until the shaking stopped, and then waited a bit longer.

The quake shook some books off our shelves but there wasn’t any noticeable damage. The aftershocks, which continued into the evening, were quite disconcerting.

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Vive le Chien Libre!

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Last Saturday I went out on foot to explore parts of our neighbourhood which I hadn’t seen before, or had only passed through at night. Usually I bike along major roads at relatively high speeds.

The plum trees have started to bloom in Yomiya Park. There were election trucks patrolling and propagandizing. I was reminded of how much strange stuff there is in this country, and that I don’t have to go very far to find it. If anyone wants, I’d be happy to upload some plum photos. Or the Popeye Beauty Salon. Or a video clip of an election campaign truck with its loudspeakers blasting. I also found hope and peace, for a less than 300 yen each. Just ask.

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