Met Danz, a very talented photographer, in Harajuku while Doug and Barri were here. You can experience something wonderful by visiting his site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lost-moments/.

Tori no Ichi (November 3rd) 

We ran into some friendly strangers while waiting in line to visit a Asakusa's main shrine... 

On November 3rd, Nagakura-san (one of my handful of male students), invited me to go with his wife to Asakusa for the Tori no Ichi Festival. 

Momentary Lapse in Narrrative

There are a number of random photos below this entry....lazywoman that I am, organizing them into a coherent (at least chronological) narrative may take a while. At any rate, I thought I'd just throw them up for the fun of it. Check in around Xmas and maybe some sense of order will have been achieved....

Casablanca: a candid moment. 

Singapore (Aug 06) 

Le Mon and I enjoyed a dinner cruise (with live and indescribably awful music!) on our last night in Bangkok. 

Shopping at Chatukchak Weekend Market in Bangkok.

The Grand Palace in Bangkok. 

Singapore (Aug 06) 

At a hotel bar in Shinjuku, D and B find something amusing on their camera... 

Perhaps this is what D and B found to be so funny.

Or is it this?

D and B take a momentary break from eating: Nakamise dori is the main drag for shopping and eating in Asakusa, a quaint--though touristy--neighbourhood in Tokyo.

Look closely at the splayed hands. This pic captures Thor demonstrating either a: why he's good at crimpy, pinchy rock climbing holds or b: why he's "loved by the ladies." 

We found a great izekaya in Kabukicho! 

Another karaoke night in Kabukicho. 

Though Thor gave it his best shot, the route to our preferred climbing destination proved a little too wet: "You shall not pass!" said the river, eerily bringing to mind Gandalf in LOR. 

Barri reacts to the river's refusal to just...go away.

On the way to finding rock climbing in Nagano. 

Doug and Barri sang their first duet in a public setting at Charley's karaoke bar, "Casablanca." In a place where gaijin are often clueless as to the lyrics (many songs sung in Japanese), D and B chose to pull a retaliatory move and sang bossa nova (in Portuguese).  

Doug, wondering what's up with all thousands of red-capped figurines piled up around the shrine. I asked a priest (handy around Buddhist temples) what they were for and even bought one. Was told that when a person had some misfortune or a family member was sick you could offer these little buddhas as a charm to reverse your fortunes. Later, one of my students informed me that in fact, these charms were left there by repentant women who'd had abortions....

Doug and Barri at a small shrine in the vicinity of the Daibutsu. 

This great Buddha (Daibutsu) is the largest in Japan and can be found after negotiating a few thousand steps through a pleasant "hiking trail" at Nokorogiriyama (in Chiba Prefecture). 

Kumi, Barri and Doug...I guess we were talking about Churchill...