Ikebukuro Station area sign

（明日日本語を追加します）

Yes, Spring is coming on you.  I suppose it will eventually come on us all.  This sign was found at the Ikebukuro Station in front of a new shopping area called Esola.  Get your spring while you can.

You wouldn’t know spring was anywhere near by yesterday’s weather – heavy wet snow all night.  But we don’t complain about trivialities like the weather on this blog – we march on!

I have been on the road with the Rikkyo Chapel choir.  We recently had a week of choir camp in the Chiba-ken Iwai area.  Many hours of basic training, new music, and an appearance at a local church (Tateyama’s St. Andrew’s Anglican Church) for their Sunday service.  It was my first bit of real work after the sabbatical, and I can tell you I had a hard time keeping up for the first few days.  Out of the practice of handling stress, I suppose.  As usual, we were overfed by the wonderful people where we stayed (Minshuku Minami-so, if you care to try it out).  Meals like the photo below were the norm.  SOME people I know gained a bit of weight over the week.

Iwai is on the coast, so free time (when it wasn’t raining) was useful for getting some photography in.  Among the more interesting sights were the ruins of buildings along the coast.  Have a look at my latest album – Derelects.  Why take pictures of things decrepit?  I suppose it is because there is so much shiny and new in Japan.  These wrecks have personality, whether it be the patina of rust on a metal object, or the weathering of boards on a traditional house.  Many are not long for this world – in fact three houses on my street have been torn down in the last few years, to be replaced by shining new, but rather anonymous houses (like my own).    Here’s a taste of what you’ll find in the album:

Abandonded hotels at Kinugawa Onsen

This may well be the ugliest cat in Tokyo.  I found him (her?) in a park along the Kandagawa River.  To see other, more reputable cats, check out the cat photo album, which has been updated.  Likewise, the statue album.  I have been walking, and wherever I turn in this city there is a bronze statue staring down at me.  I would guess that there is one bronze per every ten people in the city.  That’s a lot of metal!

東京の一ぶすな猫の写真です。気の毒ですが、本当に変わった顔をしています。江戸川橋の近くの公園で見つけました。この子＋他の新しい猫写真が右上の猫フォトアルバムに載せました。銅像のアルバムも更新しました。本当に多いです、ね、東京の銅像。都の人口の一割ぐらいじゃなでしょうか？

哲学堂公園：聖フランシスコの銅像 Statue of St Francis in Tetsugakudo Park

I have been walking, walking, and walking some more.  I have a passion to figure out how Tokyo fits together.  Popping up from a subway station like a mole only shows what lies in that station’s immediate vicinity.  Walking across the city links it all together in the brain.  Recent walks have taken me from home (near Ikebukuro Station) to Asakusa (Sensoji Temple), down to the Imperial Palace, over to Shinjuku and down to the Shirokanedai area to see used books.  The longest day so far has been about 20km, which is easily doable if you have 3-4 hours to spare.  There are so many things to discover – it is adicting.  Why sit at home when you might discover a St Francis (above) or find a plum tree in full blossom (below)?

イギリスから戻って約２ヶ月過ぎてしまいました。サイクリングするのにちょっと寒い季節ですから、散歩することが最近の一番の楽しみです。東京を本当に知るため歩くしかないと分かったから、なるべく乗り物を使わず回っています。歩く途中でいつも面白い発見があるし、良い運動になります。東京のような平地はとても歩きやすいから、１日１０～２０ｋｍ歩くことは十分可能です。公園、庭園、などのスポットがびっくりするほど多いので、必ず寄り道します。決まっていないルートのおかげでこれらのナイススポットを発見しました。
１．小石川植物園内博物館、美しい日本庭園
２．明治神宮外苑内絵画館
３．白金台駅横BookOffの最大級洋書フロア、など

とにかく、モグラのように地下鉄から上がってしまうと東京は知ることが出来ません。ウォーキングシューズを使いましょう！出かけると上下の写真のような面白いものが見つかるに違いありません。

小石川植物園の梅の花 Koishikawa Shokubutsuen Plum blossoms

I have started to notice the great variety in roof tiles to be seen on temples and other traditional buildings.  See the new album top right: Roof Tiles 瓦。  Most of the other photo albums have also been updated, so do have a look if you are interested.

I’m still working on the Dream home/store/etc album.  Lots of interesting buildings not long for this world have been discovered on my walks.  Much enigmatic “English” also waiting to be uploaded.  Check back when you’re bored.

最近、寺などの伝統的建物の瓦に興味を持つようになりました。形は数え切れないほど多いです。いくつかの写真をアップしましたので、新フォトアルバム「瓦」を見てください。その他のアルバムも更新しました。ドリームハウス、などのアルバムは作成中です。

(日本語は後ほどつけます）

I went up to the Narimas Station area again yesterday – I really needed a tall black american (coffee – what were you thinking?).  That’s not the only reason I ride the subway just to get coffee.  There is also a big 100 yen shop there called Daiso.  I’m not usually a fan of 100 yen shops, but this one is a treasure house of funny English translations.  Sometimes I just stand in the aisle tee-heeing in my beard.  You don’t believe me?  How about this Wisdom from Daiso:

A double zipper does not express water.

Please do not bend the double zipper part.  I cause the water leak.

Because I am dangerous because there is not breathability, please be not fogged from a head.

The above were all found (and plenty more!) on an “Emergency Water Bag.”  I didn’t even want one, but had to buy it for the collection of pithy phrases on the package.  I will put it on the Strange English page above.

Besides phrases that may well conceal deep truths about the universe and all that, there are simply silly examples as well.  A photo frame proudly states:

Princess of me who that is lovely and lovely. Not only that, it has a photo of a kitten with a tiara.  Do you feel lovely now?  Plastic file folders shout Unison – People’s minds harmonize.  The beautiful life will come.

Now do you see why I go up to Narimasu some afternoons?  Great coffee and the Daiso Museum.

What other news from the land of the rising sun?  The photo albums have mostly been updated.  AND, the dream house column will be returning to this blog shortly.  Stay tuned.

A Tall American

also a Tall American

(日本語がポストの下にあります）

I suppose you think this is a regular old cup of coffee, don’t you?  It’s actually a “tall Amer- ican.”  I was at my second favorite coffee shop the other day.  Guess what they call a regular cup of coffee, middle size?  Why, it’s an American, tall, of course.  You really have to be up on the lingo to order a cup o java these days.  After placing my  order (and having a little laugh at ordering “one tall American, please”, I jumped when the clerk called my order in a loud voice “WHO ORDERED A TALL AMERICAN?”  The tall American did, of course.

While I was in England I also ordered Americanos (they add the o at the end to make you think you’re drinking something really spiff).  If you don’t specifiy that you want it black, it comes with milk in some shops.  I always felt funny requesting “one black American please.”  Especially when the waiter/waitress was black.  Sometimes I tip-toed around it by asking for one regular coffee with no milk.   To which the waiter always replied, “oh, one black American, eh?”  You can’t win in the coffee world today.

Hijiriko Coffee Shop

Speaking of coffee, I dropped in to my favorite shop today for a cup.  I’ve written about it before – Hijiriko at Senkawa Station.   You really have to go there – today I asked for a cup of blend coffee (no Americans here!), and received not only coffee, but also a thick piece of buttered toast followed by half a baked potato.  And all for 350 yen (about $3.00).  Not only do you get all of this, you have a view from the second floor windows over all of “greater Senkawa”.  Such as it is.

左の写真は普通のコーヒーに見えるでしょう。実は、これがトール・アメリカンだ。先日僕の２番目に好きなコーヒーショップに行ってきた。レギュラーコーヒーで、中サイズが欲しかった。この頃コーヒーを注文する時、専門用語が必要だから、「普通のコーヒー、中サイズ」ではなく、ワントールアメリカン、と言う風に注文しないといけない。オーダーが出来上がった時店員さんが大声で「トールアメリカン！トールアメリカンを注文したお客様」と怒鳴った。なれているはずの僕がジャンプしてしまった。