August 31, 2005

Ordinary flowers in a rice paddy

It's been a while since I've had a chance to go out into the country and photograph the things I like to photograph. I knew that my time in Kumamoto was special, but I really miss being able to jump in the car, explore a windy country road, and without fail, stumble upon something interesting. Kyushu is, without a doubt, the most interesting place that I?ve ever explored.

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Living one stop away from Umeda is convenient, and certainly less lonely than living in a small village, but I can feel myself getting mentally and spiritually fatigued by the crowds, the concrete, and from being away from nature. One symptom of this fatigue has been my dependence on my keitai camera (but this is also due to the wretched state of my Casio) to snap shots. I find myself no longer taking an afternoon to explore the unknown because it's a chore to cram into a train. I have fallen into a routine that I don?t like, but now that I see it changes will be made.

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It's time to start looking for the gems hidden among the coal, and explore Kansai during my time here. I'm setting out on a quest to peel away the ordinary to expose the extraordinary, little by little. I hope I can squeeze a little more out of my camera before it gives up the ghost.

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When living in the country, doing ordinary things like shopping or eating out was a task, but now that I have those things I almost prefer not having them. Almost, but when I think about the 30 minute drive to the closest convenience store and the 2 hour drive to the city, not quite.

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I took these pictures while strolling along the rice paddies in Ikaruga. Everyday weeds and wildflowers seemed so interesting after living among the highly stylized, contrived, industrial, man-made environment. Urban noise seems to really enhance one?s appreciation of nature, and just being outside helps to regain focus and clarity. It feels good just looking at these pictures.

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August 29, 2005

In case it wasn't clear...

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...bulldozers are fun to jump off of, especially when executing the "victory cheer".

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August 26, 2005

English through art

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I used to devote many lessons to making giant diaramas with my preschool and kintergarden students, having them create their own little worlds. We made scrolling landscapes of the country, the world, the city, a farm, the ocean, and other environments. By making their own little animals and things to fill their worlds with, the kids easily remembered the English and retained it to a higher extent than methods using TPS or conventional repetitive memorization activities (which actually have a negative effect on the developing attitudes of the students towards learning English in general). They showed a surprisingly high level of sustained concentration and motivation, rare at such a young age, and took pride in their work.

I got this idea from studying the philosophy behind Reggio Emilia, and designed the infrastructure of my lesson plans to pursue the interests of the students in order to engage and challenge them in such a way to help them realize their maximum potential.

Yes, this picture is simple and easy, but the thought that went into its conception, development, and construction took time and ultimately the approach that I took paid off. It's a delicate balance. If you challenge the students too much, they will develop a negative attitude towards education that may only be apparent after a few years. Yet, at such a young age allowing children to investigate their interests and enticing them to think independently can set these little ones on the right path and give them a head start.

Teaching such young children is a greater responsibility than I had ever imagined, and it was only after I taught for three years in Japan that I was able to fully appreciate the education that I received growing up. Good teachers are arguably the most under-appreciated members in society. This is true for both the U.S. and Japan (to a somewhat lesser extent, but the situation over here is getting worse with time).

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August 25, 2005

Meditation Headshot

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It's me, pondering the mysteries of the universe.

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August 24, 2005

My Crazy Older Brother

What would you think if your older brother told you about his dream? I'm still shaking my head in disbelief...

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Skull in the mud

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The water in a reservoir on Awajishima, where Justin and I usually go fishing, dropped by about 20 feet. Giant clams lay with their guts exposed, frozen gasping in death. Among the detritus exposed on the mudflats was this bleached deer skull (more skull pics here). Fittingly, we caught no fish on this day.

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August 23, 2005

Legos imitate life

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Kicking back on a weekend.

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August 22, 2005

Digging through the archives

This week I will be going through pictures that I have taken over the last two years and posting a few. These may be the last "real" pictures that I post until I get a new camera, because my well-used Casio has taken such abuse over the two years that I have owned it that it is almost completely broken. Unlike the Man in Black there will be no Inigo Montoya or Fezzik to resurrect it from the clutches of death.

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A garden in Kyoto.

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August 19, 2005

Rex

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For some reason, Rex has been running through my thoughts lately. I miss you, dude.

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Ubuyama: The Saga Continues

My "grand-successor", Ted Grudin, is keeping a blog in Ubuyama. I think that Ubuyama may be the best documented of any rural area in Kyushu, thanks to the progressive posts from this blog, Jane's, and Ted's. Cool. Keep up the posting, Ted...

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August 17, 2005

A shift away from stocking trout

It seems that the DFG is going to continue to cut back on stocking trout in the Sierras (here's the link). On top of this, trout are actually being removed from lakes to protect the threatened populations of yellow legged frogs.

I have fond memories of going fishing with our family, and coming home with a stringer full of trout. We caught so many rainbow trout that we frequently tossed them back. I remember being amazed that a farmed rainbow trout could be caught by using bubble gum as bait.

The new approach to balancing a healthy eco-system vs. the interests of anglers is a good change of policy, but I am glad that I was able to catch as many fish as I was able to (made up mostly of stocked trout). I look back at old pictures and just stare sometimes. How many jars of Potski's, garlic marshmallows, chartreuse Powerbait and containers of earthworms and nightcrawlers did we go through?

As I am writing this, I remember that I don't like the taste of trout and how laborious it is to pick out all of the bones, and the other issues that the catching of fish entails. For one, fishing was a good way of exploring the ethical implications and responsibilities inherent in taking an animal's life for sport. What ever we caught, we had to clean and eat- that was the rule.

Cleaning a still gasping trout was traumatic the first couple of times I did it. I learned to respect the fish that I caught, and only keep what I intended to eat from that point on. On that note, I think the last time that I ate a rainbow trout that I caught was when I was over 10 years ago. Like I said, it doesn't taste very good (unless it comes from cold water, or if it is coated in bread crumbs and fried in lemon butter if I remember correctly).

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August 16, 2005

Hand Spider

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This fierce-looking arachnid is about the size of an eight year-old's hand. I'd love to see a face-off between a hand spider and a house centipede...

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August 14, 2005

Ragondan Recipes

Just in case you happen to have a chunk of Nutria meat in the fridge and don't know what to do with it, here are some recipes from The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. I wonder if capybaras are good eating too...

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August 12, 2005

Good Luckistan

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Taro is headed to Uzbekistan tomorrow for two months. The CIA World Factbook states that "Current concerns include terrorism by Islamic militants, economic stagnation, and the curtailment of human rights and democratization.". Hmmm. Sounds kind of unpleasant and dangerous, but I hope he has a good time.

His mission amid the turmoil: to start up a tile exporting operation. Check out his blog to hear all about his experiences in this distant country. Stay safe, and see you in the Fall...

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August 4, 2005

After Today

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One more day in the office, and then it's vacation!

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August 3, 2005

Mutant spork

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This hybridized spatula/fork (I guess it would still be a spork) was used to dispatch some okonomiyaki at a restaraunt in Umeda. The rounded tines proved utterly useless. This is a design that is unfit among sporks and spatulas, thus is destined be selected out of the gene pool. However, the existance of this freak utensil will be preserved here, as a random image in the footnotes of obscure culinary history.

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August 2, 2005

A Farewell to Disco Ass

Mark Fingerhut, the last of our group to stay on the JET Program, is leaving Japan. He'll be off for two months, vagabonding around SE Asia, and I expect he will have some interesting posts to come over at Champon Adventures. Mark, It's been a blast- hopefully we can meet up in the States sometime for a special edition hash...

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Japanese WWII Propaganda

The color schemes used in Japanese propaganda work really well to romanticise the image of war, in all venues. The men pushing artillery through the jungle (not pictured), the arctic soldier, and the pilot all look so cool depicted as monochrome prints with the color imposed like a wood block print.

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In winter fatigues.

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An aviator.

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Gunn in Japan

Herman proves that a black man can indeed ski (though I am yet to see this in person). Stay tuned in to The Gunn Nihon Chronicles to see if he can snowboard as well...

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August 1, 2005

Stay Cool

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