You too!

( Chicago, Illinois )



I have been a science minded person since childhood. I was more interested in how clocks work rather than how our society was made.

As a science kid, my score in languages in school were just horrible. It was almost miracle that I managed to graduate schools.

When I read questions in language tests, I had no idea what those questions were asking me. For example, a question went like “What did Mary think at that time?” Hey, I wasn’t Mary. Why should I know what she thought? The answer could be……”What is the dinner tonight?”……”Wish rain will stop tomorrow”……… I try to come up with all possible answers I could think of. But I could never get it right.

Teachers and honor students of languages said “ If you read it carefully, the answers are already written there”.

I was very bad at history as well. I was thinking it was a boring subject that forced me to memorize a lot of irrelevant events. “Agriculture of potato in Japan started in 1772”. For me, so what!

Here came teachers and honor students of history. They always said “If you get the flow of era, all historical events occurred from necessity”. For me, they were full of BS!

I want tell those people. “If you understand the flow, all chemical reactions in mitochondria occur naturally”.

Looking at my family, my son and I are science minded, and my wife and daughter are more like literature minded people. They tell my son who is struggling with his literature homework “If you read it carefully, the answers are already written there”.

Oh, my son. You too!

I am pretending......

( Chicago, IL )





Perhaps from summer this year, there always have been an article or two on photo magazine about micro four thirds cameras. It does not matter whether it is Japanese magazines or American ones.

I wonder reason why. Is that because editors are interested in micro four thirds? Or, is that a slick advertisement in the shape of magazine articles? Whatever it is, it is kind of difficult to ignore them.

I have seen many sunrises and sunsets since micro four thirds camera came out to the market. Now the truth is that the camera I use most often is Olympus E-P1. I never dreamed of it.

I got my E-P1 as double lens kit. I, however, rarely use zoom with it. More than 9 out of 10, I use 17mm. In my opinion, this camera and wide fixed focal length get along very well. This combination is very fun to shoot, and very functional.

My wife doesn’t know when the heck I got E-P1. I, of course, did not mention anything about it. I am just pretending I have been having it for a long time, so that she doesn’t realize the fact that I bought it without her permission.

Well, let me think twice. She is actually more than who I think she is. She might have realized already but she doesn’t say anything. She may be thinking to use it as a spade of ace for serious matter that may arise in the future, saying “ Oh, by the way, you have been spending a lot of money on you camera………”.

Well folks. My wisdom is telling me that I should try not upset her for a while with my best effort. That is a key to enjoy my E-p1.

Cool guy

( Camp Sequoya, Alabama)





My wife says I am an abominable snow guy.

Well, snow guy reminds me of yeti. Yes, it is a creature with long white fur, running around in woods covered by snow. He even screams with strange voice. I. therefore, dislike what my wife says. I only have several white hairs on my body, although I don’t wish to have. They are only 6inches at most. In addition, I hate coldness. I have no eager or what so ever to run around in woods with snow. One thing, however, I have to admit is that I scream, probably once or twice a year.

Her belief that I am a snow guy started back when we moved in Cleveland Ohio. Cleveland is famous for heavy snow due to the lake effect. They have snow from November to April! The year we moved to Cleveland, it was a record breaking snow and low temperature. It was the worst in twenty something years.

Some years later, we moved to Alabama. Alabama is just like my home town Tokyo. The climate is relatively mild, and they have very little snow maybe once or twice a year. For some reason, the very first day of my work in Alabama was record breaking snow. I was stuck on the interstate for freaking four hours because they closed it.

Well, similar thing happened even in Japan. I used to live in Obihiro city in Hokkaido, Japan only for 6 months. In winter, their temperature could be very low but not much snow. When I was there, we had another record breaking snow.

The recent example was Chicago where I went a couple of weeks ago. It was unseasonably cold, and eventually became below freezing point. The weather forecast said the possibility of snow, although we did not actually have it.

Last weekend, my son and I went cub scout camping. Up until one day before, The lowest temperature had been around 60. At the night when we went camping, however, it was 37. We did not have snow, though.

OK, my wife won. I have to admit that wherever I go, it gets cold. But I still don’t like to be called a snow guy. Please call me a “cool guy”.

Chicago Night Walk

( Chicago, IL)
( Popart filter )





I am wrighting this in Chicago, IL. This is a two-night business trip.

Local people say it is unusually cold. Yesterday, it was 20 degree blow average. The lowest temp was 41, and it will be 31 tonight! What a difference from Alabama.

I brought my cameras with me this time, since I know I would be able to have spare time during this trip that I can use it for shooting out. I found on Flickr that there was going to be "night Walk" last night. Great!

Checking their gathering time.......Yes, I will make it! I don't see why I should not join them.

It was a big turn out. We were a group of 20 photographers, including me from Alabama and another lady from Utah. Walking around Chicago down town at night to shoot. It was a great fun.We went to Kodak points where I would not have known.

How long did we walk? Well, we started at 6pm and dispersed at 10pm. Well, I tell you, it was freezing cold.

Anime Weekend Atlanta 15 ( 2009 )

There are no days when you do'nt see caractors of Anime (Japanese animation). They are everywhere, on TV and magazines, in bookstores and toy shops, and more than likely you have at least one in your house.

Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) is an annual event for anime lovers. This year, the celebbated 15th convention. They had a wide variety of events including video room showings of Japanese cartoons, a dealer's room with retailers, workshops, panel discussions, a costume contest where attendees dress up as their favorite anime or manga character, and scores of guests who have worked or currently are working in the industry.


PHOTO ALBUM
( You can also go to slideshow from this link )

Pain affects my decision making

( Mobile, AL )





After more than 25 years of procrastination, I had to have may wisdom tooth taken out . My pain after this minor surgery made myself slow down. It was actually much worse than I had expected.

It has been a week and a half since then. Pain is still there, but has become manageable.

Pain, I found, not only slowed me down, but also impaired my decision making. My suggestion is no to go shopping when your decision making ability is affected.

The lease of my car will be up in Dec. I have started looking for my next car, despite the fact that I will not need the next car for another 6 months. This, however, is very important issue for me. I kept visiting car dealers even though I was with pain.

When I visited one of dealers, my decision making ability became maximally impaired. I decided to buy a car without waiting for another 6 months. We, therefore, have three cars for the next 6 months. Time-limited luxury.

My best guess is that the real fact that my pain on my tooth made me buy the new car would not be convincing to my wife. My B’day is just around the corner. Why not use this as an excuse. Yes, this is my B’day present in advance.

The car I bought is MINI Cooper S convertible. Contrary to my saying that my car has to be yellow, I chose red one this time. I put 2 white bonnet stripes as well. Pain on my tooth must have affected my visual center in my brain. I must have recognized red as yellow.

This really is a big change. My Hummer needs a ladder to get on and off. My new MINI is, on the other hand, just like scraping road surfaces as you drive.

My new car arrived yesterday. I am sure it is going to be a fun drive!

(Cozumel, Mexico)



My album Summer Vacation 2009 is now uploaded.