Tag: Japan

All Packed and Ready to Go

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Photo info: Apple iPhone 15 Pro, 6.7649998656528mm, f/1.8, 1/40 sec, ISO640
 “Packed” Cedar Park, 2026

I’m all packed and ready to go to Japan! ✈️🇯🇵 It’s hard to believe that I’m finally going to visit our house there. If you didn’t know, we bought a home in Hyogo prefecture, and the renovation work has just been completed. It still hasn’t fully sunk in that we actually own a house in Japan. Honestly, it feels like a dream come true ✨

I’m traveling with a full suitcase and a carry-on. The carry-on is carefully packed with dishes and pottery, while the checked bag is filled with tortillas, salsa, Mexican spices, and some Austin beer 🍺🌮 We’re planning a small party at our house for the craftspeople who worked on the renovation, and it feels really special to be able to share a little taste of home with them.

I can’t wait to finally see everything in person and celebrate this moment. It’s going to be such a fun and meaningful trip 💛

Japan Scene

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Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 4.2mm, f/1.6, 1/45 sec, ISO250
 “Japan Scene” Cedar Park, 2023

I was chatting with a friend who recently returned from a vacation to Japan. She mentioned how she loved just sitting on the train and looking at the Japanese landscape and cityscape out the window. I feel the same! When I lived and worked in Japan, every day had an element of vacation life to me, and I enjoyed both the amazing and mundane scenes I would see.

I was watching the movie Eriko, Pretended today, and at the end, the main character is on a train, with the window views rushing past her and I thought of what my friend had said… 😌

Blue Image and Wandering around Japan

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"Blue" Austin, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/55 sec, ISO800
 “Blue” Austin, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Lately I’ve been watching videos from NIPPON WANDERING TV. They are high-quality stabilized walking/biking videos around Japan, mainly in Tokyo, which I find super-relaxing, especially because there is no soundtrack other than the sounds of the environment. I like to put one of the videos on the TV and go about my business: cooking, folding laundry, or whatever. It puts me in a good mood. 😊

Please check them out when you have a chance! Here’s one that I particularly like:

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Today’s photo is of my Seiko SNDA chronograph watch and Jinhao shark fountain pen on my graph paper notebook. I applied a Lightroom preset named “Blue” that I created a while ago for an image that I’ve long forgotten. I thought it gave a nice effect.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

Approach to Haneda

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"Approach to Haneda" Tokyo, 1998
“Approach to Haneda” Tokyo, 1998

I have Google Photos automatically upload/backup my photos folder, and its “Assistant” will make animations and movies from sequences of photos. I thought this animated gif created from some film scans was pretty cool. Back in 1998 I had just bought a motor drive for my Minolta X-700 and took it for a spin in Odaiba. That motor drive made the coolest sound!