Photo info: SONY NEX-6, 16mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO1600 ”Instax Printing” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは！How’s it going?
This evening I printed out several photos that I took in December and earlier this month. I love using my Instax printer! Not only does it make the photos cooler, but it makes me examine my photo library in a different way. When I am making my selections, I ask myself why this photo over that photo, and how come this one is good for sharing online, but it’s not good for printing.
Most of the time it’s because the prints are mostly for myself to look at, while online photos are less personal, less sentimental. I don’t think strangers care about holiday photos so much, do they?
I also use the Instax printer to make prints of my favorite actors and movie posters. I use them as bookmarks or just because I like to look at beautiful faces sometimes. It’s a little odd to be printing those kinds of photos out, but whatever. I love my movie/tv poster prints!
We’ve gotten so used to taking photos to share on Instagram or Facebook that it seems odd to create them simply for our own personal joy.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/50 sec, ISO6400 “Cameras, Instax, and Fuchiko” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは！How’s it going?
The rain is coming down pretty hard tonight, ⛈ and while I love the sound of the raindrops on the roof, there’s always a part of me wondering if our roof will leak. I guess it’s about time to get our roof inspected and I can put my mind at ease, huh.
Anyways, lately I’ve been trying to rework my schedule to find time for Japanese study. I’m kind of torn between the “old way” of doing things, which means looking at the schedule and figuring out a consistent time each day, or the “new way” of doing things, which means being flexible, but making sure to do it every day.
For the past year, I’ve taken and posted at least one photo per day, and I’ve also posted to this blog each day. I didn’t have a set schedule for doing these things, but they usually happened in the evening, or close to bedtime. After a few weeks, this just became my normal routine and I didn’t feel any stress to do it. In fact, I missed a day or two, and then doubled up the next day. Not worth beating myself up for not being perfect, right?
So I am thinking that I would like to incorporate my Japanese study into that same type of routine… but that means maybe staying up a little later, or perhaps trying to study at lunchtime at my office. I actually thought about doing that the past couple days, but I am already in my routine there where I just work straight through lunch and get my 8 hours in.
I guess this week I’ll just keep an eye open for times when I am free, for instance when I get home and the kids haven’t returned from school, or even when they are doing their homework or practicing piano/percussion. I think there will be plenty of time, I just have to commit to it and get it into my mind that it should be part of my daily activities. I’m excited!!!
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Today’s photo is of a shelf that we have in our house that I keep a few of my cameras on for display. The Nikon and Minolta actually have film in them and my friend Matt (who is also camera-crazy) has taken a few photos with them. I’m curious to see what he took!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO2000 “Study TIme” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは！How’s it going?
As you can see from today’s photo, I have picked up a new textbook, Genki 1! Our future plans involve living in Japan, and it would be helpful if I could communicate with the locals a little better. So, it’s time to get serious (or at least spend some time) studying Nihongo.
I did some research on textbooks and the Genki books seem to be among the best, so I ordered textbook #1. So far, so good! The first chapters are kind of a review for me since I am familiar with all the greetings, numbers, hours, hiragana, and katakana. I’m also covering up the romaji as best as I can so that I force myself to practice reading hiragana.
So far I am having fun studying Japanese again! And having a textbook that I know is a highly regarded is a huge confidence booster. 頑張れ！
This afternoon Mariko and I attended a funeral. Mariko’s co-worker’s son passed away this past week… the service was sad of course, but it reminds everyone that life is fleeting and we should take the time to hug our kids whenever we can.
Here’s another photo I took this evening. Aren’t clouds amazing?
The other day I went with some workmates to a Japanese restaurant for lunch to celebrate a couple birthdays. It was a lot of fun and the food was yummy, but it got me thinking of how the food at the restaurant wasn’t really authentic Japanese food. But is that a good or a bad thing? I wonder…
I have a different perspective on Japanese food than I had 20 years ago. In 1996 I moved to Japan and live there for three years. I married my wife there (a native of Osaka), and I have been enjoying 20 years with her – an amazing cook and foodie/food blogger. So I’d say my experience with Japanese food is far more advanced than most Americans.
The food at the restaurant was delicious, but I still felt an internal conflict as to some of the dishes. For instance, instead of edamame, there was “spicy edamame” in which the edamame had a sweet/spicy sauce on them. It tasted ok, but it was strange… I mean edamame is edamame, and is traditionally eaten just salted or in something like a hijiki salad. Also, sushi with fruit on it is new to me. In short, this wasn’t authentic at all. (And I didn’t see any Asians behind the sushi counter, and no Japanese patrons)
Although I love authentic food and think that recipes developed over many (sometimes hundreds) of years have been tested by time, the newer dishes that are modified for the local palette can be wonderful too. They are both delicious!
Maybe I am getting hung up on the semantics of the word “authentic”. Perhaps “traditional” is a better way to denote the differences I am thinking about. I like that.
Traditional food is food that has remained popular and has withstood the test of time, using ingredients that are relatively unchanged.
The food at the restaurant we went to had some non-traditional dishes, some traditional dishes (I had the katsu-don, which was yummy), but in the end, what was important was that everyone enjoyed their meals. Food can be delicious and satisfying even if it’s not traditional. All different kinds of food can bring happiness and joy, right? Variety is the spice of life, as they say!
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Today’s photo is of the breakfast taco I enjoyed at the Whole Foods Market. It’s very convenient to order because you use a touchscreen at the counter to “build your taco” using various ingredients. When your order is ready, you see your order # pop up on a large tv, or you can have a notification sent via txt to your phone.
My taco had scrambled egg, chorizo, black beans, and cilantro-lime rice, on corn tortillas. I also added more cilantro and jalapeños. I have no idea if this is traditional or not, but it sure was delicious!
I hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
