We had a lot of fun one evening when we visited Koa’s classmate’s family for dinner and summer fireworks. After we ate the delicious food, we all went to the nearby park with our bag of sparklers and other small fireworks and then spent the next hour or so setting them off and having a good time. It was really cool and a very “Japanesey” summer activity. I loved it! It’s just one of the many things I love about summer in Japan and why it’s my favorite time of year to visit. I hadn’t spent a summer in Japan since I lived there in the 1990s and I miss it so much… I love summer!
My mother-in-law bought me a bunch of these small “Fuchiko” toys, which are meant to adorn the rims of glasses. They are so much fun to take photos of! During our vacation we took a lot of photos of them and enjoyed the silliness of posing them on sodas, beer, dinner plates, inside sushi, on fingertips, etc.
You can find them for sale in the little toy vending machines, but the special “Towel Fuchiko” are found in gift shops and come with a little plastic cup. These are about 500 yen, but the regular ones from the vending machine are 200 each. But, you don’t know which one you will get! Luckily I didn’t get any duplicates. The one above is my favorite, but I like them all.
There’s also a variation called “Fuchio” which is her wearing a scary mask. They are pretty funny as well. If you have a chance, pick one of these up and use as a fun photo subject!
Today was the first day at the pool for us this year. It was just Koa and I who decided to go — Mariko was out at the Farmer’s Market and Bay stayed home to read — so Koa didn’t have anyone to play with in the pool. I swam for a bit, and played with him, but I’m sure it’s a lot more interesting to play with his friends! Still, it was fun and we got some good exercise. We got there at 2pm, and there was a nice crowd of people there. Not too much that we didn’t find chairs, but at around 2:30 it seemed like the rest of the neighborhood decided to drop by. When we left at 3pm, there were cars parked on the street and no empty chairs to be found. I need to remember to arrive before 2:30!
Also, I continue to be enamored with my Panasonic DMC TS2 camera. It’s a waterproof/shockproof camera that captures some good pictures and video, and with the magic of post-processing, you can get some fun images out of it. Plus I love the peace-of-mind knowing that I don’t have to take care of the camera as much as a dSLR. I think it is definitely worth it to have one of these rugged point-and-shoot cameras in the bag at all times!
I’ve been searching for a cool case for my 2DS that is different from what you can normally find in the store. The official cases from Nintendo are too big and just overkill for what I really need — a small 2DS bag or homemade 2DS pouch so the 2DS doesn’t get scratched while it is in the backpack. I told Mariko about this a while ago and asked if she could make something for me since she is really into sewing and crafts these day.
I was so happy when she presented me with this AWESOME pouch that has K.K. Slider from Animal Crossing (my favorite game) stitched on it. Isn’t it amazingly cool?!?!! I told her that she needs to make more of these. You know, I’d really like a Yoshi version, and a Godzilla one would be cool too. But honestly, my Animal Crossing 2DS case can’t be beat!
Lani rarely lets me take a photo of her, but today she was tired and enjoying the nice weather on the deck so I grabbed the opportunity for a few snaps. This one is probably the most entertaining.
Sony recently announced the successor to their A77 SLT DSLR: the A77II. It looks like an incremental upgrade, definitely not enough for me to consider upgrading my A77, but there is one “feature” I really like. That would be the main control dial! I thought the dial on my Konica-Minolta 7D was fantastic and was a little disappointed when they changed it for the A77. But Sony has brought back the style of the older dial, which is cool because not only does it work well, but it goes way back to the design of the Minolta Alpha/Maxxum/Dynax 7 film SLR. I love it! In the photo below, you can see the dial on the KM-7D. It is actually a dual-dial design, while the new A77II only has the single dial.
Other enhancements to the new A77II are WiFi and remote tethering, a better sensor, and better auto-focus; none of these are enough to make me want to upgrade. In fact, the new A77II loses a feature that I absolutely love on my A77: GPS. It’s very convenient to see the location of a photo, but it is also nice to have the date/time automatically corrected.
I like to think that the A77 was such a great camera when originally released that it is difficult to improve upon it. And that’s good because I really have too much camera gear already, and don’t need to spend any more money! The A77 will be my main shooter for the foreseeable future, probably until it no longer functions. Happy shooting!
