But is it REALLY?

Street Art

Two shining examples of street art at its finest:
Toronto, Canada


Dunedin, New Zealand



And one example of it at its lowest:
Osaka, Japan

All Those Love Hotels....

The Visible Man

I saw this article and thought it was interesting. As someone who values my privacy i can also kind of understand where Mr. Elahi is coming from. I also find it noteworthy that his students understand his behaviour due to the way and times in which they are growing up.

The Visible Man Article from Wired Magazine On-Line

Elahi`s original site: Tracking Transcience

Out and About with Brad and Haruka

Had a lovely lunch the other day with Brad (from Winnipeg) and Haruka (from Osaka, well actually Sakai, i think). We went to an all-you-can-eat Indian restaurant in Namba, right next to the Dotonbori river. After lunch we wandered about Minami area and Namba Hatch. The weather was beautiful. Ulala and i recently invested in a new camera so i was having fun pretending to be artsy. Here are some pictures from the day.


Serious Brad and Haruka:


Not so serious Brad and Haruka:


Some good ol` Osaka randomness:

The odd-shaped Donki-hotei Ferris Wheel of Dotonbori:


One of the cars is a big eye-ball !!!

Slumming it in Osaka...

yup, they have something for everyone...

A Fair(y) Use Tale

Found this on Gabe`s site and though it is a full nine minutes of your life, it is well worth the time!

i saw the sign...

In the heart of Osaka i saw a sign that it is indeed time to go home for a visit.

Drunk Bears

These are a couple of the new beers i have had a chance to try out. I only really include these two as blog-worthy sinvce one is "Canadian" and thehy both have vute bears on the can. It`s a little funnier if you know that there is in fact a bar here in Osaka that is called "Drunk Bears" which has a wide variety of beer from all over he world. Japanese breweries seem to always be coming up with new beers. Every season, every year. I enjoy the variety, even though most of them are relatively unremarkable.

Nanzen-ji and Saisho-in

These pictures are actually from Golden Week (the first week in May) but i am just getting around to posting them now. But at least i finished those New Zealand pictures, right? Nanzen-ji is one of the largest and most important Zen temples in Kyoto, Japan. It is the head temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen and is famous for its sand gardens and for its massive front gate (one of the largest in Kyoto if not Japan). Ulala and i made a little day trip out of it since it is one of the last major temples i had not yet been to in Kyoto. The are so many temples in Kyoto that i could never hope to see them all but i want to at least visit all the major ones (especially those affiliated with the various Zen schools) before we leave for six months near the end of June. Living so close to Kyoto has been a true pleasure and i feel blessed to have had the opportunity to spend so much time there wandering around the various temples and neighbourhoods. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Oh, Those Tigers...

A week and a half ago i had the pleasure of watching a Baseball game at Koshien Stadium, Home of the Hanshin Tigers. I also had the displeasure of watching them lose brutally 7-1 to their nemesis team, The Yomiuri Giants (part of a much larger losing streak, unfortunately). We had amazing seats, too! Fourth row right behind the third base line! So close we could hear the players talking when they came out to warm up before going to bat! Kansai area and Koshien especially are famous for the Tigers but even more famous for Tigers Fans. Known for "Tigers Mania", they are truly die-hard: despite Hanshin losing right from the start of the game, the fans stayed in the packed-full stadium right to the bitter end, chanting and cheering the whole time, showing excellent sportsmanship. After the game a couple members of our group were interviewed for a Japanese radio program and Nishimura-san (who got us the tickets) sang the Tigers theme song (though i didn`t understand any of the lyrics).

New Zealand - pt7 - Queenstown

On the last full day of my trip Matt and i went to Queenstown and went bungy jumping at Kawarau Bridge, the site of the world`s first commercial bungy jump. A.J. Hackett was one of the pioneers of modern bungy jumping and his company attracts hundreds of thousands of people every year to their various jump sites. Bungy jumping was an amazing experience and i fully recommend it to anyone who wants to "step over the edge." Much to the chagrin of my fiancee i am planning to do it again (as well as hopefully trying sky-diving) when i get the chance. =) The drive to and from Queenstown is also incredible no matter which route you take!

New Zealand - pt6(b) - Milford Sound videos

A couple quick videos of some dolphins that came and played and raced with our boat in Milford Sound. The whole experience was pretty incredible!

New Zealand - pt6 - Milford Sound (which is actually a fiord)

Milford Sound (and Fiordland National Park) is by far one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I think i`ll just let the photos do the talking....