These signs popped up at intersections in my area of Kyoto a month or so ago. They read: June 26 (Thursday) 〜 June 27 (Friday) Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting Due to traffic controls, etc., traffic congestion is expected. Please exercise restraint on driving into Kyoto.
As I mentioned the other day, the G8 Summit meeting of foreign ministers was recently held in Kyoto, which entailed a lot of hubbub.
There was a massive police presence everywhere. I snapped a couple of pictures from my scooter while waiting at red lights. Mostly, there were congregations of police at intersections, [...]
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Woo-hoo, as the rumor mill has been buzzing about for the last two weeks, Nikon officially announced the “D700” professional SLR today, just 10 months after announcing the D3 and D300 followups to the D200 that I have.
Last year, I got to play with the D3 & D300 before they went on sale, and despite lusting after “shiny & new” and the benefits over my D200, I decided to not upgrade.
This time might be different.
I didn't believe the rumors first started, not least of which because the name – D700 – makes absolutely no sense in light of Nikon's normal camera-naming scheme. But the [...]
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(IMAGE: Stroll)
Last week, on the two-month anniversary of Fumie's grandmother having passed away, we stopped by the grave to pay our respects. It's located near where the Kyoto Biwako Canal cuts through the mountains bringing water to Kyoto from Japan's largest freshwater lake (the same canal that runs right by our place a couple of miles downstream).
(IMAGE: Little-Used Bench)
(IMAGE: Pretty Flowers) some with an unexpected purplish tinge
(IMAGE: This Tree Will Be Amazing in the Fall)
(IMAGE: Running is Fun)
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(IMAGE: My Visit to a Japanese High School) Photo by Toku Ninomiya
Until two days ago, I don't think I'd been inside a high school since having graduated from my own back in Rootstown, Ohio (class of 1984... yikes!). I'd certainly never been inside a Japanese high school, but had seen enough of them from the outside to have the impression that they were somewhat like prisons... dark, dirty, bleak.
One of the dads at Anthony's kindergarten, Yoko-chan's daddy, teaches at a high school, and invited me to visit his class. I'd mentioned that it'd be interesting to do a series of blog posts on kindergarten [...]
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(IMAGE: What am I?)
Like the previous quiz, it's something practical, not ornamental.
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(IMAGE: Noritake China “N4” Series Deep Bowls)
Okay, so the What am I? quiz wasn't very challenging this time, unlike my first one and the one prior to this. At least there were some answers this time, unlike an earlier quiz.
So, yes, Fumie got some new bowls. They're not mixing bowls, but fine tableware, the “deep bowl” style of the Noritake N4 series. I'd never seen nice tableware that stacked like mixing bowls, and thought they were beautifully photogenic. She also got the “flat plate” and “deep plate” series, which are also elegantly stackable.

I think the concept is that the different plates and bowls of [...]
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(IMAGE: Water Play)
Zak invited us over today to play in a little pool he set up on their balcony. Anthony likes playing with Gen (who is now almost four years old).
(IMAGE: Tight Quarters)
The situation lent itself to fun, but not to photography. At one point Zak was out on the balcony with his big camera, asking his three-year-old to not shoot the water gun his way, until he (Zak) realized the futility of it and came back in mumbling something along the lines of “I'm the idiot for thinking it was a good idea to go out there in the first place”.
Zak's [...]
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(IMAGE: Cool Fun on a Hot Summer Day)
Yesterday's post – Water Play at Gen's House – reminded me of two years ago while we were in Cupertino for the summer (before selling our house).
Anthony was three and a half years old at the time. Having a yard with hoses, there was lots of water play, especially because it was such a hot summer that year...
(IMAGE: Three-Year-Old Fireman-in-Training)

My favorite shots where of him playing in the lawn sprinklers that I posted at the time, but I'm so enamored with the series that I'll post a few more today...

(IMAGE: Anthony's New Shoes)
Anthony was really stoked on Friday afternoon when we all went shopping, and he ended up with new shoes. These had shiny leather... gleaming whites... cool blue... that all added up to shoes that he felt made him run faster. He was tickled pink.
He was excited to show them to Gen when we went to his place on Saturday, and to show them to Fumie's mom on Sunday, and, well, to anyone and everyone we met.
So today, he comes back from kindergarten, and here's what was left near the door...
(IMAGE: Sigh)
You couldn't help but laugh (unless you [...]
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(IMAGE: Private Dining Room) ( now, with a bright and airy view )
As I posted about the other day, a local restaurant suffered a fire two weeks ago. It appears that they tried to renovate, but driving by today we noticed that they've resorted to somewhat more drastic measures...

(IMAGE: Visa and MasterCard Accepted)
(IMAGE: Cut)


The sign says, in elegant prose whose lilt can't really be translated, something along the lines of...
To Our Customers
Notice of Temporary Closure
We appreciate your business. For the time being, due to the present circumstances, we must suspend business. We apologize [...]
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(IMAGE: Heavy Industries) in the mud pits
After kindergarten yesterday, Anthony hung around to play a bit in the mud puddles that an overnight rain had left.
(IMAGE: Teamwork)
(IMAGE: Pensive Moment)
He didn't get nearly as dirty as on Monday, but others did.
(IMAGE: Puddle Farming)
Two younger (~3 years old) girls spent the better part of an hour “watering” a puddle, with the stated intention that it should become huge. They filled the watering cans, walked and splashed through the puddle while watering it, then repeated over and over and over.


At one point, one bent over to inspect something [...]
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(IMAGE: Pretty Flowers) everyone likes pretty flowers...
The first thing I noticed upon arrival during our visit to the Kamo no Shirabe cafe in Shiga last month were the flowers that separated the parking spaces from the walkway. It had been sprinkling, so they were photogenicly wet, and they were so vividly colored that they seemed to glow in the overcast light.
(IMAGE: Kamo no Shirabe Cafe) Takashima, Shiga, Japan

(IMAGE: Not a Bee)
I got fooled again by a syrphid fly (AKA hoverfly), a fly beneficial to gardens (it eats pest insects) whose primary means of defense is to look like a bee or a [...]
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(IMAGE: Application Photos) Photos attached to our application for Anthony to attend an elementary school next year
You need a lot of ID-type photos in Japan. Applications for lots of things require them, such as an application for a driver's license (even though the picture you submit is not used for the license itself), application for a foreigner registration card, and applications to attend a school, to name a few.
Taken even further by the school we were applying to, we had to submit photos of ourselves as well. I have no idea why, and I'm fairly certain it would be considered odd (if not [...]
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(IMAGE: Roof In Need of a Trim) At the Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Japan
I've mentioned recently how much I love the natural roofs of many temples and shrines, having noted it in recent posts about the Fushimi Inari Shrine and about the Kiyomizu Temple. The roof above, like the roofs cited in those posts, are made of many layers of thin sheets of what I assume is wood. Such a roof, over time, slowly breaks down and returns to nature.
Here's a relatively new one, as evidenced by the sharp shadows showing that the individual sheets of wood are still easily distinguishable as, well, individual sheets of [...]
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(IMAGE: Origami Water Lily) made by five-year-old Anthony
Anthony's really been getting into origami lately, and most mornings we awake to find new creations he's made before breakfast. This morning he made a water lily (AKA lotus, like the lotus I posted last month).

He can't really read yet, but follows along with the instructions in the book...

We've taught him the conventions used in this book... that solid arrows mean “fold toward you”, outline arrows mean “fold back”, the difference among the various line styles (dotted, dashed, solid...), etc., so he can usually figure it out.
He often makes things on his [...]
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(IMAGE: $9 Cup of Coffee) Les comptoirs de La Tour D'Argent Tokyo, Japan
Fumie and I made a day trip up to Tokyo yesterday for a birthday party for singer Kousuke Atari (中孝介), whom we've seen in concert many times. It was attended by 85 of his closest friends fans.
We ran into a lady we met at his Roppongi Hills, Tokyo concert in January, whom Fumie had really clicked with, so after yesterday's event, we all stopped by a nearby cafe so that they could chat.
The cafe had a nice – although somewhat pretentious – atmosphere. One of the workers was a “non-Japanese looking” guy who [...]
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(IMAGE: “Yes, It's 6AM, Do You Have a Problem With That?”) ( okay, he didn't really say that, but that's sort of how I felt that early in the morning )
Wrapping up with a few final pics from my five-day camping trip with Anthony two months ago, the shot above is from the Ocean At 6:05 AM point of the morning walk on our first full day.
(IMAGE: Jumping The “Hot River”)
(IMAGE: Calling for Daddy) The almost-three-year-old little brother of Anthony's new friends
(IMAGE: Sunset From the Beach) ( I like pretty sunsets; this one eventually gave way to some amazing afterglow [...]
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(IMAGE: Japanese “The Way of the Bump” Road Repair) ugly, careless patch in the middle of a newly-paved road
You know the old saying “If you want it to rain, wash the car”..., well, something along the same lines in Japan might be “If you want someone to hack up your street and leave it a bumpy, jumbled mess of uneven bone-jarring patches, pave it.”
A stretch of Teramachi St. near Anthony's kindergarten was, for years, one of the worst streets in Kyoto. It was paved recently, but before that – I really should have taken a picture – there wasn't an inch of the stretch [...]
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I've been tinkering for the last year or so with a “photostream” addition to my blog, in which I can highlight the occasional not-too-bad photo I post on my blog. I'm not sure it's really ready, but I'm releasing it now and we'll see how it goes.
I've partitioned up the best images from my blog into several photostreams, including one for Japan, and one for each season: Spring · Summer · Autumn · Winter. There's also a catch-all Miscellaneous stream for odd, kooky, or otherwise interesting (but not necessarily “pretty”) photos, and a stream full of pictures of my kid that I suspect only I and my mom will use. [...]
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I can't seem to stop humming the tunes from this little, quirky, three-part musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's funny and witty in a way I find quite enjoyable (and I don't normally find musicals to be enjoyable. At all. Ever.).
It's apparently free to view until Sunday night, after which it'll be available for purchase at the iTunes Store.
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(IMAGE: Yoko-chan Preparing to Sing)
It's been a busy few days, photographically speaking. The other day Anthony went swimming in the river with Greg. This evening I had one photo-op event with noh musician Riko-chan's daddy, and another with Yoko-chan, whose daddy arranged for my recent visit to a Japanese high school. On the way home, I spotted the most amazing (not in a good way) car in the parking lot of a convenience store, and had to whip out the camera then as well. Much photo-processing awaits.
This post is about Yoko-chan, one of Anthony's kindergarten friends. She performed today at the Kyoto Brighton Hotel's “Relay Music [...]
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(IMAGE: Hello) Seen parked at a local convenience store, in Kyoto, Japan


I'm sort of left speechless, so no further comment, except to note that the side-view mirrors seem woefully underaccessorized, relatively speaking.
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(IMAGE: Lazy Dayz in Kyoto)
It was fairly warm in Kyoto today – 36°C (98°F) in the shade – but the humidity was uncharacteristically low, so it was fairly pleasant if you were in the shade. At least, I think so... I never left the air-conditioning of the house!

I did notice from the living-room window a guy fishing in the little river. He was there for hours.

I also noticed the cherry tomatoes that Anthony and Mommy planted in a pot on the veranda were moving along...
(IMAGE: Little Farmer Anthony's First Crop)
Someone found a cool way to [...]
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(IMAGE: Water Play) in the river near the Yase Hiezanguchi station of the Eizan Railway in north-east Kyoto.
Last week, Nils invited us to play at the river near the end of the train line that runs by his house, so Anthony and I scootered up there. It would be the first time for us to see Greg in ages...
Four and a half year old (IMAGE: Greg Ferry)
Sorry about the focus on the shot of Greg, but four-year-old boys pretend to not understand “hold still so I can focus.” The shot reminds me of this hunky picture of Anthony when he was three and a [...]
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(IMAGE: Fruits of the Harvest)
Today was harvest day, time to reap the crop of cherry tomatoes Anthony has been “tending” (by which I mean, letting us tend) for the last few weeks.
(IMAGE: The Crop) two are ready for harvest
(IMAGE: First Pluck)
(IMAGE: Showing Mommy)
(IMAGE: Bountiful Yield)
(IMAGE: Deciding Who Picks First) Japanese style, with rock-paper-scissors
(IMAGE: Careful Inspection) ( one can't be too careful with produce these days )
(IMAGE: First Delicious Taste!)
(IMAGE: NOT!) ( it turns out to be horribly sour )
(IMAGE: Answer to “How Is It?”)
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As I wrote in my story about my visit to a Japanese High School, part of the visit was a group discussion with students about a wide variety of issues, including what they want to become later in life. The girls that hoped to raise a family said so somewhat sheepishly, as if being a mother wasn't “real” work.
I corrected them, pointing out that motherhood is an unsung, unappreciated, demanding job that society gives little credit for, but should. After Anthony was born, I called my mom and said “thanks, and sorry”, because you really don't get it until you have kids of your own.
Nevertheless, [...]
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(IMAGE: Heading Out) ( Out of focus again, sorry. I was rushing to catch him before he left )
Very Full Flight
We're heading to Ohio to visit my folks for the summer, just like we did last year. Fumie headed to the airport yesterday with Anthony, and stayed at the on-site hotel, allowing me to pack and such at home. I'm heading out to the airport now.
The flight is full. There were only a few seats left the other day, and looking yesterday, it seems they've all gone. Ugh.
We normally take Untied Airlines, but the Kansai - San Francisco - Chicago - Cleveland [...]
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(IMAGE: Water Fountain) Detroit Metropolitan Airport
As I mentioned in my previous post, Anthony and I just flew to my folks' place in Ohio, from Kyoto.
The 12-hour flight went as fine as a 12-hour flight can go. We actually took off ahead of schedule(!), and made more time during the flight, so we arrived half an hour early. Kudos to Northwest for that.
We had a couple of hours in Detroit for customs/immigration, and to make our connection to Cleveland. Everything went smoothly, so we had time to check out a fun fountain in the middle of the main terminal.

The red thing [...]
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Now that we're a Grandma and Grandpa's house in Ohio, Anthony is enjoying the double fun of lots of toys and playing with his two-year-old cousin Josh.






(IMAGE: Off To “Search For Lions”)
(IMAGE: Groundhog Sighting)
(IMAGE: Takeoff Speed)
(IMAGE: Caught a Santa-Claus Fuzzie)
(IMAGE: Making a Wish)
(IMAGE: Sending It On Its Way)
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At the moment, I'm sitting out by the sandpile at my folks' place where Anthony and his cousin Josh like to play, with my laptop working on some new Lightroom tools while the kids play. How silly of me not to have brought my camera, because there are so many adorable scenes as the kids – 2 years old and five years old – play together.
Just now, Josh was holding a big plastic baseball bat taller than he was, running in circles after Anthony, who carried a big red ball. It started as Anthony trying to get away from Josh so that Anthony [...]
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Adobe has just released Version 2 of its Lightroom photo-workflow application: Adobe's Lightroom 2 page Adobe announcement (long!) What's New in 2.0 (a very long list from Victoria Bampton) My Lightroom Goodies Page
In conjunction, I am releasing export plugins that I've been working on solidly for the last six months: Export Plugin for Zenfolio Export Plugin for SmugMug Export Plugin for Flickr Export Plugin for Picasa Web Export Plugin for Facebook
The Facebook plugin is new for Lightroom 2 (and still very “beta”), while the others are totally rewritten versions of the plugins I had for Lightroom 1. (If you are currently a user of one of my Lightroom 1 [...]
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(IMAGE: Anthony and Aunt Natalie)
Anthony's Aunt Natalie (my brother's Alan's wife) was in town, and stopped by with her mom for a visit. After a while, everyone went out to the sand pile to chat and play, and I ran for my camera...
(IMAGE: Natalie's Mom Bears Gifts of Bubbles) for cousins Anthony and Josh (while in the background, under cover of pink, Josh's sister awaits birth)
Bubbles are always a hit, because kids love bubbles. Any time.
(IMAGE: This Is How Children Should Spend Their Time)



(IMAGE: Bubbles, Bubbles, Everywhere)
(IMAGE: Bubble Satisfaction)


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(IMAGE: Tandem Play) cousins Josh Kreta and Anthony Friedl photo by Marci Kreta
While I was busy with Lightroom things the other day, my sister and mom took Anthony and Josh out to a big public playground in Stow...
photo by Marci Kreta
photo by Phyllis Friedl
photo by Marci Kreta
photo by Marci Kreta
photo by Marci Kreta
photo by Marci Kreta
photo by Marci Kreta
(IMAGE: Heavy Machinery) more fun than a playground photo by Marci Kreta
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(IMAGE: Getting Wet) ( and not so sure he likes it )
We had a short rain shower today – standard fare for an Ohio summer – and Anthony wanted to go out in it to play. At first he ran around with childlike abandon, and I snapped some shots with my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4, but for some reason every one was horribly out of focus. I didn't notice anything wrong at the time, but anyway, I wanted to get closer without getting wet, so I switched to my Nikkor 70-200mm.
In the short minute that it took for me to get the lens and switch, Anthony's [...]
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