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Well, I haven't been able to find my cell phone since returning from Amami last week, so I've got to bite the bullet and get another.

It turns out that my provider, Au, really doesn't offer any benefit for having been with them for the last four years, so it's just as easy for me to start fresh with someone else as it is to get another phone with them. So, anyone in Japan have any suggestions for a phone/provider for someone like me who uses a cell phone only occasionally, and never uses web access or 99% of the [...]
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Of course, I was somewhat exaggerating with my previous post, Just Like That, Kyoto's Cherry-Blossom Season Ends, because cherry-blossom season doesn't end the day after full bloom any more than blowing out the first candle on a cake ends a birthday party. The weather – very strong haze and occasional rain – isn't nearly as nice as the weekend was, but there's still plenty of Cherry-Blossom Joie de Vivre left in Kyoto.

I realized this morning that I'd neglected to revisit the trees on the grounds of the Old Imperial Palace that were featured in a post three weeks ago [...]

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My cold continues, so I didn't take any pictures today, but I did feel good enough at times to get out for a bit here and there. Like yesterday, there were a lot of people, but the atmosphere seemed to be all the better for it. It reminded me strongly of the joie de vivre one feels in the classic Chicago tune Saturday In The Park. I think the sight of cherry blossoms has a magical, medicinal effect, both on the human body and the human psyche. Like yesterday, it was perfectly wonderful.

Lacking energy for a well-presented well-linked post, [...]

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This is the same area whose blossoms were featured in last week's It Has Begun and this week's Sakura from my Kitchen Window. Digging around in my blog archives a bit, from 2006 I find Long Night Exposures and Cherry Blossoms and Cherry Blossom Finale, and even a few from 2005 before I moved here: Indeed, the Blooms have Bloomed in Kyoto and Poetry for the Season and More Cherry-Blossom Pics.

It's a pretty area, but photos would look much nicer without the cinderblock wall in the background (a wall one doesn't really notice until you look through the viewfinder).

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