文書は英語ですが、写真は共通
(though I'm taking a break from blogging for a while)
Archive for the 'Japan' CategoryPosts relating to Japan and things Japanese As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I went to the post office to mail some of this year's Christmas Cards. These were all destined outside Japan, so I needed to add the postage myself (the in-Japan New Year's cards are postage prepaid, at the domestic rate). The postage on an international postcard is 70 yen (about $0.60 US). I wanted to use something more interesting than bland meter-stamped stickers for the postage -- I wanted pretty stamps. So, I asked if they had any nice Christmas-type stamps. I don't really know what I was thinking even [...] 
View full post » We're finally making progress on our Christmas Cards and nengajou (Japanese New Year's cards, as mentioned in my previous post). Last week, I had a horrible time trying to get them made. We had a few photos from which a nice card might be constructed, and I spent considerable time with some web sites on which you can construct/order cards. The format for a Japanese New Year's card is pretty standard, with these items: A seasonal greeting ("Happy New Year" or the like, in English or Japanese) Perhaps a more personal greeting ("our family expanded this year") The [...]View full post » There's a strong tradition in Japan to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances at least once a year by sending a "nengajou" (年賀状), a New Year's postcard. The Japanese Post office holds them as they're mailed, and delivers them en masse on New Year's morning. The average family might get a bundle of 50-150, while someone high in business or politics could well get thousands, I suppose. (Someone like me who is absolutely horrible at keeping in touch gets just a few, although it's gotten better due to Fumie's more socially-adept influence.) One side of the postcard [...] 
View full post » We went from fall colors just a few days ago to bleak gray today, and Kyoto's first snow.(Well, at least the first snow that I've noticed.) Kyoto's first snow of the season, as seen from my livingroom windowWhen I woke up it was a bit above freezing (which is about as cold as it ever gets during the winter) with a steady rain. There were, however, cars on the street with a few inches of snow on them, probably having come from northern Kyoto where it snows much more. Then lo and behold, huge chunks of [...] 
View full post » I've known Katsunori Shimada (島田勝功) for many years, but didn't know how good a photographer he was until recently. Last week, Shimada-san, Nils Ferry, my mother-in-law, and I all walked to and hiked up Mt. Daimonji in eastern Kyoto. It's the mountain on which that the huge "大" character appears in flames during the Daimonji Festival each year in August. Nils has posted some shots, as will I later. In this post I'll feature some of the photos that Shimada-san took during that trip. Many would make spectacular desktop backgrounds.
View full post » |