I mentioned in yesterday's very long Joseph Niisima and The Savory Family Bible post that my friend Arthur's brother John had visited him from The States to, among other things, remodel Arthur's kitchen. John has returned home, but asked me to post some thoughts he had from his trip, so here they are...
Japan trip:
On the airplane to Japan, I was sitting next to a Korean man from Atlanta, Georgia. He lived in Atlanta, but was going back home to visit his mother. I told him that I was going to Kyoto to visit my brother and to remodel his kitchen. After some conversation, he reminded me that visiting my brother was more important than the kitchen.
I spent five weeks living in Arthur's house with Kayo, his wife, and Monet and May his two small daughters. It was wonderful. I asked Jeffery if I could put an entry in his blog and he agreed. These are some thoughts from my visit:
Liked about Japan: Chopsticks, great salad dressing, stocking feet in the house, small cars, metric system, unusual volcanic mountains, (the Japanese do not appreciate the unusual geology of their islands) food, medical system (I had an unexpected encounter with the medical system). Generally costs were quite low. This includes food, clothing, and building materials.
Perhaps what I liked the most is the very strong sense of security. You never feel threatened or insecure. You never worry about that sort of thing.
Disliked about Japan: road system, including the numerous and expensive toll roads, lack of central heating, lack of napkins and paper towels.
Weirdly different: I was surprised at the difference in bicycle design. The brands of cars were pretty familiar, but the actual models were mostly unheard of in US. No matter how small the car, it usually had four doors. If I recognized a car model, it more likely to be a Jaguar than a Ford. I never got used to the traffic on the other side of the street. I am glad I never had to drive! “One time payment” What is up with that? Money does not seem to flow as easily as it does in the US, but the cashier can float you a loan on anything at any time?
Things I missed: regular microbrew beer. We do not think about it, but the quality of beer in US has gone up in recent decades. Not so in Japan.
I spent a great deal of time on a remodeling project. Let's go category by category:
Electrical: The wiring was not much different. The ground wire that has been code in the US since the early ‘60s is sort of optional in Japan. The two prongs in Japan match up with the two prongs in America. (Japan has no third prong) Japan is all 100v instead of 120v. There is temptation to use tools designed for American wiring in Japan and that is okay. But I suspect that some of the tools I was using did not perform properly with the lower voltage. In a Home Depot one can find a larger variety of electrical boxes. That is an issue with everything.
Plumbing: The plumbing is identical in every way. ½ inch and ¾ inch galvanized pipe are standard. The grey plastic pipe I was using was the same. A standard faucet in Japan is “vertical mount”, unusual, but not unheard of in America. A common toilet has a little sink built into the top of the tank. It comes on automatically when the toilet is flushed and drains into the tank, filling it. Pretty clever. The sinks and bath tub drain into the storm sewers, rather than the sewage system. This relates to the complete absence of garbage disposals. Arthur found a dishwasher for his new kitchen. I fussed and worried about it, but in retrospect, I realize that it installed identically to an American one.
A trick in America is to use a “no hub connector”. This is a heavy rubber sleeve that is put on the two pipes and then attached with hose bands. Think rubber tires. These guys are of heavy rubber and seen most often in the drain, sewage end. They are great and very forgiving. And not to be found in Japan.
General materials: Building supplies are not more expensive in Japan. The availability is not different than a Home Depot. They have 2x4s and 2x6s and 1x6x8s etc. Plywood comes in 3' x 6' instead of 4x8s and a six foot length seems to be more standard than 8 foot length.
I quickly got used to the metric system and liked it.
I did a tile project. The very great infrastructure in US for do-it-yourself tile installation does not exist in Japan. The adhesive and grout are both just Portland cement. As a chemist and builder, I realize that there is nothing really wrong with this, but the materials did not behave as I expected and we had to adjust.
Attitude: there was an overwhelming attitude that ‘you cannot do that, You need a professional, we do not sell that, nobody has ever done that before, you cannot do that, but what about this?' I America, very few persons do all around house restoration, but people accept the concept. In Japan, this is completely inconceivable.
The man on the airplane was of course correct. The most important part of the adventure was the time I spent with my brother, Arthur, and his family. My nieces cried when I left. I cried too, but did not let anyone see.
John Brigham
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1100 — full exif
Anthony Playing
with a birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa
I like to post about Anthony opening and playing with presents he receives, both because I like to keep it as a happy memory, and to share the joy with the gift-giver. It's been more than a month since Anthony turned six years old and it's been on my mind to share some shots of when he opened the presents from Grandma and Grandpa.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — 1/100 sec, f/4.5, ISO 2800 — full exif
What Could It Be?
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56 mm — 1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2500 — full exif
Uh, Okay, What Is It?
We opened just the one on one night, then the rest the next night. On the second night, the combination of fluorescent lighting above and an incandescent lamp to the side made for some pretty odd (and oddly striking) lighting....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3600 — full exif
Checking Out the Goodies
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 1400 — full exif
A ROCKET!!!!!!
but, er, not really.....???
The package with a picture of a Space Shuttle indicated a rocket, but except for the picture, nothing else really seemed to jive with the whole “rocket” idea, so he wasn't sure what to make of it. It would have helped clarify things if he could have read the Freeze-Dried Ice Cream label.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58 mm — 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 1400 — full exif
Response To
“What Do You Think It Is?”
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 1400 — full exif
Response To
“Believe It Or Not, It's Ice Cream”
Another present was a “spy periscope”, which he thought was just amazing.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2000 — full exif
Checking Out The View
while Daddy makes a photo with absolutely nothing in focus
He's often pretended that he had such a device, for example, in this picture pretending a stick was a periscope for spying on some geese. Now, actually having one, he was beside himself with enjoyment, here spying on Mommy while she makes a silly face...
Later, it was time to return to the freeze-dried ice cream...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 900 — full exif
Pondering the Impossibilities
of dry fluffy ice cream
Anthony is better at showing his thanks than I am.... it took me five weeks to post this, but Anthony sent Grandma and Grandpa a handwritten Thank You note right away.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Real Shogunzuka Overlook
I've posted many times the view of Kyoto from the overlook at Shogunzuka, such as this photo from a post last year:
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102mm — handheld 1/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kyoto Tower, Kyoto Station, and Friends
( from a post last year )
... or this photo from a post two weeks ago...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
( sunset from a post two weeks ago )
The location I took these shots from is officially part of the “Higashiyama Summit Park” (“Higashiyama” – Eastern Mountain – being the name of the short mountain it's at the top of), but the area is better known as “Shogunzuka”, a man-made mound of some sort dating back to the 700s. It's now part of a temple's grounds, but I've always just come to the park's public overlook, and have never paid the $5 to enter the temple grounds.
As I mentioned the other day, I sometimes try to zip up to the overlook for the sunset, hoping against hope for a photogenic view of an amazing sunset. So far, no luck.
Although it was mostly overcast and threatening rain today, there were a few open spots in the clouds to the west, so I popped up. Not much of a sunset, it turned out, but while killing time waiting to see what would materialize, I wandered over to the temple, and then detoured down one of the various hiking trails that dot the area (of which I once wrote a bit about). This time, though, I realized that a trail hugged the perimeter of the temple grounds, and taking it, I was amazed to find that the grounds were much larger than I thought, and included their own overlook. That's the lead photo of this post... the real Shogunzuka overlook that I never knew existed.
I'll wait for better weather before actually going inside to where I can enjoy the view from the real Shogunzuka overlook, but the view from the hiking trail wasn't too bad, and faced north more than the public lookout. I was able to even see the Heian Shrine....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heian Shrine and Gate
from Shogunzuka, Kyoto, Japan
It's similar to the view I posted last spring, from a trail behind the Westin Miyako Hotel. It turns out (looking at Google Maps; see the “full exif & map” link under any photo) that the trail behind the hotel leads right up to Shogunzuka where I was today. Were I to walk that trail back home, I bet I could get back to my place from here in less than half an hour. I'll have to try it sometime. (Driving, although less direct, takes only five minutes if I hit all green lights).
I didn't enter the temple grounds, but they had some nice colorful foliage out front...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 5600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Momiji Finally Turning Red
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm — 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looks Like a Painting
a pleasing artistic effect of softness at ISO 6400
I've got lots I want to share from this evening's short outing, but I'm just too tired to write it up this evening.
Anyway, back to the public overlook, it's too much of a hassle to use the correct “Overlook part of the Higashiyama Summit Park”, so I'll still call the it the “Shogunzuka Overlook”. I'm just lazy that way.
Anyway, for the record, there wasn't much of a sunset at all. It started raining as I snapped this...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110 mm — 1/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tonight's Non-Sunset
Kyoto, Japan
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Abandoned Homestead
in the mountains of Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
On our drive to the Hiyoshi Dam the other day, while driving through the mountains in the middle of nowhere, we came across a set of buildings that had clearly been abandoned for a very long time....
There were at least three buildings, probably all part of one homestead. I'm guessing that thatched-roof house is the original, with the tile-roofed buildings being more modern. It's just a guess, and in any case, “modern” is relative....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
The “New” House
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
The “Old” House
You can see that there's quite a stone embankment in front of the thing, probably a result of the original builder having created a level area on which to build.
There was a bridge over to it, and it was all wide open... there was nothing but good manners (and a wife and kid waiting in the car :-)) stopping me from wandering around inside. I'd love to find the owner and get permission.
I find these kind of sites fascinating, and I've posted about a couple old places before... see the “Related Posts” box below for more old houses.
As commenter “krister” noted on my blog in one of those posts, “Its amazing how time can add such an element of mystery to such ordinary things.” Indeed.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — 1/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
“For Sale. Needs Some TLC”