Archive for August, 2008

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Dragons in the Sky

Friday, August 29th, 2008
Dragons in the sky

We are experiencing a bit of heavy downpour over here in Tokyo. Lots of rain, lightning and thunder. It’s not just Tokyo, but cities in other prefectures too. Some have to deal with knee high floods. The rescue teams are all out and about. There have been some casualties. I hope the number doesn’t increase. Trains have been temporarily stopped along certain lines. Quite the inconvenience this downpour is causing.

On a different note, it’s only using storms like these that I might get to see lightning. I took out my camera, took in the rain with an umbrella and my gorillapod. Took some photos… decided “nah, I don’t have to proper gear to be out in this downpour waiting for lightning”, so I went back in and just sat in the comfort of my balcony waiting for lightning to strike! It was a pretty long wait since I only had my camera pointing in one direction. When I thought I had enough of taking shots and was just about to pack up, a big one appeared. Murphy’s law strikes again. I sat till my camera ran out of juice (haven’t charged it for a while. only 2 bars left on a D80). I’ve only got 5 shots though. Anyone with experience taking lightning shots?

Dragons in the sky

Dragons in the sky

Dragons in the sky

Dragons in the sky

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Posted in Life in Japan | 11 Comments »

Blog Update

Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Food in Sendai

I’ll be changing some elements in this blog over the next few days. They’ll be minor aesthetic changes so I’m not too sure anyone will notice. ^^. Will be good to have some feedback though. Let me know love it or hate it. Feedback is good. We all need feedback to improve. ^^.

So grab a coffee while I tell you about the changes I’ve put in effect today.

The main blog widget in the center is only going to show 3 posts. Want to save you guys from the scrolling troll. Hopefully the main page loads faster too. Does it? If you use a feed reader to read me, this doesn’t really affect you… please check back here from time to time. As an additional bonus, you can check out the other blogs in my blog roll too ^^. In order to compensate, I’ve added a “new” widget. “5 posts not on this page”. Basically it is what it says. That makes 3 posts on the main page, a summary and link to 5 more in history. Useful?

Posted in Life in Japan | 3 Comments »

moving on

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
heaven

I’m still in denial. It was so sudden and I still find it hard to believe. I still think that I’ll receive an email from him anytime now. I haven’t been sleeping very well for the last few days. Have to get myself really tired so that I’ll automatically doze off.

People move on. I have to move on. My research lab is going to disappear from April next year. The students will all be sent off to other labs. It’s kinda sad… But, at least we still have 6 months together. We still have 2 official lab activities left for the year. Participating in the campus festival and a study trip. Hopefully this will give all of us some closure.

Chest still hurts a little, but I’ll manage. I do have some regrets though. Some usual ones like “I should’ve studied harder”, “I should’ve listened to him more” etc. Alot of “should’ves”… actually, now that I think about it, I did not always do my best, but I always did what I could. So those regrets, are not really regrets. He was a mac otaku too. My biggest regret is that I did not show him my iPhone. ><

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Posted in Life in Japan | 6 Comments »

in loving memory

Sunday, August 24th, 2008
Noguchi

This is a personal post. I lost someone dear recently. He succumbed to cancer 2 nights ago. I can’t find words to express my sadness. He was my boss, my mentor and my friend. I went to his wake today and will be saying my last goodbyes at his funeral tomorrow. My heart aches and I feel some kind of heavy thing weighing above me… He was a great man and I had the utmost respect for him.

Noguchi sensei, I miss you… I’ll never forget you and what you have always tried to teach me. May you find rest and peace.

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Posted in Life in Japan | 4 Comments »

Otaku Scene in Sendai

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

It took me a while to find some places, mostly due to the fact that they are all cleverly disguised. Always above street level and sometimes the only indication is a poster that’s displayed next to an elevator. Just like this one.

ボークスショールーム

Gotta really keep my eyes open for those. The iPhone did help though. Searching with Safari and Google maps was a real godsend. Although sometimes I had to walk around in circles wondering if I’ve at the correct spot. Good news though, the places I’ve been were all along a shopping district called Clis Road, minutes away from Sendai station.

Oh yeah, guess what I found at one of the shops.

とらのあな

If you’re still interested in taking advantage of Amazon.co.jp (sorry guys, only applies to people living in Japan) pre-ordering deal for Shiki Ryōgi, here’s a convenience link below. Cheapest I’ve seen so far is ¥4998.

Shelves and shelves of manga. They really know how to punch a hole in our wallets. ><

とらのあな

Anyone for some good old Shining Force? ^^. They are pretty cheap. An old second-hand Sega MegaDrive only costs about ¥3000. Not a bad price to pay if you want to relive the glory days.

Gee! Store

Here’s the pictobrowser with notes! ^^.

Of course Akihabara is like, you know, otaku paradise. But I guess there’s a little bit of paradise everywhere. ^^.

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Posted in Hobby and Games, Life in Japan, Travels outside Tokyo | 3 Comments »

Photos from Zuihouden

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
Zuihouden

Sent a post from Zuihouden earlier from the iPhone. Here are some other photos I took at and around the Zuihouden area. Zuihouden (瑞鳳殿), Kansenden (感仙殿, captured above) and Zenoden (善応殿) are the mausoleums of the first (Masamune), second (Tadamune) and third (Tsunamune) feudal lords of the Date (pronounced DA-TEH) clan. Did I get right? Lots of graves in the pictures. ^^. Can you find the photo of the dragon with the “fire hydrant” sign in the background? I quite like that one.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention earlier, there’s a small museum filled with artifacts that were excavated after the fire (that burned down the original mausoleums in WW2), and before the various re-constructions. It’s really interesting. They found remains of the various lords. For Masamune especially, they found his hair samples!!! That means that they have a sample of his DNA right? Someone help me out here. ^^. Based on what they found, they created a lifelike replica of him. I couldn’t take a photo inside the museum, but you’ll be able to see what he looked like. He’s not a tall fellow, 159cm. Besides the remains and human skulls etc. on display, there were also some treasure that was buried with him and his son and grandson. Old katanas, old rusted katanas but still pretty well preserved considering the 400 odd years of being underground. This is a place you would like to visit when in Sendai.

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Posted in Life in Japan, Travels outside Tokyo | 1 Comment »

Little Akihabara in Sendai

Friday, August 22nd, 2008


I posted this yesterday… but it seemed that mail-to-blogger wasn’t working. It still isn’t working now. Blogger, I’m not impressed… Anyway…

I found some otaku luvin’ in Sendai! It sure took me a while to find this place. The game centre entrance definitely threw me off. Don’t let its looks fool you though. Through this entrance, every floor is a bit of akihabara squeezed in; there is manga, doushinshi, figures, cosplay supplies, old (and I do mean old, ancient) video games etc. If you’re in Sendai, you might want to check out this place for it’s otaku-ness. ^^. Walk along Clis Road, away from Sendai station, and this entrance will be on your right. Took some photos with the big camera. Will post them later when I get the chance. Stay tuned. ^^. What about around your place? Are otaku places hard to find?

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Posted in Life in Japan, Travels outside Tokyo | 5 Comments »

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