Hold The Line!

Down in Africa...

Jeans and a Cheap Editor

All Along the Watchtower

Japanese Jehova's witness was here. Spoke surprisingly good English, although seemed a bit nervous and greeted me with a "good morning" at 3pm. (Hey there Mr religious guy, he was corrected, I was handed some good for the imortal soul litterature). And as a favour for you, listen to this, ...all a long the watchtower... by a, original pick-ups, maple neck, strung upside down for a left-handed motherfucking genius, Jimi Hendrix. 

And for you kids out there, Withnail and I, have a good version too.. good or should I say brilliant... same version but with other video 

TY Lunch

Almost like Köbemadar!

Indian Food for Lunch Again

Lunch by the river, outside in the sun. I already finished the nan.

Sunny Sunday

The Azalea hedges are blooming in pink, purple, red and white. 

Went for a short walk around Uehara, small shopping street and lots of big houses with gardens. 

Korean

Noise Reduction

Need to tell the neighbours to keep it down!

Language Exchange Alley

There is this lady, who cares even more than I do about the alley cats, I have forgot to ask her name. However, she is far from crazy cat lady, she knows lots of things, like a little bit of English eventhough she is most likely past 60. Today, we talked about flowers, I said that in Japan I prefered the Ume over Sakura, since Ume comes out when it is still cold. Then we started talking about other spring flowers, I said in Sweden I love Snow Drops, she was very fast at typing it into her mobile phone dictionary Snödroppar=待雪草 (matsuyukisou, maybe translatable into wating-snow-grass) だから、梅も好きと言っていました。And yes, it became kind of clear that I like the plum blossoms for the same reason I like the snowdrops, they symbolizes spring's victory over winter.

The Magnolia tree in our ally have lost its flowers' weeks ago, but I still learned that it is called hoonoki, but now ume,  hoonoki, and sakura have finished and it is the time of the Azalea, she pointed at the bush... I naively guessed rhodeodendoron, we looked it up, apparently Azalea is called Tsutsuji...but now when wiki'ing it at home, they seem very closely related to the the rhododendoron. And she seem very happy with the latin/greek explaination of rose-tree. 

My alley cat lady is a Fukushima child, and sang me parts of the fukushima song... something about the great smell of the tsutsuji (rhododendoron)... and what can you do but agree? Early summer in southern Sweden is the same - hälsobacken and Sofiero! And in the middle of Spring - Road work!?

And then finally a photo from last weekend, slighlty Adam-and-the-Ants-ified... or something.. cheap editor effects ... done on me iphone, not good.. but could have been good enough for a late 80s' CD cover... 

What is cooler than cool? Cheap iphone editors!

Immigrating

Shake That Plate For Me...

Grilled, Dried and Most Likely Flattened by a Road Roller

Stood in line, wanted some popcorn. Boy in front of me wanted grilled, dried and flattened squid.. 3 of them.  I was standing next to the pet food shelf and that this item was not part of that particular assortment. Been here for 4 years and counting and still I'm sometimes surprised by what is considered food here.

Squid is not all bad, tender with the right spices it can be a treat. I'm basically already damaged as you can see. Squid in kimchi a la konbin presentation looks just nasty, though. Selected as "most likely to make me do a disgusted face" yesterday while browsing the shelves to keep me entertained while friend visit the little boys' room, generously provided by the local Sunkus store.

PhotoBooth Fun Again

It is a fun tool, and it makes you look completely different. Or not, the curls are there regardless. 

It could be the two folds of the towel, but I'm convinced that this photo makes me look kind of religious iconic. 

Spanish Again

Soupness!

Sunday SightSeeing

The Tokyo Sky tree is tall, and it reach its full height last months. I do not envy the builders who were working at 634 meters above the ground last months when the worst shaking was going on. 634 meters, to put it in perspective is basically 2 Eiffel Towers, or 18.5 Kärnan, depending or your references. But we should not get overly excited, there are still almost 200 meters to go before the Sky tree would have reached up to that kick ass Burj Khalifa building in Dubai. 

This gave me an idea, as part of the lightning design they should have the possibility to show how high up other other buildings and towers would reach. Although, perspective would make them look taller than they are, so maybe not so good idea after all. 

If you look closely you can see that the good lens needs cleaning. Annoying spots. 

After visiting the tower, I walked towards Asakusa and passed Sumida river. 

I think it is some type of riksha wedding, but not sure. 

One of those tourist photos you should take, big red torii across the street between Asakusa and Ueno. 

Then I took Yamanote from Ueno to Harajuku, went through yoyogi park. Much calmer than last Sunday but still lots of people picnicking and enjoying the last of the sakura. 

A vase of summer had to come with me home from the store. Now, some relaxing on the floor while waiting for the  beans to get ready to be enjoyed. 

Tokyo Sky Tree

Hanami out of Hand...

In Yoyogi park there are lots of pretty flowers. While waiting for Lu, two girls asked me " is this yoyogi park?", Indeed it is!

After flowers you need food... sausages on a stick (nasty if you ask me). 

How high? She wanted to know.

'bout this high! Said our Irish friend.

 Are you sure? Think you need a little help.

Matching shirts in a way... the prank call to Ericsson Help Center from T-Mobil made me laugh until mascara ran down me cheeks. He was fast though, no need to worry. 

Badminton playing - all fun and games until someone looses an eye. 

Even babies though it were entertaining...

Tokyo is not empty

Signs of Spring

Went out for a walk, not too long since the cold refuses to let go of me and the rain was hanging in the air, turned out to be 7 km in the end (the walk, not the hanging rain). Sakura is definitely on its last weekend now, and the wind  made pink confetti whirl to the ground. But even though, sakura is the main artist these days, there are lots of other flowers in full bloom. Here are some colourful photos to enjoy. 

Dog in the Window

Lu x 2 and Emma x 1

Problem Solved

Sakura

From Mongolia with Photos

Del brought me a nice little photo book as an omiyage from Mongolia. Lovely photos of wide plains, tall mountains and the people living there. I usually do not want to travel anywhere, but the Mongolian countryside in the summer time would be very interesting to experience. And, I have understood that I will have to eat meat while there, since vegetables are for sheep, goats, cows, horses, yaks and camels.  

Will look into the possibility to keep a herd of sheep there as a back up investment, in case the world economy collapses. The camel babies were really cute, but I've been told that camels are very unpleasant animals and will keep this in mind while selecting livestock.