The Ultra Music Festival

So this thing lasts for 2 days, but I decided against subjecting myself to that; instead opting to forego the Saturday and just arrive fashionably late on Sunday (after our game with Tokyo Gas (I couldn't play because my ankle is still sore; I'll be up and running in a week or two)).  What better way to alleviate the blues stemming from not being able to play?


I'll get round to annotating these at a later date (it's late and I've got work tomorrow).

In case you were wondering what it was all about, here's a video of the same event somewhere else. *hint*  You won't like it.

So there were probably 30,000 people or so (at a complete guess).

We started off miles away from the stage, but nuts to that so after fighting with a security dude who wouldn't let us into the area we had tickets for, we jumped a fence and went right to the front.

At that point my phone battery ran out and I couldn't take any more pictures, obviously.

These guys were outside, I don't know what they're meant to be dressed up as.

The guy I went with had a japanese and english flag just knocking around (I don't know why) so I repossessed the flag (for the queen).

YMCA was actually playing somewhere outside the main event.  The instant I took this photo, it stopped.  Portentous.

I don't know what they're dressed up as.  I, however, am dressed as the hunchback of the commons.

Again, what?

The stage was really big, which struck me as a bit odd because the people doing the whatever it is they were doing at centre stage, were tiny.  I guess the people at the back had no chance of seeing anything so they just made this enormous thing for them to gawp at.

As the sun crept away for the night, something profound was said.

What on earth.

The venue was sunk quite far below the main road away from the station, so you could view the entire scene before you entered.  It must have been quite a sight for the myriad conservative salarymen on their way home.

This giant robot was also outside the event.

I've shown my non understanding a couple of times already, but this time I REALLY don't know why this thing exists.

A Bit of Rugby

As always I only have nominal control of the order in which these pictures are shown, so we'll be jumping from the beginning to the end and back again.

We (IBM) played Kurita (they produce super pure water for manufacturing purposes) at their ground in Ebina.  It's about an hour and forty-five minutes from where I live now, so it wasn't the most pleasant of journeys.  Luckily I met a couple of the guys as we headed down there, so I could just turn my brain off and follow them from train to train.

This picture is at the end of the day.  The sky was fantastic, but we didn't feel much like appreciating it on account of the 40-18 loss we sustained.  We were well within reach until the last ten or fifteen minutes when they put a try or two on us.  As with other leagues around the world, if you're within seven of the opposition you get a bonus point.  I assume the four try rule applies too, but don't quote me on that.

This is right at the beginning of the warmup.  It's suddenly dropped a few degrees which is normal for this time of year, but knowing it doesn't stop it being any more of a surprise to the system.  Up until last week I'd been seriously considering buying another aircon unit to supply the entire apartment with legionnaires.  And cold air.

This guy comes to all our games.  He waves the flag with much aplomb, and is quite vocal in his support.  Last year IBM lost by 50 or more points to this team, so us being within a try to the last must be encouraging for the supporters as well as the staff.

I only included this one because I'm obviously being pulled off the ground finger first by a mysterious force, although you can't see the shock on my face at this happening.

We made some room down the right and our fullback put a ball through to chase.  I got there first but it didn't bounce kindly as I bent down to pick it up.

Despite quite obviously NOT having a rugby ball in my possession, I got tackled.  This isn't american football so that's rather illegal.  Despite his best efforts I managed to chip it on further for our outside centre to dot down.

I just included this to prove that I can run.

I turned my ankle about 50 minutes into the match which fucking hurt.  I can now walk on it fine, but I can't really perform any dynamic movements.  It'll be okay in about two weeks (less if I do all the physio, eat well and all the rest of it) so no problem.  If you promise to keep it a secret, I'll be available for the next game should the coaches choose to pick me.

The sky was actually several shades of red deeper than that; the photo doesn't quite do it justice.



All things considered we played alright.  We lost, which is unfortunate, but we improved over the last match substantially and that's important for the long-term.

I played well.  I knocked one ball on which was unfortunate, but that was right at the beginning and nerves were probably to blame.

I turned over one ball, didn't miss a tackle all game and made a couple of breaks.  I didn't make much ground, probably only 25 metres total which frankly speaking isn't good enough, but they were clean metres with one of the breaks resulting in an out of the tackle offload which gained us another few metres.

When we were on our line due to a penalty, they played the ball quickly with our entire team having their backs turned huddled near the posts.  I ran across to their centre who was over the line and falling down but I was too late.  I hit him and stuck an arm in under him in order to dislodge the ball but he was absolutely going to score regardless of what I did.

Regardless I managed to hit the ball out of his hands and force a knock-on.

I saved an absolutely guaranteed try.

Exactly two people congratulated me by saying 'thank you,' in the most muted manner possible.

Sheesh.

A Few More

These ones are a bit of a hodgepodge, but they were all taken within a week of each other.

This is a sculpture set outside the imperial palace in Tokyo.  The part of the palace that is opened to the public during specific holidays (toff birthdays and whatnot) is exceptionally boring.  It's the most dull plaza I've ever seen, quite deliberately so by the looks of things.  Sometimes designers completely misunderstand the space within which they work and you end up with things like the gherkin (something I hate and love depending on any arbitrary measure, such as which way the wind is blowing).  The designers of this place just seem to have given up trying to design anything at all, instead focussing on the gardens hidden behind vast walls and the building itself.

Fuck the plebs.

These lanterns were quite common but difficult to place in their surroundings due to their style.  I can't tell whether these are a Japanese interpretation of a long-past European style, an original Japanese creation or something else entirely.  I feel like they belong in an old German town or something.

Anyway I took a couple of pictures to show both the shape and the colour - both were rather interesting when place within the old grounds of the palace.  Although, to be fair, if you walked into the place without knowing it was a centuries old place it's entirely possible to mistake it for something much newer; and much more European.

The colours in this picture are all messed up.  The pink of the flower is as they were (at least on my non colour controlled screen) but the background green is luminous - decidedly unlike the leaves of the various lilies around Japan.

A man on a horse.  It's either a very important man, or a very important horse.  The outside shot is that it is, in face, a very important hat.

The shape of water is always fascinating when photographed.  I haven't the time or patience to take pictures of droplets, so this will have to do.  Water on a lily (I think it's actually lotus) leaf.

This one was actually taken outside Himeji castle, pictures of which follow.  It had an absolutely magnificent tea house overlooking the castle, along with a fantastic pong replete with waterfalls and enormous fish.  A perfect example of the Japanese style in such things, and a great thing to try and replicate should you so wish (and should you have the space in your own garden).

A very, very long time ago, I wrote a couple of blog posts showing pictures very similar to these.  It's interesting to come back and take another look at something that I saw four, five or six years ago.

I doubt these pictures show much in the way of my improvement when taking photographs.  There are only a finite number of vantage points by which you can view the castle, so I assume the pictures from before almost perfectly match up with these.  I wouldn't be surprised if they were in black and white too.

Anyway, that was the journey to Himeji and the surrounding gardens (and one or two other places I'm sure).  I think next up might be Kyoto, but I'll have to trawl the archives to find out.