Five, and Flagging...

So this is my fifth consecutive post.

I think after today, I may need to reduce my posting, lest I be hospitalised for RSI.

 This is obviously something of a photo manipulation on my part.

It's the desktop to my computer in the classroom.  It's high contrast, so it makes it easier to read the items on my desktop.

This picture, coupled with the screensaver slideshow of my trip to Seoul gives my room a competitive edge over the other classrooms, I feel at least.

 This picture and the one below, illustrate an important difference between Japanese and Korean shrines.

At face value they look extremely similar, I was surprised to find many of the same craft styles present in both places.  The roof latticework for example, looks identical to my eyes.

The difference of note that I would recommend looking at my previous pictures to see, is that Korea feels much more earthy.  There is a lot of bare soil, and the gardens are nowhere near as lush.

This is either indicative of budget disparities, or a different philosophy as to what grounds like these should look like.

I would prefer it if the latter were true.

 Looking along this wall you can see the lighter earth tone of the wall, compared to the Japanese equivalent; and an unashamed lack of vegetation.

The only cover in this particular place comes from a randomly grown assortment of trees.

The more modern park area has a shaded patch and a fountain, but the traditional areas have little in the way of cover.

 Looking through one of the outer buildings we can see a view that completely contradicts my previous assertion.

You will just have to take it from me, these places are nowhere near as lush.

This isn't a negative aspect to the castles and religious grounds here, it's just a different interpretation of a tranquil place.

If tranquility is a word that can be associated with what is now a tourist spot...

 I don't speak any Korean, and fearing for my life, I daren't speak to any of those passing by.

Therefore I can only assume this man was either the founder of this area, or a major architect  in its' planning.

His book suggests a scholar of some sorts, and his garb is excessive, especially for the Summer season here.  I can only surmise that he is a nobleman of some kind.  Maybe even a King.

 When you walk in the entrance, if you keep an even keel, on your right will be this view.

It is quite an interesting view, partly because of the buildings in the palatial grounds, and partly because of the dearth of vegetation.  The grass is an unhealthy yellow/green, and there are no trees.

It makes the entire  place feel much larger than it actually is.

I wonder if that was the intention of the designer...

 This is the view from the other side of the walkway, past the main entrance.

When you see period Asian war films, they're always being slaughtered in the equivalent of this space, in whichever country they're currently in.

There was some filming going on just behind me, but I've no idea what for.

Again, I was too afraid to ask.

 I was wondering whether this man was like our Buckingham Palace guards, and couldn't smile, flinch, move or otherwise react should I go and take a picture up-close.

I didn't want to risk it though.  The highly strung nature of the individuals in this country would mean it would become a diplomatic incident within seconds.

It would also mean being impaled on a ten foot skewer, and that's something I've no desire of trying.

 This was in the background of the above picture.

They have a number of lavish courtyards, that presumably served as military training grounds, or ceremonial grounds of some sort.

They had no ornamentation, so I assume they had a utilitarian purpose.

 Another extremely ugly gargoyle looks on at the temple.

I think it's peeved that after all these years, it still has to protect this stupid building.

That's why it's got the annoyed expression, and why it's directed at the building itself.

 This is the Borrowers Eye View (TM) of the temple.  I sat the camera on the floor to take a drink, and wondered what the place looked like from down there.

Low and behold, it looks like this.

Despite being terminally wonky, it's still closer to horizontal than any other picture in this series, so that's a plus.

 They like incorporating cubby holes in their designs, and this is a typical example.

They're not fully developed courtyards, but I can imagine some kind of kitchen garden being cultivated here, or a stone bench for someone to important to sit with the riff-raff.

It's an interesting place, with all the low corridors and hiding places.  There are an inordinate number of tiny arrow holes too.  These guys were certainly prepared for an invasion.

The final picture in todays' set leaves me with mixed feelings.

I saw this view, through a doorway in the wall, and wondered how I could possibly fail to take an impressive  shot, what with the diagonal lines and imposing building facade to work with.  It turns out that elements can be easily placed together, but the end result can be extremely unimpressive, or downright boring; despite best intentions.

This picture isn't exactly great, but it's the best of this sequence, and I feel it should be entered unto the internet, to remind me that luck is important, and so is perseverence.

Until next time, which might not be tomorrow.

Songs, Pictures and... The Other Stuff

I recently sorted out my music collection, because I found it quite challenging to locate anything of interst.  This collecting involved a program download, and an awful lot of collating, on behalf of rhythmbox.

It turns out that my music collection is now 115 gigs in size, containing 15,000 songs; totalling a staggering 45 days worth of music, on continuous play.  It was at this point I hit the random play button, and am working my way through the music as I write.  I'll tell you what my collection is like, in a few months.

I've also set myself the arbritrary target of a full years worth of music.  This is my intended music target, and will cost me roughly 850 gigs of space.  I intend to achieve this target within a year.  How's that for life ambition, eh?

On another media related note, I keep receiving great photographs from the people back in Japan.  It's interesting to see how they actually use their mobile phone cameras, and send photographs to each other without a care for expense.  This is probably to do with their inexpensive infrastructure, however it's so damned complicated that I can't make head nor tails of how it is actually charged.

Birds, birds and trees.  It's a bit odd to see the similarities in seasons between here and Japan; but it's yet another common factor between both countries.

I don't know whether animated gifs work either, but here is rirakuma, doing what he does best.  (That's relaxing, not drinking per se; you cynical bunch)

This is the kind of idyll that exists in any country with a history, and some means of preserving that history.  Thinking about this, these criteria narrow the possible venues for this scene down to the developed European countries, Japan and Korea perhaps.  I wonder why we take these kinds of views for granted, when you can only see them in a handful of countries?

Another really nice picture.  Thanks for all of them guys!

This is mado-chans' cooking prowess, for all to see!  How amazing do they look!!!  I'm not sure why she's made so many mushrooms though; perhaps a Freudian allusion to their mind altering nature!  Who knows...

All I know is, they look delicious!

This is another angry looking chap.  Does he have wings?  Or is my mind playing a trick on me?

And we end tonights presentation with another cute animated gif.  I get sent literally a couple of these things, every week; so I've built up an extensive collection already.

It appears that animated gif's don't work, but you get the idea anyway...




And to end with...

JET Application Then

So I finally handed in my second JET application.  As with all of them (I presume) it took a long time to get sorted; and the very fact I managed to pull the barrels of information together is a minor miracle.  Thanks to all those who helped, I wouldn't have come this far without everyone.

If anyone is watching from JET, please please please please please let me go to Japan...

This is what a room of JET application looks like.  All this goes into a giant envelope and is whisked away to the embassy in London.

My stomach is turning already, simply thinking about how (if) my application will be received.  As with all these things, something will almost certainly have been forgotten or lost either in creating the folder, or in translation.

This is the thickness of all the papers required for application.  This isn't the complete pack, it only gets thicker.

I would be interested to know how much of a backside ailment the original scheme was, in terms of forms and filing.  The infamy of Japanese beaurocracy leads me to believe that it was always, and always will be this annoying.


Check out the TV times in the background too.  Please don't steal all the sensitive information that is (probably) present in these pictures.  Ok then, you can steal my identity, but can I have it back when you're done?

Some Interesting Foodstuffs.

Ok so I'm finally getting round to putting up some of the pictures I took before the storm, randomly around Yokohama.

This first batch are interesting food items I've seen about the place, and with no further ado, here they are!

Ok so at this stage the foodstuffs in this box are still alive.

They just come outside and whack it on the head essentially.

I don't really know what the one swimming around is, but it was tiny; not much of a meal to be had with that guy there.  Maybe a sandwich.

Then again, eating bread here is taking your life into your own hands, so you've got to contend with the bread and the poisonous fish.  I don't really like those odds!

There are assorted shellfish here.  I know it's not a very good picture, but they were being aerated so...

This also presumably means they're alive, or maybe it's to keep them fresh; who knows.

They didn't look particularly delicious though, so only those who really like slimy shellfish should probably eat these things.

Ok at this point I feel I should stop and say:  This was actually outside a chinese restaurant, not Japanese.  I know they eat disgusting things over here in Japan, but china and the chinese have the monopoly on that particular plaudit.  As the saying goes, the chinese will eat anything, and so far this appears to be true.

If the English saying, 'you are what you eat' is also true, this makes an awful lot of chinese people, and those who frequent chinese restaurants here, quite disgusting and rather slimy.

So this is a close-up of the two dimensional fish at the bottom of the box.  They're still alive too.

People in England are always looking to obtain the freshest food possible; yet they baulk at the idea of having a live fish swimming around in front of them.  This is the ultimate freshness, either go for the most fresh produce in everything, or put up with frozen food!  Put up or shut up!

I like this sign because it's a perfect example of Japlish, or Engrish, whichever you'd prefer.

Deep 2 Deep is the shop name, with a random 'import' thrown in for good measure.

It also says 'sweet heart beat,' in the bottom left, and in the middle of the actual heart itself, '...beat...'  Very interesting design going on here, I think you'll agree.  The philosophy seems to be, throw as many English words together as possible.

Ok so I include this basically because I really liked it.  The incessant rain we had during this time also makes it look much nicer in the twilight of whatever hour this was taken.

Most of the 'sculptures,' using the term loosely, that exist here in the street are extremely abstract, and generally fall under the category of, 'we had too much money and too many artists, so we needed to keep them fed.'  There are one or two good ones though, and knowing these kinds of things are entirely subjective I guess it's merely statistics that dictate there should be at least a few I like.  This just happens to be one of the ones I do.

I'll take some photos of a horrendous example at a later date.

This was on the side of a supermarket.

What can I say.

They have *almost* got it right, but not quite.

I want to give the person who penned these lines a hug and a gold star for effort.



Ok so I'll get round to doing the typhoon in  a minute.