February 25, 2004
Tilted Cab
A truck garage near my company. I like watching the mechanics stripping down cabs when I'm waiting at a red light in front of the garage.
Fiery Cumulus
The most inspiring sunset this year was the one I observed from the roof of my relatives' Tenrikyo church in Asuka Mura. I hope we can have a BBQ there on the roof during the summer.
Shades of Quadrophenia
I liked Sting in Quadrophenia. He fit the role rather well, I think. It's interesting to think that if the Mods and Rockers could find a common ground living in the current day it would probably be their disdain for Honda knockoffs.
February 23, 2004
Miwa Otori
If you drive down route 169 from Nara toward the city of Sakurai you will see a huge black "o-tori" that stands at the entrance of a parking area for Miwa shrine (Miwa-jinja or Miwa-myojin in Japanese). This is the largest o-tori in Japan and the jinja is located at the base of a mountain. There is an ancient cedar tree there that a white snake (actually a reincarnation of the myojin) is reincarnated in. But you might not find many references to it on the web because the animistic details of the shrine might not have been written about much in English. And the history of this shrine, one of the oldest, is sometimes debated because of the different branches of shinto (and varying beliefs) that have appeared since then.
February 22, 2004
Sony Obelisk
This is a wired remote controller for my Sony head unit installed in one of Silvia's 2-DIN slots. I specifically bought this toy because it had been around for at least 10 years and I thought it would be dropped in favor of a new model. Bingo! I was right and the new ones are wireless, though less 80's-looking and hence worthless in my opinion. I think I may be one of three people in the universe who can change the settings for the subwoofer output's high pass filter one-handed in the dark without looking at the display. Now somebody give me A GODDAMN COOKIE.
Running Strong
My Silvia still runs smooth after 150,000 kilos. That's quite a distance for a four-banger, and is a testament to the design of the SR-20DE engine. The engine is chain driven and my mechanic tells me he sees them pass the 200k mark in other cars (Nissan Primera, etc.). The thing is, I'm not just puttin' around all the time. I put serious (but loving) strain on that car and she comes through every time. So I reciprocate by keeping her pretty. This, in fact, is cause for ribbing from my buddies (when they see me bust out the tire wax) and also causes Nam to get quite angry (note I specifically did not say jealous).
"Osaka's Nile"
This is the view toward Dotonbori bridge from Sakai-suji. Came out rather poorly but I think it does this area justice, really.
Telekura
Your gateway to kogals, runaways, and other things your mom wouldn't be proud of, except that this is Dotombori and everybody else's shit stinks as well. kogals
February 19, 2004
Long Name
Taro told me, about 8 years ago, that this is a rarely seen license plate, in Kansai, at least. Tatsuya disagreed. I take the middle road and comment only that I see it more often than Okinawa plates.
February 16, 2004
Fuka Fuka
This is the first photo I have ever posted to this blog that was not taken with my phone. Merin sent me this one. She spotted it when the girls went shopping after our nice luinch at Chedi Luang. The venue? Namba Parks, of course. Merin's phone is equipped with a camera that treads with muddy boots all over my once very modern Hitachi phone. The time for an upgrade has come. I can smell it in the air. Next month, I think. My incentive for waiting, of course, is the spring lineup from AU that will surely feature a model that can keep me happy for another long, long year. Hell, in another year cellphones will eliminate a few more product categories if all follows the inevitable path to consolidation. I predict that cellphones will be marketed to replace IC recorders, lightweight mpeg video cameras, and universal remotes. The technology is already most of the way there and the manufacturers are definitely weighing customer demand for these features against higher price.
Daikon Flowers
Chedi Luang is a new Thai restaurant in Kita Horie that we visited (We: Me, Bill, Nam, Merin, and Nam's kohai Dao) on the weekend. Good food and interesting presentation. We ate more than our fill of curries, fish/meat dishes, and more exotic fare. It broke down to about 2,500 yen per person ordering a la carte, which I declare a damn good deal for Japan. The girl who runs it danced with Nam at the event in Mihara a couple weeks ago. She also works part time as a masseuse (masseusesse?) and I have no idea why I am writing about that. Go. Eat. Make like a Thai and be happy!
February 14, 2004
To the what?
Another brain teaser at Namba Parks. The place just gets more and more intriguing as I explore deeper with each visit, and it's turning out to be a virtual goldmine for Engrish on signs and whatnot.
February 13, 2004
February 10, 2004
Got Rice
Nissan Laurel in my company's parking lot with a homemade rear wing. I could see the bolts holding it on the trunk. As a side note, the Nissan Laurel was popular in its heyday because it was relatively cheap sedan/coupe but it sported the same 6-cylinder engine as the Skyline. A lot of punk-ass motherfuckers and wannabe yaks still ride around in this car.
February 09, 2004
Citroen
I get all sentimental thinking about the Citroens we had. I had a BX and Taro had an AX. The funny thing is that Taro got them both for free, the BX from a professor at Tenri university and the AX from an OBGYN who worked at the hospital his mom stayed at when she got sick. That BX was a tempermental French piece of shit, but it had the smoothest ride because of the hydraulic system, which also allowed me to slam the car to the ground when it was parked and prevented donut-eaters from placing a boot on my tire more than once. I broke the tranny on my BX by fucking around in the mountains and slam-shifting. We later found out that the ATF had never been changed (for 60,000 kilos over 8 years). It was like black mud. Taro crashed the AX and caused a three car collision on his way to see a girl in Nagoya. He had been fucking aroung changing CDs and didn't notice cars stopping on the highway in front of him. A sad sidenote of what was never meant to be is that he never told the girl he was going to see her because he wanted it to be a surprise, and he lost all interest in seeing her in the aftermath of the crash. Also, he "fucking hates" Nagoya now (before, he only "hated" it).
February 06, 2004
Sunset on the Awaji Bridge
Every so often, I hear of people jumping off the Awaji bridge. Most recently, it was a police officer. It would never really occur to me to go out that way, simply because it seems stupid to me to die by jumping into water, unless you don't mind drowning if the fall doesn't kill you. In that sense, the Awaji Straits would be a good place to drown if you didn't want your body to be found, cause they are DEEP... You would end up as octopus bait or something. It always strikes me as funny when people say that when jumping from a great height, hitting the water is the same as hitting concrete. I tend to doubt this statement and would ask those people if they would rather land in water or on concrete from any given height, assuming they wanted to live. I would choose water any day. Of course, if you jump from the Awaji Bridge, there's a pretty good chance you'll land on the deck of a supertanker or car transport, seeing as it's one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world... Then again, you might land in the swimming pool of a cruise ship, so I guess it evens out.