Category: Photos

The newest canned coffee offering from Georgia. Although the spelling reminds me more of Mississippi.
I’m almost scared to try it without a solid network of friends and a handful of Paxil.

A sign specifically forbidding standing urination in the parking lot of Ms. K’s, a funky cafe in Nara where T plays gigs every week.

I took my camera to work last Thursday so I could snap some photos on the way home.

This is a construction barge that’s been scooping mud from the river bed in the city’s effort to deepen it, as an anti-flooding measure.

There was a huge school of mullet fingerlings under a bridge I crossed, where two branches of the river merge and the current runs strongest.

Another shot of the barge, and the adjacent “dump boat,” taken from the opposite bridge.
The high resolution shots are available here: 2006 Sumoto River

(click to open larger popup)
This is a photo I found from a couple months ago. It was taken at a flower park called hanasajiki that I try and visit a couple times every year. The funny thing is, these flowers weren’t even in the main part of the park, they were in a planter in front of the gift store!
Here’s a link to the full set from that day: 2006 Awaji Hanasajiki (Warning: Baby pics abound!)

Anybody know offhand what this bad boy is?

(click on image to enlarge)
I found him crawling on my car last month. When I tried to touch him, he flew off into the wind.
UPDATE #1: I’ve put in an inquiry to What’s That Bug. They say they are swamped, but maybe something will work out.
UPDATE #2: Whats That Bug wrote back:

Hi Justin,
We believe this beauty is one of the Cerambycid Longhorns, though we are not positive, and we have no idea of the species. The list of specimens that could use Eric Eaton’s assistance is growing and we are not sure when he will return from collecting in West Virginia. How large was this beetle?

To which I replied:

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. The beetle was approximately one inch in length. I will continue to try and find additional information here in Japan, and will update you if anything comes to light.

I’m really impressed with the dedication of the authors of the Whats That Bug site – go check them out as our correspondence is posted there as well, and they may update there when their resident beetle expert returns. Meanwhile, if any of you can help with the identification, I’d be grateful.
I wonder if this is the Eric to whom they refer. Wow!
MYSTERY SOLVED!: T harnessed his ancient Oriental powers of deduction and came up with what looks like the correct answer. This longhorn beetle is commonly known in Japan as a ?????? (benikamikiri); Latin name: Purpuricenus (Sternoplistes) temminckii.
Sources:
http://www2.gol.com/users/nanacorp/ZUKAN/beni.htm
http://naturaljapan.net/?pp_album=1&pp_image=benikamikiri01.jpg

Some photos Nam took with her new Coolpix S6 when we passed under the longest suspension bridge in the world (4km) last month on the Taco Ferry (this “taco” means “octopus” even though they spell it with a “c”).



Update: Hi-res versions of these photos, plus more, can be found here: http://flickr.com/photos/cbuddha/sets/72157594175411073/

Chinchin!
One of the photos Nam took today, her last full day in Japan for the foreseeable future. We went on a drive out to Akashi to look for a dog (shiba-ken) her cousin wants us to send to Thailand (long story). I bought her a Coolpix S6 last week to take home, so she was taking her first shots with it today.
She leaves to Thailand tomorrow morning. I go to work as usual. That sucks total chinchin.

My sister Mika has started a volunteer gig at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, one day a week, at the penguin exhibit. MY SISTER IS A PENGUIN WRANGLER! AT THE MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM! I believe the official job description is “Assistant Aviculturist,” or “Executive Chopper of Small Dead Fishies,” or something like that.
For the Yoshida family, this is a major coup. Now we can be associated with the jolly Asian guy who makes teriyaki sauce (Yoshida Sauce), Japanese who make the world’s best zippers (YKK), and an honest-to-God AVICULTURALIST at the MBA!
Good luck with the new job, sis!
UPDATE: Oh. My Shaka. I just realized you can see her feeding the penguins on the MBA’s Penguin Cam. Now how cool is that?

“The Kaen is the oldest form of the free reed family, the great great grandaddy of the harmonica and accordion. This type of instrument goes back to at least 1100BC (the harmonica and accordion only go back to the 1830s).”
(read more about the kaen and hear a sample here)
This guy was playing on the street in front of the Shangri La; he played pretty well. The kaen makes such a beautiful sound on the city street. I dropped a 10 baht coin in his bowl and listened for a moment before walking by.