small small island, big big wind.

last week our friend yukiko invited us to go see takeshima island. it's a tiny little island in aichi, japan located off the coast of gamagori city. luckily our friend juan arrived a couple of days earlier and was able to join us. it was an incredibly windy day.

takeshima is only 19000 square meters and is connected to the shore by a 387 meters long bridge. it's a japanese national treasure; take a look for yourself. 

"ryo"

i cant say it. i'm still trying.

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hounen matsuri ("penis festival") photos.

i'll have video of this event on here soon. until then here are the photos of the event. hounen matsuri, better known to all the foreigners here as "the penis festival" is a famous annual event held in a town called komaki, just north of nagoya. the penises serve as a metaphor for crop fertility and the festival is held for good luck for the upcoming crops. at least thats what i'm told.

this is texas.

i had my students @ gifu daigaku (university) play a couple of rounds of pictionary. these are their drawings of "texas."

til death do us part.

i was standing on the quiet end of ozone subway station platform when i heard some shuffling behind me. luckily for me i had my camera and as you can see they didn't notice me taking their picture. a little cheesy, like one of those inspirational photo posters with a word followed by a "definition" intended to give hope and inspire. but i think it was an interesting sight nonetheless.

old lady with bags on the subway.

this lady means business. i don't know where she's going but she sure doesn't pack light; check out those bags under her eyes. looks like she's not coming back for a while.