Japan Trip Report Part 16: Tokyo Settlement
As you might be able to tell from the frequency drop in posts, yes, work has restarted, and yes, it kinda sucks. However, it seems pretty advantageous that I have NOT completed my stated goal, which was to have finished processing the Japan trip photos and posted them up by this time. Given there are only a few more days worth of photos to go, it seems unlikely that my motivation will have totally rotted through by then. So at the same time I can relieve my depression with happy memories, while filling up the time until C75 stuff come calling home.
Untraced Merchandise: Range Murata’s Robot 2009 Calendar
Was at Kinokuniya this afternoon and well, they had a sale on for the Japanese magazines. Not that I am interested in old issues of fashion magazines from Japan, but they had displaced all the artbooks with these discount magazines. So I was walking around, and the Japanese section had nothing interesting (seeing I had already bought what I needed the last time I was there. But boredom has a way of opening my eyes to more unusual possibilities, so in my wanderings, I made my way to the Chinese books section. BTW, op pic is clickable.
Japan Trip Report Part 15: Ghosts of Fuji Haunting Mordor
As I have previously stated, one of my regrets was not visiting an observation deck in Nagoya by night. However, having explored the area in the night, the next day, when we were due to leave Nagoya, we paid a visit to the observation deck. My recommendation for a good view of the city is to go to the Sky Promenade, which is open from 11am to 10pm, with last entry at 9:30pm. It is part of the Midland-square building on the Takashimaya side of the Nagoya station. This is where we ended up staying for 15 minutes before rushing back to the hotel to get our bags and get on the train to Hakone.
Review: Midori Style 2008 Summer
Ah! The winds of nostalgia bring with them the sweet scent of youth, free from the cares of the world. Back in 2007, I discovered REI (Rei’s Room), a Taiwan-based artist with close ties to the Taiwan-Japan doujin circle Green Wood. This, for me, was perhaps the first steps into exploring foreign artists who had made a name for themselves in Japan, a circle which, while small, continues to grow as I stumble on more illustrators. Green Wood’s vibrant publications (most notably the Midori Style series of books based on the group’s image character Midori) were hard to find in Japan, since they were released exclusively to the Taiwanese market, usually at the Taiwanese doujin event Fancy Frontier. [Download review pictures] [JPG]
Japan Trip Report 2008 Part 14: Crystals and Trees in Nagoya
Takayama, morning. Markets are held along the side of the river Miyagawa, and we visit it after breakfast. Today would be our last in this area, for we would journey to Nagoya in the afternoon, where we would spend the night. The remnants of the night’s snow scattered in the town, defiantly flashing white in the bright sun, as the people of Takayama flogged their produce and wares.
Japan Trip Report 2008 Part 13: Hospitality and Snow in Higurashi-land
![[pireze]Japan_08_Trip_Part_K_0083](http://pireze.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/pirezejapan-08-trip-part-k-0083.jpg "[pireze]Japan_08_Trip_Part_K_0083")
During the original planning, we had not been aware of Shirakawa-go’s connection with Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. The plan was to cut through Shirakawa and Takayama on our way down to Nagoya, while experiencing some of the more rural life of Japan and taking in the famous gassho huts. As such, I did not do any research on Higurashi, and readers should much less expect any sort of comparative photography. In any case, the weather would have wiped any sort of resemblance.
Japan Trip Report 2008 Part 12: Don’t Get the Bill
The first order of the new day was to make our way to the Fushimi-Inari Taisha shrine, well-known for being the site of thousands of vermillion toriis lining the paths up the hill. In fact, by the end of our climb up the hill, toriis had become so commonplace to us that we spared not a second glance at them for most of the rest of our trip. In places, they are so densely packed together it’s like being in a tunnel. A tunnel of gateways. Along the way, we encounter the logic of supply and demand, as well as find hints of how such a logistic feat was accomplished.
Artbook Review: Bungaku Shoujo no Galerie d’Art
This artbook was purchased on whim late into my trip to Japan, and was already in the Toranoana store despite the official release date of 26 December 2008. ISBN 978-4-7577-4588-9, 2400 yen, 127 pages, of which 74 are colour contents. Illustrations by Miho Takeoka. What drove me to buy this book was the soft water-colour like look of the illustrations, as well as the character designs. Furthermore, from experience, I knew novel-derived drawings are usually fairly outstanding, though hard to find in any large quantity, especially in colour. [Download review pictures] [JPG]
Japan Trip Report 2008 Part 11: Palace, Pizzas and Parfaits
Day two of bicycling around Kyoto was dedicated to more famous places, namely the Imperial Palace, Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), Ryoanji (rock garden temple), and Nijo Castle. We had booked an English tour of the Palace, so we got up fairly early and bicycled down to the meeting point. Prior to the tour, we decided to stop off at a nearby restaurant for some breakfast. I chose the natto set. 
