despair fuels creativity and spontaneous train rides

Unfortunately, frustration only breeds malaise.

sunset to sunrise, or: koko wa doko desu ka?

Michael finds a reason to wake up before noon; members of the community discuss ramifications and fallout of this radical shift in our understanding of the universe.

the worthier part

The journey versus the destination.

exodus

The dorm empties and awaits.

ascetic aethetics

Humidity outside right now is 94%. What the hell.

TORAY fire

Seta’s huge factory, which employs quite a lot of people here, is currently engulfed in flame.

expedition Tsuruga

Michael, going somewhat crazy, decides that a day at the ocean is what he needs to restore some sanity. Water is good.

mundane disaster-weather

Otsu has a yearly fireworks festival/celebration on August 8th (today, as I post this). Turns out it’s delayed a few days because there’s maybe a typhoon headed this way. For those unschooled in the geography of Nippon, Shiga lies within the Kinki region. (And we’ve made every joke there is to make about that. Honest.) So maybe a foot of rain and who knows about the wind, cos it’s already pretty danged blustery today.

Yesterday I headed up to Tsuruga and kicked around for half a day or so. That post later, once I’ve organised and labelled photos (still need some information to provide context) and finished cleaned up after the departed roommate. I’m so happy I could dance! and so I shall.

books and music and maps

I brought quite a lot of reading material and aural pleasures with me to Japan. The music is easy to supplement, but it’s more difficult to find the sort of books I’d like to be reading; Multnomah County Library has spoiled me. Luckily we’ve Project Gutenberg which has allowed me to fill the hot days and fill some of the gaps in my “I need to read this stuff” list.

is the sun getting.. closer?

At this point, my feeling is that I am suffering through this summer as a kind of character-building, soul-purifying exercise. Japan seems like a pretty good place for that sort of activity. My determination and strength-of-purpose is weakened somewhat by the knowledge that the states are in basically the same kind of weather, so it’s not like it’s even remotely unique or localised at this point. I’d still like to claim my heat is superior in its godforsaken-ness (and hyphen-ated-ness) but I have no real evidence to support this claim.