Monthly Archives: April 2003

Easter Eggs

Easter was celebrated by Tokyo Orthodox community this Sunday. Lots of eggs were boiled, painted, blessed and eaten. Boiled and painted eggs along with baked Easter bread called kuliches (куличи) are used to break long fast. The colorful tradition dates … Continue reading

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Election Uproar

It’s difficult to surprise those who spent in Japan couple of years. When you wake up to the sound of a loudspeaker chanting the same mantra thousand times while slowly approaching your house, you instantly know: election time has arrived. … Continue reading

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Around Formosa with Fuji S1 Pro

At the end of 2001 three former classmates descended onto Taipei and in about one week managed to make complete circle around the island.

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Going Macro

Micro Nikkor 105 AF 1:2.8D I badly wanted these lens for long-long time. It’s not that I couldn’t afford them before. I just never buy photo-equipment unless I feel that I absolutely need it. Usually passion for camera or lens … Continue reading

Posted in Photo of Day, Photography | 2 Comments

Under Deflation Umbrella

I was passing through small station in Tokyo suburbs when I spoted this stall selling umbrellas. As you can see, single umbrella goes for 300 yen or roughly 2.5 US dollars, while for two umbrellas you pay as little as … Continue reading

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Invited to wedding? Don’t panic!

I just went to a friend’s wedding. Since he is American and the bride is Japanese it wasn’t completely standard Japanese wedding ceremony. However it had most of elements of it. Here is the list of things you need to … Continue reading

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Tax thieves

There is an expression in Japanese  税金泥棒 (Zeikin Dorobou) which literally means Tax Thief. Or there is more polite expression 税金無駄使い (Zeikin Mudatzukai) which means One Who Wastes Taxes. Each time I go hiking to Okutama I remember this expression … Continue reading

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Getting smaller?

One of all-time favs: 1. The sport of choice for unemployed or incarcerated people is: Basketball. 2. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is: Bowling. 3. The sport of choice for front line workers is: Football. 4. The … Continue reading

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Merrill’s 1996 Bonenkai in Rock-n-Roll Diner

I stumbled into this album while cleaning my old harddisk. It’s only of marginal interest for those who didn’t work for Merrill’s Tokyo at that time. Bonenkai means Forget-the-year party in Japanese as oppose to Shinnenkai which is New Year … Continue reading

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Onsen Gnome

Nozawa onsen is famous for it’s small public baths scattered around the town. Onsen 温泉 means hot springs in Japanese. Usually it’s a small wooden building with two sections: for man and woman. I haven’t seen mixed baths (called konyoku) … Continue reading

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Shoji-san

Every day I am passing through the Tokyo Imperial Palace on bicycle. From Kasumigaseki I enter outer Palace Area through Sakuradamon 桜田門 gates, which are located at the southernmost part of the palace. The gates built by the old moat … Continue reading

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Skiing in Nozawa Onsen

I finally got around and published photo album of our trip to Nozawa Onsen. It was snowing heavy both Saturday and Sunday and visibility on slopes was bad. That’s why most of photos are not about skiing rather about soaking … Continue reading

Posted in Life in Japan, Photography, Travel Japan | 1 Comment

What for?

What is my goal? Do I have a goal? Why am I switching to Weblog from simple static photo site? Am I going to preach you, teach you and try to change the world? Good questions. The short answer is … Continue reading

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Setting proper encoding with MT

I am using MovableType for my WebLog. First I tried to post Japanese or Russian text I found that all characters converted into HTML-Unicode which is bunch of &# and digit codes, e.g. if I enter my name in Japanese アナトル … Continue reading

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