After an awfully long silence I figured it was high time to have another go of getting this blog up and running. The long articles don’t work, there’s simply not enough time for that. Which isn’t to say tat I don’t write, for I do, but I’ve decided I want to focus my writing time on fiction rather than blogging. I’m working on my first novel-length project – it’s been just over a year now – and I really want to focus what little writing time I have on that.
What, them, am I going to do with this blog? Well, I take a lot of photos, and that can also tell a story. So, I’ll try to post them here together with some limited commentary, and hopefully that’ll be enough for you to follow my crazy journeys here in Japan.
The pond
A couple of days ago, as I was biking back from Kokubunji to the dormitory, I came across this wonderful pond right between the railway tracks and a lovely little residential district with these beautiful two-storey villas. By the way, I can’t stress enough how highly I recommend exploring the neighbourhood as much as possible. Kokubunji is quite close to the dormitory so I’m often there for shopping and so on, but rather than taking the same route back and forth every time, I do my best to chose streets that I haven’t tried yet. It’s really fun, and you find som many interesting places doing this. Plus, going to Kokubunji never gets boring or repetitive this way.
Today, taking a break after studying kanji, I went back to the pond, which I had marked on the map on my iPhone so that I could find it again, intending to take some photos. Of course, on my first visit the sun had already set so I didn’t realise how devoid of colours this place is during the winter, especially with a bit of grey snow here and there. There’s still something about the place that I like, but I’m not skilled enough with my camera to capture those feelings in my photos. But it was fun trying:)
The sun is setting and I’m using that soft light to light myself and the scenery. I really love being out during the sunset. Sunrise would also be nice, except its too early and I’m too tired. Sunset is really nice though, whether you take photos or not, for everything appears so soft and clear in that soft light. Really nice, I love it!
I wrote earlier that the pale was devoid of all colours, but that isn’t entirely true. I did find this rose, in the middle of the winter, with snow around it!
Isn’t it cool to find this green grass, the rose – I mean, you wouldn’t expect it midwinter, would you? Well, in Tokyo you find this wonderful contrast.
Sometimes it can be quite heavy to push a bike through the snow… Well, I mean, there isn’t much snow here, but this is what it would like if there were… is all I’m saying…
I tried to do it again with some fill flash and capture my reflection in the water, but to no avail. My attempts to direct the light failed and I ended up with a very bright ground that I cropped out. A speedlight would be so cool…
On my way back I came upon this view which was simply too good to pass up. I love that there are so many open areas in the city. They’re fields, really, where people grow things, and its just really peaceful and harmonious. It also gives us these wonderful scenic views. I’m way too blurry, though;)
Well, that’s it for today. Until next time!
Cheers,
Nils
Tokyo Palantír 