For the first time in what seems like a very long time I finally had a chance to go out and explore some new ground this past weekend.

Last week when I was deciding where to go (and not having any luck) I ended up referenceing one of my Tokyo guide books.

Even though I have been living here for more than 5 years, I still rely on things like guidebooks to help find new places to visit. (Though suggestions from friends and visitors are a better source of information, guidebooks can work in a pinch.)

After a little searching I decided to head up to the Shitamachi area of Tokyo. My main reason for deciding to go there was the fact that I had not yet seen it for myself.

Shitamachi is a section of Tokyo on the Northern end of the Yamanote loop that is home to a veritable maze of old houses, small shops, and countless shrines and temples.

Being close to Ueno it shares some of the charm of older Tokyo. Not nearly as polished and pretty as other areas, Shitamchi still holds plenty for the curious explorere to find. One could say it is on the wrong side of the tracks.

If you are looking for old architecture, then Shitamachi is your place. It seems to have been left behind during Japans bubble economy, and contains some of the more interesting old houses and shops I have seen in Tokyo.

The real pleasure of wandering through Shitamachi is the fact that it is such a maze of small winding alleyways, crooked streets, and surprises around everty corner. The heavy overcast sky meant that after a while I could not tell which way was North and consequently I got turned around pretty well while following the winding alleyways.

Eventually I ended up bumping into a subway station as a light rain began to fall so that was a good time to call it a day and head home.

--

Every so often I feel the need to stop blogging the way I do it right now (Hand posting using dreamweaver and an FTP client) and switch over to a Content Management System (CMS) that will allow me to update this site using a web based input method. The problem I have been having though is the fact that none of the off the shelf solutions fit for Sushicam. Either a system will be great at showcasing images, but not text, or great at text, but weak in the image department.

I did take a step in the right direction when I finally applied templates and CSS to all my pages, but a full blown CMS would be taking it one step further. What I really want is a web based input system that will allow me to post updates when I am away from my home computer. It will also allow me to post mobile updates if/when I ever get around to having a cellphone.

I have yet to find a CMS that will allow me (most of ) the flexibility of Dreamweaver. (Not sure this woudl ever really be possibel...) But I need to do soemthing since I am getting a little worn down about how much effort it can take to manage the content here. Consequently I have decided to seriously rekindle my search for a CMS.

Separating content from design is the single most important reason to use a CMS. If I had one piece of advice to any person interested in starting a site like this it would be to choose a good CMS. The time you save by doing so can be enormous.

Just last week I found out about a CMS called "iUpload". Their personal publisher looks to be a pretty close fit to what I am looking for. The only bad part is that as of now it is not able to be loaded to my own server and thus I am unable to customize the template.

Take a look at the test site I made and let me know what you think.

In the eman time the search for the perfect Sushicam CMS continues...

Autumn maples leaves - Kyoto

This was one of those kinds of weeks when you really feel like you are earning your pay.

At work I am going through the annual budget cycle and building the Navy environmental program for Japan and Diego Garcia for the next fiscal year.

It has been a week of very long days, sometimes starting at 3 a.m. and ending usually around 6:30 p.m., not to mention the fact that I will have to go in for at least one day this weekend to get it all done before the deadline.

But working a couple weekends a year is a very small price to pay for getting the chance to live here in Japan. Compared to a lot of peoples work schedules here in Japan I am only considered to be working part time since my day is usually from 7:30 to 4:30 and I very rarely need to put in any extra hours in the evenings or on the weekends.

I'll do my best to get it all done tomorrow so I will have Sunday free to go out and do some exploring with my camera.

--

The first official day of spring was last week, and you really can notice the days getting longer, if not warmer as well. It won't be too much longer before things start growing again and the rainy season shows its face.

I can't wait for spring. It is an absolutely glorious time to be here.

The cherry blossoms, the warm rains, and bright and sunny days devoid of the humidity that plague the summer months. Spring really is a fabulous time here.

--

I get a lot of e-mail from viewers, and I do my best to answer all of it. Most are questions about finding jobs in japan, or about what camera to buy, or just a quick thank you from someone who enjoys Sushicam.

But every once in a while I get an e-mail that really touches me. Following is an email I recently received. (The name of the sender has been withheld, and they can claim it as their own if they so desire.)

Hi Jeff....!

I have been visiting your site for about 2 years now to look at all your wonderful pictures & read your stories & reminisce about my own time in Japan. I lived in Japan for almost four years in the '90's, so I can relate to everything you speak of. I was reading your post about how it has been 5 years since you came to Japan, and I realized with a shock that at this very moment (12:59 a.m EST on February 3rd) that it is exactly 9 years ago this very moment that I was stepping off a plane back here at Toronto International Airport.

Not a single day has gone by without my thinking of my time in Japan - the good, (matsuri, vending machines selling anything & everything, beautiful scenery) the not so good (crowds everywhere, concrete everywhere, train perverts) & the stuff that just plain drove me crazy (ATM's that shut down at 5, no public transit at night, lack of central heating). Cherish & savour every moment you are there, because you never know where life will lead you. I had to come home due to illness in the family, and I have never managed to get back to Nihon. I have been planning a return trip for the past 9 years, but haven't been able to manage it yet. I am hoping that I will be able to make it back before I'm 40. (only two years to go...!!)

When I was there, there was no such thing as the Internet - I relied on my Lonely Planet and word of mouth from others to decide where to go & what to see. There was so much I did not get to see & do, and I cherish the memories I do have. I have about 30 photo albums of pictures I took while there, and every once in awhile, I take them out & go through them, remembering who, what, when, where, etc, so that my memories don't fade away. But most of my photos are not as half as good as yours..:) Sometimes your photos have almost brought me to tears, and on a few occasions they have made me weep with 'homesickness' because of the memories they evoked in me. Your photos of Kyoto are especially powerful, as I fell in love with the city even though I spent a brief 10 days there.

The years have flown by quickly, and I have lost touch with everyone I knew when I was there. We all eventually ended up back in our home countries & drifted apart, but the memories remain. If I could find a way to move back to Japan on a permanent basis, I would do it in a heartbeat, even though I would probably find even more things there that would drive me crazy...lololol....

And the next time you're in Kyoto, if you'd like a giggle, go to the storage lockers in front of the station (on the Kyoto Tower side) and read the rules about storing your 'luggage'. If I recall correctly, there's a rule about not using the lockers to store dead bodies.... LOLOLOL... when I saw that, I roared with laughter - you see, I was in Japan on a contract as an Embalmer...(why I didn't take a photo of that, I don't know....) I decided to spent New Years' in Kyoto, among the living, and I 'lived it up' that night - the best New Years' I have ever had...:)

So I thank you for all your posts, and wonderful photos & the videos, too (such a treat). They brighten my day, and make me remember my own experiences.

So take care of yourself & your family & keep it up with the fabulous website...

Sincerely,

(Name withheld)

--

This is the best kind of reward I can get from the effort I put into Sushicam. Connecting with a person and providing a "natsukashii" tour down memory lane.

If I ever leave Japan I know I will be in the very same situation as the author of that email.

I'll just need to find some good blogs to keep my appetite for Japan sated until I can make it back here, back home.

Here in Japan you see a lot of English being used. Some of it in more creative and amusing ways than others.

One of my favorite things to do is to read the English that is put onto T-shirts and other types of clothing. Following are a sample of some that I have seen:

Thank Heavens Rock Pank Lets go to Hells - I'm not really suer what the author was shooting for here, but they seem to be covering their bases.

Goofy and Regular - Fun and harmless

Stinker - Funny, yet still harmless

Trustworhty...a way of thinking - There is a good moral to this one. Either that or it is a form of rationalization...

Slut - Simple, yet delightfully unrefined. Especially when it is on a shirt worn by a 12 year old girl.

Usually this "drive by" English is nothing more than an amusing, and many times confusing distraction for me, but just a couple of days ago I saw one such instance of English on clothing here that gave me reason to pause and really think.

I was on the train coming back from Shinagawa one evening and had propped myself up in the little space between the door and the seat and was passing the time by doing a little people watching.

Across the door from me on the same side of the car was a constrcution worker reading some sort of pornographic magazine. Across from me on the opposite side of the car next to the door was an older lady with some shoping bags.

On the other side of the door across from the older lady was a young girl tanned as dark as humanly possible. Were talking melanoma city. Kind of a spinoff from the Gungaro look of a few years back except for the fact that her nakeup was not quite so heavy (thick?) and instead of wearing platform shoes she had on a pair of Ugs. (Ugs are all the rage here this winter.)

On the seat next to me was an exhausted trenchcoat wrapped salaryman complete with battered briefcase and combover from hell. (Here in Japan combovers are reffered to as "bar code" hair) He was completely out of it and had flopped over to the side, his combover drooping ever so gracefully on the shoulder of the woman next to him who of course ignored the whole thing. (I think the guy could have fallen completely in her lap and she would have still pretended that nothing had happened)

As the train pulled into Yokosuka station I turned myself around, facing the door. AS the door slid open I stepped out ontp the platform and started to make my way to the steps dopwn to teh ticket gate. AS I walked along side of the train a mother with a small child exited the train from a door in front of me. The boy was wearing a grey zip up hooded athletic sweater. On the back was printed the following:

Did you like todays yourself?

It stopped me in my tracks.

After softly apoligizing to the person who bumped into me as I stood there transfixed I closed my eyes and repeated it to myself a few times in order to commit it to memory.

"Did you like todays yourself?"

What an excellent little question!

As I sit here typing this, sipping a fine Akita sake from a cold pottery cup I have to wonder how often I should be asking myself this very same thing.

Did I spend this day in a way that will either improve myself, or the condition of others around me?

Could I, or should I have done anything differently?

Am I satisfied with my actions?

I wonder how much better a place the world would be if we all took a few moments each day to ponder this most profound little question.

It just goes to show that truth or enlightenment can sometimes be found in the strangest of places.

--

After viewing the most excellent Flash presentation posted by sweet dolly in the forums I was inspired to whip up something similar.

But seeing as I am no more capable of creating something in Macromedia Flash than I am to give birth I decided to use Microsofts new free "Photo Story 3" software download for XP users.

It turned out to be a pretty slick little piece of software and the interface was very intuitive (makes me think they must have stolen it from Apple) and I was able to whip something together in just a few minutes.

I used some past Photo of the Day pictures and added a soundtrack to go along with them.

While nowhere even close to being as classy and polished as the Flash presentation posted by sweet dolly, it was a snap to put together.

Sushicam Photo Story 1 (4 mb .wmv file)

I apologize for only posting a .wmv version. The good news is that Realplayer 10 has no problem playing this type of file. I tried to encode it as an MPEG but it resulted in a gigantic file size and my bandwidth limit is stressed enough as it is without me going and torpedoing myself on purpose.

--

In other news, this past month I submitted a a DVD containing 15 sample photos to Alamy, a very large and well known stock photo agency based in England. I just received notification that my work has been accepted.

Wahoo!

Now I just need to do is select a couple thousand of my best shots and post them to Alamy and I may be able to generate some small but steady income from selling stock images. And the great part is that it will not take any work on my part aside from posting the images to Alamy.

Up to now I have sold my images directly to customers, but going through Alamy will greatly increase my exposure.

I'll still sell stock directly to customers, but if I sell any of my images that are also posted on Alamy I have to give them their cut. No problem though, they have a very generous set of terms with their photographers and it is only fair.

I'd like to give you all a heads up on a new blog I just discovered. It is called a year or so in Japan and is the handiwork of Joanne.

She started it a little late, only getting around to chronicling her life after already spending 8 months
here.

Yet in a way I think this was a good way to go about it. To get past the usual spewing of culture shock instances (As entertaining as they are, they are a very well beaten path at this point) and allowing her more time to cogitate on her experiences.

A recent entry of hers is VERY amusing. I don't want to spoil it by telling you about it, you will have to go and read it for yourself.

As the clock ticks down for Joanne and her last 4 months in Japan you can taste the sense of urgency in her posts. She is trying to capture in words the thoughts , feelings, and experiences she is going through before they get passed by and fade away into the random haze of her past.

Life is like that. Sometimes we get blinded by the immediacy of an experience and never really get a chance to "see" it and then it is gone in a flash and all we have to rely on are our own fragmented memories which slowly fade over time.

Like the wail of an ambulance siren, increasing in frequency and volume as it approaches you but in a split second flashing by you and forever on recedes into the distance.

It gives me pause to reflect on my own time here in Japan. You see, it was 5 years ago today that I arrived here.

5 years.

In that time I have posted 300 updates to Sushicam accounting for an estimated 5,000 photos (including the photo of the day), 26 videos, and countless hours of my time.

Looking back it has just flown by.

From the outset it seemed like I was going to be here for a long time, and I guess I have. And even though the time has really flown by, the pace seems to be accelerating. My current employment agreement has me up for a renewal of my stay here in January 2007, so for at least two more years I will be careening around Japan like a pachinko ball, sucking in as many experience as I can.

It will never be enough though.

They day I do finally leave Japan (Be it two years from now, or 20 years from now) will be a bitter-sweet moment. Sweet for all the things I have seen and done, and bitter for all those that I did not see or do.

There will never be enough time to see and do everything I would like to, so I will have to content myself with doing what I can in the time I have here.

Either that or I can just decide to stay here forever. (or at least until I stop breathing and my heart stops beating....)

Been very busy recently and I haven't had any time to go out and take any new photos so todays postings have all been pulled from my archives. Some are not so old whereas others were taken a couple of years ago.

Well, I spent last Monday afternoon up in Yokohama testing out my new lensbaby and the verdict is now it....