I started reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Biography today, Infidel. At one point she talked about stories her grandmother told her as a child growing up in Somalia. One of them in particular left an image in my mind which I sketched when I got home from work today. The following is the passage I took it from:
"My grandmother's stories could be chilling. There were stories about an ugly old witch woman whose name was People Slayer or People Butcher, who had the power to transform herself, to adopt the face of someone you liked and respected, and who at the last minute lunged at you, laughing in your face, HAHAHAHAHA, before she slaughtered you with a long sharp knife that she had been hiding under the folds of her robe all along and then ate you up."
Wow, nothing like a Somalian bedtime story to keep you awake... forever. I recommend this book to anyone that's curious about women in Islam or women growing up in traditional societies.
The view from Nagata, looking across to Kuchierabu island.
Tomoko and I were practicing using a tripod to get some longer exposure water shots.
Nagata beach
Kazuki kun.
This is the workshop of one of the better wood workers on Yakushima.
An old rusty Caterpillar.
Later, the moon, waxing.
Bridge #3
This bird.
My friend Yuri. Curtis is just visible in the first shot.
There's never any shortage of monkeys on the mountain roads. 
On the last day my friends and I hiked up to Miyanoura dake. This is the same 10 hour hike I did when I first got here. It's a tough hike but it wasn't nearly as hard as doing it during the hottest time of the year.
This girl was wiping away her tears.
