Garlic

Garlic. Its more expensive to buy one than it is to buy four.

Brush practice

Postcard watercolors. These are a few of my most recent postcards. There is a postcard painting class I attend once a month.

Macro Science Experiment

I borrowed my friend Tomoko's macro lens and wow I'm really wishing I had my own. It's a bit tricky to use but I'm getting the hang of it. I'll be posting more macro (non insect) shots soon. Check out Tomoko's site for flowers and such.

Miyaura Junior High II

Pixels

Last week I did a little drawing or painting on the computer everyday after work. I should be painting this week too but something about leaving the island in another month and a half is keeping me from concentrating on much at all. I feel like I have so much to do and yet there is almost nothing I can do, yet.

The Science Room

The science teacher at Miyanoura Junior High came back after two years of maternity leave and found that most of the bookshelves had been completely infested with termites. I suspect that it had been a little longer than two years but its still impressive what these little bugs had done regardless of the time it took them. The termites ate through over a hundred books and scientific journals.


The book bindings were the only thing that remained of the original paper. Taking off the bindings, we could see the vast interconnected sponge-like structure that the termites had created.


An old constellation and star globe.




Almost everything in the science room is so outdated that it's more reminiscent of a museum than anything else. Old chemicals that haven't been used for years line the shelves.

Sticks and things

A few images from around town. Above is Shoko, an elementary school teacher and friend of mine.

This is a sea serpent that washed up on the river bank.

A tire on the playground.

Sticks

Guests

Yuko and Keta, friends of a friend, are staying at my place until they can find a house or cabin somewhere on Yakushima. They moved down from Hiroshima and had been living in their van for a few weeks. Their hobbies include making jam, skinny dipping, playing digirido in the mornings and dancing with fruit. I wish them luck finding a place to live. In the meantime it's a lot of fun to hang out with them.

Three Weeks

Asagi nantoka

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.

Nakama

Some pictures from Nakama, a town about 80 minutes away on the south side of the island. They have amazing gajumaru trees. Twisted bunches of roots hang down from the branches and grow until they root themselves into the ground.
I put a link to Tomoko's new blog, Dandelion, just to the right. She likes flowers and bugs in particular.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

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 Rice Fields

My friend Tomoko and I went to Nagata last weekend to take some more pictures. We started in the cemetary and made it down to the rice paddies just as the sun was setting.

Things I saw on my walk

The first thing I saw was...

An old rusty Caterpillar.

Later, the moon, waxing.

An abandoned Gundam.

Bridge #3

This bird.