北海道の紋別に行ってきました

Oct 24

個人ブログ / Personal Blog | コメントなし



上陸したガリンコ１号



今週、紋別に行ってきました。僕にとって、３回目なんだけど、今回ちょっとだけ観光出来たから、写真を載せるね。

紋別はすんごいいい所だ。気に入った。ホタテ貝、いか、かに、等々海の幸にめぐまれ、また、流氷の研究センターがある。左は「ガリンコ１号」、流氷の見物のために作った観光船。先端の大きなスクリューで流氷をガリガリしながら進むデザインだから「ガリンコ」という名になったのかな？

I went up to the City of Mombetsu in northern Hokkaido this week for a speech. It was my third time there. I did a little sightseeing, so I’ll post some photos.

Mombetsu is a really cool town. They catch a lot of scallops, squid, crabs, etc. so if you are into seafood, this is a great spot. They’ve also got the “Okhotsk Sea Ice Flow Research Center” here. The town is famous for the ice flows which come in from the Amur River in Russia. (Best time to visit and see the ice flows is probably February — dress warmly.) This first photo is of the original “Galinko #1″, a tour boat which actually goes out into the ice flows. Notice the huge grinding screws on the front underside of the hull.


オホーツク・タワー



浜から見るオホーツク・タワー



オホーツク・タワーからも流氷見物出来る。海面下７mまで降りれる。上からも下からも流氷を。

Also in Mombetsu is the Okhotsku Tower, an ice flow observation tower. You can view the ice flows both from above AND below the water line — it descends to the sea floor, about seven meters or 23 feet deep.



さすが北海道


さすが北海道はなんでもでっかい。

おおおおおおおと思ったのはこれ。

このカニのはさみの彫刻の高さはなんと１２m。隣のタクシーはちっちゃい。

Hokkaido is like Texas. Everything is bigger there.

Check out this 12 meter (40 foot) tall statue (?) of a crab claw.

Good thing it ain’t real.

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また、多摩川のいかだレースに参加しました

Sep 11

個人ブログ / Personal Blog | コメントなし


The "Raft Race" on the Tama River in western Tokyo


The 20th Annual Raft Race on the Tama River was held in late July this year. Several dozen teams constructed rafts out of just about anything that will float and then navigated them along a two kilometer course down the Tama River on the western edge of Tokyo.





すごうで勢揃いの選手達　





Our raft was made from truck tire inner tubes
and VERY thin plywood sheets.   We tried to make it as light as possible for speed.  Five rowers, including Ms. Tomoko Suzuki, an employee of Komae City Hall dressed up as a “water fairy”, braved the   -er-  rapids to complete the course in record time (at least for us). Actually, I think the raft this year was designed to only carry four rowers. We were underwater about three inches most of the way down the river. It was very hot that day, so I didn’t mind at all.

But I think we will have to try a different design next year. It was more like a submarine than a raft.

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指宿に行ってきました

Sep 11

個人ブログ / Personal Blog, 講演 / Speeches I have given | コメント 1

講演のため、この間、鹿児島県の指宿温泉に行ってきました。

砂蒸し風呂で有名な指宿は久しぶりでした。

講演はビジネスマンの集まりの前でしたので、終ってからの打ち上げは半端じゃなかった。名物の菜の花マラソン、焼酎、鰹節、等々の話しを聞かせてくださった。もちろん、薩摩ならではの御馳走をいただきながら。

翌日、『薩摩伝承館」に案内していただきました。こんなに沢山の日本の美術品を一カ所に集めるのは、初めて見た。薩摩の国の文化は本当に美しいものにこだわりはあった。


国立博物館以上です。

薩摩伝承館 -- The Finest Museum of Japanese Art I've ever seen.

I went down to the Ibusuki Peninsula of Kagoshima Prefecture for a speech recently. I spoke to a large group of businesspeople, so the “after-party” was quite lively.

They told me all about the famous features of Ibusuki, including the Hot Sands Therpeutic Spa, the Shochu, and the Shaved bonito flakes.

After staying overnight, I was given a tour of the Satsuma Densho-kan next to my hotel. I have never seen a finer collection of traditional Japanese art in all my 30 years in Japan.  The people of Satsuma definitely appreciate their art. The collection is even better than the National Museums.

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佐渡でロケ

May 21

個人ブログ / Personal Blog | コメント 2

なつかしい佐渡だ

この間事務所の押し入れを片付けてみたら、こんな写真が出ました。何年間前に久しぶりにロケで佐渡に行った。

小木湾あたりで「たらい舟」に乗って、その日の晩ご飯を採って来た。さざえとか、あわびとか、佐渡は本当に「海の幸」にめぐまれている。

As I was cleaning out the closet at the office the other day, I came across these old photos of a location shoot I did on Sado several years back. I’m sitting in what is called a “Tarai-bune” (“tub – boat”) which is used traditionally on Sado to catch abalone and other shellfish, as well as gather “wakame”, a seaweed that grows especially well in the seas around Sado.

今晩、なに食べようかな

佐渡は僕にとって特になつかしいところ。

大学生の時代、わずか半年ばかりでしたが、佐渡で伝統芸能の「文弥人形」を研究するために暮らした事がある。

佐渡の大自然、食文化、歴史、全部ほれてしまった。

Sado has a special place in my heart.  I lived there for about a half a year back in my college days.  I studied puppetry on the island under the master puppeteer, Hamada Moritaro.

He showed me all around the island.  I came to be quite fond of its food, history, and its beautiful scenery.

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狛江市で「いかだレース」に参加

May 21

個人ブログ / Personal Blog | コメント 2

「美しい多摩川フォーラム」のいかだ

今度７月１８日に東京の狛江市で「いかだレース」に参加。

今年は２０回目になりますが、ぼくは去年の１９回目がはじめてでした。

多摩川を大事にしたい団体さんやNPOが参加するのだ。

I’ll be participating in the 20th Annual Tama River Raft Race this coming July 18th (Sunday) out in Komae City.

Groups and NPOs working to promote the environment along the Tama River will design their own rafts and race against eacch other over a two kilometer course.


レースが終わってからちょっとしたイベントもあるよ

２キロぐらいのコースをスピードで競争するが、まっ、勝ち負けは関係ないね。多摩川の環境をアピールするのが目的。

みなさん、楽しみました。レースが終ったらイベントがあって、僕もちょっとだけトーク・ショーに参加した。何の話ししたかは覚えていないが、、、、。多分、多摩川と最上川の共通点についてだと思う。

とにかく、皆さん、来てけらっしゃい。

Though the rafts compete in terms of speed, it doesn’t really matter
who wins or loses.  We are just trying to get people more interested in the River, show them that it is worth keeping clean and pollution free.


After the race, there was an event and we all got to say a few words.

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一時間で楽しめる京都駅近辺の散歩

Mar 28

Walking Diary / ウォーキング日記, 個人ブログ / Personal Blog | コメント 1




京都駅にわりと近い「東寺」




Have you ever found yourself with an hour to kill at Kyoto Station waiting for a train? It’s a real bummer. There is SO much to see in Kyoto, but with only an hour, you feel sort of trapped at the station. What a waste.

If you are “walker” like I am, one suggestion is to take a leisurely stroll west and south of the station. Less than two kilometers away is “Toh-ji” (literally “East Temple”).

If the weather is cooperative, you can fill up your digital camera with some nice “snaps” of the temple and its environs and get some exercise at the same time.

The most prominent feature of Toh-ji is its five tiered pagoda, which is actually visible from the Shinkansen Bullet Trains just after leaving Kyoto Station heading toward Osaka (south of the tracks).




電線を地下に埋めてあるから、五重塔の写真もばっちり




Of course, being so close to the station, the roads around Toh-ji are a bit congested which makes it hard to take those “serene” tourist pamphlet type photos which feature that OH-SO-ADVERTISABLE “Kyoto mystique”. I didn’t have time to try anyway. So, I went for the “ancient / modern” contrast shots mostly.




お寺さんなのに、めずらしく大堀もある




Anyway, Kyoto is REALLY easy to navigate. All the streets run straight either north/south or east/west.
To get lost lost in Kyoto, you either have to really be trying, or be my wife. Never met a girl with a poorer sense of direction. But that’s OK. It gives me an excuse to take her places.




東寺の南大門をくぐって





Folks say that Kyoto has lost a lot of its original charm. I suppose it’s inevitable. But you can still see bits and pieces of the old neighborhoods holding their own against the tide of modernization.
Just south of Kyoto Station and along the way to Toh-ji, I took a few snaps of these neighborhoods, narrow roads, local shrines, etc. just to wrap up my one-hour walk.





京都駅のすぐ近くに残る町屋













東寺へ歩く途中で見る京都ならではの小道




An older house book-ended by more modern structures.
An “alleyway” curves through the block just south of the station.




A little Buddhist shrine tucked in between a shop and cigarette vending machine







Some runners taking advantage of the nice weather.




Anyway, all in all I scored about four kilometers on this walk, took maybe 20 photos, learned a bit more about how ancient civilizations cope with rapid modernization (at least from a city-planning perspective), and met some cool people along the way

Not bad for an hour’s walk.  Beats the heck out of sitting on the train platform.


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