sunset with the moon, from churieto jinja

late sunset on fujisan from churieto

the steps to churieto drenched by late afternoon sun

morning ice crystals on a windscreen

kim, me, our cameras and the toilet mirrors at itchiku kubota's museum

me, sleep deprived at sunrise this morning

my hilarious friend kim has been staying for the past few days. she has never had much luck with the weather and fuji-san, but this time around she's been in luck: the weather has been magnificent, and she's been effervescently appreciative of the wonder i have on my back doorstep. and she's got a new camera. *ahhh, my god. ahhhh, sugoi. ohhhh, bloody beautiful *click* *click* *click*.... she even dragged me out at bed this morning at the ungodly hour of 7 am to hit the mountainside at churieto for dawn(-ish) photos. not that i minded too much. it was a beautiful morning.

this will be my last post till sunday as i head off east to stay with amanda, christian, yuiko and yoshihide in chiba and surrounds. first stop, though, an overnighter in nikko, at last. i hear it's been snowing there, i can't wait. we'll be spending new years eve with japanese friends of amandas in nishi-shiroi, and i am planning to participate in shift.org's "day in the life of" project so check back next week for that.

finally, some self-indulgent ponderances on what 2003 has meant for me.... an incredible year living and being immersed in an especially unique foreign country, far from family and old friends and the stressful work i knew before. meeting a lot of great people, lots of growing up, learning more patience and some serenity, learning a little japanese (though not enough), some yoga, a little pottery, a lot of web design and IT stuff, and many thousands of photos. i love teaching, my classes are the highlight of my days. i also love taking photos, having become obessed with the search for the elusive perfect image. next year i will do a part time photography course to try to get a little more technically efficient.

living here in the mountains has been at times pure joy, and at times, pure hell. the autumn was absolutely spectacular. now that winter is here again though, it's a struggle to get out of bed. this area - the fuji 5 lakes district is magical – clean, fresh air and water and forests and mountains and lakes. i love coming back here after a frenetic weekend in tokyo.

but i’ve had enough of the peaceful, sleepy country life and this tiny little community, and will be moving into tokyo when my contract is up at the end of next march (which means my job will be available if anyone is looking for full time juku work). now that will be a total head-spin. living in a place with a population of 1.5 x australia. around 30 million people. heaps of incredible stuff going on all the time – as you would expect in one of the worlds great cities.

so, new years resolutions:
1. implement the damn site design CSS across all pages
2. yoga 5 times a week
3. learn more japanese
4. become a better photographer
5. continue to saturate myself in the wonders of tokyo and japan

i plan to do a list of my top 10 films and records for 2003, but i have to be awake in 7 hours to catch an early bus so alas, to bed i must away. the lists will have to wait. i know that hero is maybe top of the film list. and paloalto is top of the music list. but the rest will take a bit of deciding...

i would like to wish you all the very best for 2004, and i hope you all have a great new years eve. i know i will. and on jan 1, my thoughts will be in woodford, queensland, australia, for the woodford festival's essential fire event and all my friends who will be there.