35/365: Aug 14 2008. Got a funny bulky letter in the mail today. Opened it and out fell pieces of a jigsaw. When I pulled the pieces together I was gazing at the beautiful face of a little one I love. This is her eye. Photo jigsaws - such a great idea.

36/365: Aug 15 2008. In a shibuya park I had never seen before, I sat on a park bench and watched the ducks waddle, the carp jump, the mozzies eat and made pinky promises while on a dusk break from a long day of event planning.



37/365: Aug 16 2008. The full moon (in Sagittarius I believe) came out to play at the Tamagawa Fireworks festival. You ain't never seen fireworks till you've experienced the delights of a major summer fireworks festival in Japan. They run for a full hour, and every man and his dog dons their kimono, grabs a bunch of beers and bento's and treks to the location to sit and shout with delight at the awesome display above. The Tamagawa one is special as it's actually 2 festivals in one - Setagaya-Ku and Kawasaki-Ku synchronise their festivals and there is a point of about 5 km's I guess where you can sit between the 2 festivals and see both displays. Helen, Kevin and Cynthia arrived at the riverbank early to get a spot between the 2 displays, by the time I got there at around 6.30, there were probably over a million people jammed along the river bank. Such a seething mass of delighted humanity. We were sitting so close to the Kawasaki display that with the opening uber-display we were all screaming and dodging the chunks of soot landing on us (and which continued to land on us for the whole display). Cool. Very cool. After the shows were over we settled onto the tarp, watched the ominous lightning displays in the east and let the crowds dissipate as we finished our beer supplies. I do love summer.

38/365: Aug 17 2008. My friend Nate held a come-and-empty-out-my-apartment-with-whatever-you-want-to-take sayonara party. I headed out there with Tyler and Mihoko and sorted through his junk and watched it all disappear as folks came and went. I didn't actually take this photo - as so often happens, I left my camera on the ground and someone (a stranger friend Ryan) picked it up and started clicking away.

I like this shot coz it shows the guy Jason sitting next to Tyler and Mihoko. It seems at that party everyone had these weird connections - strangers who found others who lived in their same city block, others who came from the same small districts in the States, others who studied at the same universities in the States.... Me and Mihoko sat there laughing about our lack of connections until Jason arrived. He came - to help a guy he had just met through another friend - to collect Nate's bed.
"Right, let's talk about connections, then." he said. "How long have you been in Japan?"
"Almost 6 years" I replied.
"Have you always lived in Tokyo?"
"No, I used to live in Yamanashi-ken".
"Yeah, Fujiyoshida, right?"
"Yeah! No Way! How did you know that?"
"We met at a party at a restaurant at Kawaguchiko in 2003".
Needless to say much merriment ensued. He's a nice guy. Working as a head hunter now.

39/365: Aug 18 2008. Brazil Flavour BiZ Nite at the lush restaurant/lounge Tableaux was a delight. We knew numbers would be down because in summer virtually the entire foreign community leaves Tokyo and heads back to their respective home countries for a visit, and despite the worries about covering costs, I was kinda happy it would be a chill night - it's been a manic month. We had 10 presentations including a magic show by David John, a fabulously fun hoop display from the delightful Deanne, as well as some serious presentations from greats like advertising legend Graham Thomas and film maker David Chester, and a great presentation from the Peace Boat to name but half.... We had about 170-ish people in the house, and the vibe was exactly what we've been trying to achieve - relaxed, friendly, interesting. It helps that Tableaux is such a gorgeous space. It also helps that so many of my own good buddies are helping out with staffing: Thanks especially to Masao, Deanne and Christian in the photo above, and also to James, Joe, Isaku, Micky, Jade, Francesca and Vincent. You all rock. The next Biz NIte will have an Australian Flavour and guess who's going to be doing a photography presentation there? Yes, indeedy. Moi! September 8 at Tableaux. Mark it in your diaries, and please come along and support me as I nervously stutter and stammer my way through my presentation. :)



40/365: Aug 19 2008. This was in the toilet at the Inoko-StaBa (that's the Japanese slang for Inokashira Koen Starbucks). I teach English to private students here about 4 days a week, and have been doing so for years. The staff at this Starbucks are cool. Most of them have been working here for many years. They know all the regulars by name and drink, and I have been out drinking with them on a few occasions. I would never set foot in a Starbucks in any other country (except maybe Thailand where, I must confess I have indeed spent time inside a Starbucks in Phuket), but here in Japan they offer one of the only non-smoking cafe environments and real coffee made by an espresso machine and that gets my vote. I have no idea what compelled me to take a self portrait inside the washroom - I guess I wanted a keepsake of this little room I visit almost as often as my own toilet.... :) I quite like the photo considering I was feeling so shattered after last night.

I was told today, after an event planning meeting at the UK embassy, not to mention that I am unavailable at certain times because I have to teach English classes. It looks bad. Ahhhh, English teaching: the bottom rung on the Tokyo Expat social ladder. Funny that the only regular, reliable and decent money I'm making now is from that most looked down upon occupation, while I constantly get screwed for cash in the worlds of photography and event management. I love teaching English. I love my students. Without them I wouldn't be able to eat.

And these are some of my summer fragments. Such as they are. Oh, and some more happy snaps can be seen at my facebook albums page.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day, Tokyo