Remembering 3/11/2011

March 11 2011 has been etched in the minds of the world. This year I wanted to share a little story from my experiences on that unforgettable day.

TUNE TECH RACING e30 BMW cup car

One of the many racing cars built by my cousin’s company, TUNE TECH. Incidentally, if you own a BMW and are in Joburg, go to them. They are the best. Really. BMW dealerships go to them when they don’t know how to fix things.

If there’s grass on the wicket…

On my third day in 'ape town I met up with my oldest and best friend (We have been friends since grade 2) We hit up day two of the third test at Sahara Park Newlands. For those of you that have no Idea what I just said… Basically we went to watch cricket live.

Happy fappy for Jesus H Slappy

Yes. Our heathen family had a Christmas lunch. For me t was an excuse to consume copious amounts of epic food and enjoy the weather in the back yard with family (whome I may not see for another 3 years) so I put up with the fact that it was marked on the supposed birth of that guy. We’ll try ignore his flock of sheep for the rest of this post though because Tubby is so damn cute!

Shots #74 Hooked.

It’s settled. I NEED an M3. My Nissan Silvia is awesome… no doubt, but the M3 is a whole new world… Without the singing Arab thief and his pet monkey.

Summer Holiday

In the middle of winter. Yes. I went home for 3 weeks, hence the lack of activity here. Internet in South Africa is SHIT! but hey, who cares about service delivery when you can milk the client and pay yourself a R10 million (1億円)  bonus right? F@CK TELKOM!

Anyway, for R17000 (170 000円) I flew Emirates and thus got a short stopover in Dubai where I met a buddy of mine from Osaka who was also heading to SA to see his lady and so we kicked the second leg together.

Take Shit Street

Takeshita-dori in Harajuku is a legendary place. It is the center for everything that Harajuku stands for. As a result, it is always packed to the  max with all sorts of people going about looking at and buying random things. As with any crowded place, You need to be able to take a lot of shit. That said. It is still one of my favorite places on earth.

Hachiko

Hachiko is the famous dog that waited for his master at the train station for 9 years after he had died. There was even a movie about him. At Shibuya Station there is a statue of him which serves as a landmark for many people to meet each other before moving off to so whatever it is they will do.

The statue’s fame was obviously not lost on the marketing team for Softbank who placed this outside the Shibuya Yamada Denki Labi1.

Shots #73 火事だー

And there was light.

Another year has come to an end and with that comes another trip to the top of Mt.Haruna to see the illumination. We once again made our way to the top of the mountain to see the spectacular.

New Toy

I know it’s not the best lens in the catalogue and that you all have one lying around cos you got it with your kit… but I didn’t and with the release of the powerzoom model these now go for ¥7000 brand new on Yahoo Auctions. It’s practically free. Gives my landscapes and skies more width so I am pretty happy. Now we just need to see how the LUMIX GH3 performs before I decide whether I spend money on a dinosaur mirrorbox monstrosity or if I stay with the future of cameras (m4/3) and shell out for some Xseries lenses.

Ecliptica

It was not my intention to make a timelapse but the shots I took happen to work as one.

Total Eclipse of the Hea…Moon

All eclipses are spectacular events. Times when we can glimpse the true complexity of the system we inhabit first hand. They give us a sense of perspective, and remind us how amazing being a life-form on this planet really is…

 

The Gunma Astronomical Observatory had had an event of sorts and many people braved the freezing temperatures to witness this cosmic phenomenon. I have personally seen a rather large number of lunar eclipses but to my memory this is the first time I had seen a total one not to mention one that took so long.

Sadly the realisation of out place in the universe was lost on the vast majority who looked upon the spectacle. I sadly had to return to earth after some time and with that the lies and webs of bullshit that society has buried itself in washed back over me smothering the short time of enlightenment I had with routine and the never-ending human quest to acquire more and more useless stuff. The sad thing i that I know it and I still can’t escape.

Shots #72 Point

The Great A’Tuin returns!

Due to the great success of this lesson with my 3rd graders last year, I decided to to it again.

I set out to describe a picture of A’Tuin to my students using phrases like “There is a big sea turtle. There are 4 elephant’s on it’s back.” etc… The students then used their imaginations and artistic skills to bring what they heard to life.

Once again the drawings were rather spectacular!  check the slideshow to see all 100.

Shots #71 Masterful.

The leaves, they are a changing.

It’s getting too cold to type at night and that means winter is on it’s way. But in giving way to it’s cold hearted sibling Autumn does give us some of the most beautiful natural scenery imaginable. Blue skies set against the warm palette of dying leaves. We managed to catch the beginnings of it on our last drive into the mountains of Gunma…

Unlike the majority on the roads that day however. Nature’s beauty was not the reason for us to venture out on to the mountain passes. It just happened to be there when we went for our drive.

FD on the Shuto

I love driving in Tokyo and I love the expressways (when I am not getting lost on them).

So much better than the train though so much more expensive as well.

I was just cruising on the Shuto Expressway to Daikoku PA when this guy strolled past. No racing or anything, just a cool car.

Daikoku Halloween

We went through to the greatest car show in Japan that isn’t a car show with the expectation that large numbers of people had planned to pull through, but sadly the panda brigade got wind of it and decided to be dicks about it. In the short time we had however we did get to see a few sweet rides.

Will have to go back again on a regular Saturday night.

Pandas are useless.

It’s a man made island in Tokyo bay. Nobody lives there. Nobody is being disturbed. There are no drugs. There is no fighting. There is no booze. There are no Yakuza. No whoring. No date-raping. No murder. There wasn’t even any litter! The only people there are those who want to see/show off their cars and play/listen to the music. Instead of actually doing any good for society 7 pandas filled with Yokohama’s “finest” decided to close down Daikoku PA. Yeah. Clearly a bunch of petrol heads, music lovers and show-offs were a threat to the stability of the whole nation.

It’s because putting speakers in your van and bright lights on your car is one of the most horrible past times in Japan. It’s so much worse than pachinko, passing out after drinking too much at a hostess club, octopus porn and withholding vital information from the public, thus endangering the lives of thousands of people to save face.