The forecast originally called for only rain, but that quickly turned to sleet, and within 1o minutes of the sleet it was just snow.  This was around 11:30 am.  It still hasn’t stopped yet.

This Miami raised boy had to do something that he had never done before.  I shoveled snow with a short spade.  It is not an experience that I would like to repeat anytime soon.

I needed something from the grocery store, so I put on the snow boots that I get to wear once a season, my waterproof jacket and headed towards my local Seiyu supermarket.  The Snow I had shoveled 2 hours earlier had been replaced with more freshly fallen snow.  The streets were relatively quite except for the occasional rumbling of a car or bus with snow chains on.

Luckily for the children today was a holiday and many of them were out in the streets throwing snowballs, sledding, and making yuki daruma (snowman).

The wind had really begun to pick up and the snowflakes.  The wind was striking my in the eyes and some managed a sneak attack and hit me square in my eyeball.

Tokyo does not get a lot of snow, and the amount we are getting today is going to be enough to shut down trains and services.  I will keep all out there in the streets in my heart that you may travel home safely.

Bundle up Tokyo!  Its only going to get colder.

Today’s post is livicated to my father on his 70th birthday.  I love you dad!

I know its going to be a cold one when I step out my front door at 7 a.m. and my cheeks sting.  It is the kind of weather no matter how many strategically layered clothes I don in the morning I know I am just going to be cold.  As I was stepping out onto the street this Friday, it was one of those days.  The wind was blowing, and my cheeks were telling me be ready for the coldest day thus far this winter.

I kept my eyes peeled for the ice fungus on the way to the bus stop, but I didn’t spot any.  I spotted some signs that there may have been some a few days ago, but there wasn’t any as I fidgeted about waiting for my bus to come.  Stepping on to a warm bus feels so good on this winter days.  Japanese busses and trains have large box heaters under the seats, on a day like today I sought out a seat that would keep my feet toasty.

I transferred to the Tozai subway line and the subway trip was uneventful.  At this early hour and lack of sleep the previous night I drift in and out of my dreamworld.  Opening my eyes from time to time to see Chiba suburbs blur.  My eyes tire and they quickly fall shut.

Stepping off the train at Tsudanuma, I knew it was a little colder here than when I had left Kasai.  Not by much, but enough to make a difference.  I again paced in place as bus after bus arrived that weren’t for me.  At last I was able to catch the bus and plunk myself down on a warm seat.

This bus on Friday is always packed with Toho Junior High School students.  The noise is unbelievable.  So much yapping, gapping, gaming, and just plain annoying leveled frequencies.  I pull my fully hat over my ears, shut my eyes and allow my mind to just wander.

I get off at the end of the line.  The bus drops us off, circles around, and then makes the same route back to the station.  The air was brisk, and I immediately search the ground with my eyes.  I see the tell tale signs of the return of the ice fungus aka ice needles.  Tiny clumps of earth have broken from the ground and pushed up towards the cloudless skies.  They all shined in the early morning light.

My flesh may have been cold from the winds blowing in from Siberia, but my soul was warmed by the return of the ice fungus.  I was reminded that my friend, Akiko said when she was a little girl and she and her friends would love to hear the crunching sound of the ice fungus under their boots.  I am sure if was young it would have been a lot like popping bubble wrap, once you start you just can’t stop.

I don’t care what people thing about this seemingly crazy foreigner on his hands and knees taking pictures of dirt.  I am sure all artist out there know what it is like to be in the zone, and doing whatever it takes to get creation that you want.  I just block it out.  In fact, I don’t even think about it anymore.

I am joyous in the fact that the ice fungus have decided to bless my day.  Their shining threads awaken my cold soul.  The icy cold has a way of giving me warmth in my heart.

I wish all a pleasant, restful, and meditative day of rest.

Shalom from Kasai, with warming ice fungus in my soul.

Making my way home the pink clouds caught my eye.  I shouldn’t complain about the mercury dipping.  It isn’t as cold as places on this planet, but for this boy born and raised in Miami, I was quite cold.

There they stood.  They beckoned me for a stare.  They were completely in the shadows compared with the pink and blue skies draping down over Tokyo Bay.  The majestic palm trees soared in to the chilly air.  They were relatively motionless as if they too were dreaming of the white sands of Florida.

A pleasant sign of better days to come.

I took a long pause over the New Year’s holiday.  I needed some time to just be.  No blogging, shooting, not really much of anything.  In some ways the New Year marker seems artificial.  One day the year is 2012, and the next it is 2013.  What does it really mean to me as an individual?

I do not feel the need to celebrate the changing of the Gregorian calendar like I used to.  In Japan the new year is a time for first cleaning, then celebration, feasting, and finally being with your family.  I struggle with fitting into the Japanese celebrations, but the last few years it hasn’t worked out so well.  It could be that my peoples new year does not happen until the spring.

I want to know where to place myself within the context of culture and land where I live.  Wherever I have lived I never have felt completely at home.  I have always felt as a traveling outsider.  Sometimes I wish I could be like a stone, placed, knowing that it is only a stone.  Millions of years of history are within its rough hewed edges.  It just is, and that is all.

The Gregorian year of 2012 is quickly coming to an end.  The banks will soon shutter their doors for the next couple days.  Japanese hustle about making preparations for the new year.  I myself have spent the last few days in the time honored Japanese tradition of cleaning the home from top to bottom in the middle of a frigid winter.  I don’t understand it, but it is a tradition.

I finally have time to pause for a minute an collect my thoughts, and attempt to get my energy focused and enjoy the time off from everything.

Make sure you all take the time to pause.  If you so feel it, reflect on the year, and the coming year ahead.

Pause.

I’m so lonely.  I am here at Funabashi station, just waiting.  No one is here for me.  I am not even sitting on a proper seat.  I am sitting where most people put their bags and PET bottles full of tea.

I can’t remember how long I have been here.  I was having a good ole time with my human and then they put me down.  I didn’t really think much of it at the time.  The station announcement came on that a train heading for Mitaka was coming and my human jumped up out of the slightly comfortable yellow seat and jumped on the train.  I watched with my black eyes until the train rolled out of sight.

I am so lonely.  Will my human come back for me?  I really don’t know.  I keep on hearing the station melodies play as the east and west bound trains arrive at the platform.  I keep my eyes peeled hoping that my human has come back for me.  I really can’t understand why I am here.

It is so cold today too.  My human kept me close this morning.  It felt so good to feel their heat on my raggedy fur.

Ah, is that my human coming back for me?  Could it really be my human returning to scoop me up in their arms?  No, it is just another false hope.  All these humans look the same to me.

I am so lonely at Funabashi station.  I wish I had remembered to put on my scarf this morning. Sigh.  Oh, so lonely.

The dust from the snap election in Japan may be over but that doesn’t mean that all is well. People of all shades and character are pretty fed up with government here in Japan.  I, for one, will never place trust in the hands of politricksters.  They are only bound to disappoint us all with their ego, greed, and money.

I place my faith in higher hands.  I place my love in my heart, I try my hardest to lead a good life.  I will take the nonsense that the politrickters dish out to us, and transform it into beauty spiced with love.

Egotistical, nationalistic posters, transform before my eyes into beautiful works of passion.

There is no real use in trying to make sense of this tragedy.  The is an aching in our hearts, an emptiness in all who hear the horrific news.  It is profoundly difficult to express through, words, images, or even thoughts.  Some of us can find some comfort in out holy books, but that can never fully express the pain we all are feeling of the loss of life.

Not just for the innocents, but for all that are suffering.  For all of those out there where daily existence is a struggle.  These are the days that will force a society to seek comfort in each other.  We need to be there for each other with hearts glowing with love.  Our love can never erase the pain, the suffering, or the evil; however, the love that we share will help all with the healing process.

On this day of rest, let us re-livicate our lives to seeking, and giving love.

In memory to all those who suffer, are suffering, and will suffer.

Jacob Schere

There are times to rush about, and then there are times to be still, and just be.  Yesterday was one of those times to just be.  Biking back home these crisp winter days the skies light up as if to be a private display of awe.  Rich honey soaked oranges meld into shades of pink from the brightest patches of our imaginations.

I find that I have to be careful and pay attention to my biking skills as I am often distracted by the golden displays.  The road is still quite bumpy as Shin Uryayasu is still in the process of repairing all the damage caused by the earthquake on March 11, 2011.

There is one bridge, that is currently under reconstruction, that spans a river that let out into Tokyo Bay.  The construction crews have built a temporary ramp made of scaffolding and plywood.  They have laid cubist strips along the way so that those crossing the bridge can do it without slipping.  It does make for a bumpy ride.  Yesterday as I turned the corner and came to a flat landing I just had to pause.  The light, the reflection, the moment of silence was so beautiful.  I had to allow myself the moment to just be one with the dusk. Let the radiating liquid honey warm my soul.

You just got to do it.  Just stop everything and just be.  It is really quite that simple.

I am always completely captivated by the arrival of the ice needles, or as I have penned them as ice fungi.  This wonderful creations occur when the air temperature drops below freezing yet the ground stays above freezing.  A wicking of the moisture begins and as it encounters the frigid air the water freezes.  They often have heads of earth with in my fanciful eye take after the spontaneous nature of fungus.

As far as I can remember this is the earliest in winter that I have seen them.  I usually do not encounter them until mid January.  It was, for this Miami boy, a cold night; however, it was beautiful to notice these sprouting next to the bus stop in the early morning hours.

I look forward to ice shrooming this winter to see what I can find.

I can never get enough MOZE for my collection.  This writer’s work keeps popping up in my neighborhood, and I came across a relatively recent one under the Maihama Bridge on the Tokyo side.  The tag just grabbed me.  MOZE first tagged in black, and then went over the tag in a lime green paint that just made it POP.  Like I said I can never get enough MOZE.

I really wonder who is MOZE?  Where is he from?  Who is the KDC crew that MOZE represents.  Maybe not knowing is part of the allure of hunting for those MOZE tags, and throw ups.  Keep on representing the 03, Edogawa Ku, Kasai!

One Love

Yesterday was quite a day.  The earth trembled with such vigor leaving my home swaying that I thought I was going to be sick.  These earthly rumblings often occur during my preparations for the sabbath.  I was in my kitchen working on a batch of homemade minestrone soup when the earth began rolling.  Back and forth in a motion that put my stomach into my thought.  It didn’t seem to subside.  It just kept on coming and coming.  I turned the gas stove off and readied myself to make a dash for the front door.  Fortunately, it wasn’t necessary  to make the mad run, but it forced me to be vigilant in my disaster preparedness.

I rested most of the day best that I could.  The wind outside was roaring in all the way from siberia.  It still isn’t that cold yet, but I can feel the air drying and the wind is whispering in icy undertones.  I decided to go down to the Bayshore to watch the sun dip behind the horizon.  I hadn’t done it for a while and I new it was exactly whatI needed to settle my restless spirit.

The wind was unrelenting. The palm fronds were bending at 90 degrees bowing down to the Siberian laced wind.  I stared into the the setting sun for so long that I still have sunspots as I am typing this blog.

The time by the water soothed me.  I have always found release and hope from starting out across the water.  Today the soothing was absorbed by my mind, body, and soul.

The heavy December rains were falling as I made my way in to work on a soggy Tuesday morning.  I was bundled up for the weather as it is my only defense against the cold.  I looked as if the sun would never burst through the clouds, but I was wrong.

Soon after lunch the sun did finally struggle to make a brilliant appearance.  Off to the west the sun’s rays blasted though the clouds while the east was still gray with rain.  The two opposites quietly inhabited the same space.  This is when I found myself wandering through a peaceful temple’s garden gazing at the wondrous momiji (japanese maple).  The colors were reaching their fulfillment as they ripened to hues of burgundy.

The momiji’s colors contrates with the yellow ginko leaves that carpeted the ground.  I was able to steal a moment of stillness.  A moment of just myself enveloped in their hues.  The young children and their mothers no longer entered into my consciousness.  I was at one with the hues.  The hues were as silent as I hope my my soul could be.

I have been completely out of it for the past week and change.  I caught a cold that put my energy at just about zero.  All I wanted to do, all that I could do, was to pull up the covers and remain motionless.

Today was different.  Even though the high for today was only about 8 celsius, I was able to head outdoors for a short cycle ride.  It was good to be out and moving my body even though it was pretty cold for this Miami bred boy.

I am looking forward to spending some time out in the crisp winter air as 2012 quickly is closing out.  This one is from earlier in the week when I was able to get the camera out for a quick shot of the Japanese maple lit up like temple lanterns in the autumn afternoon glow.

a musical matching by Claude Debussy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXpfUl8O83A

I was fortunate to go out on a traditional yakatabune (Japanese pleasure boat) on Saturday afternoon.  Yakatabunes are long boats that have tatami mats on the inside and people sit down cruise around and have some tasty food.

I had never been on one before Saturday’s outing, and was looking forward to the experience.  Unfortunately, I had caught a bit of a cold and I wasn’t much in the mood for so much revelry.  I just wanted to look out the window and watch the waves.

All of this being said I had a good time and met some interesting people.  I was happy to be able to participate in a bit of traditional Urayasu culture.  Especially interesting to me is the fact that the company’s name is Yoshino, and my own Japanese family’s name is Yoshino too.  Therefore, somewhere back in our lineage we are related to each other.  It is a small world after all.