I love geometry.  Now you might think that to be a little crazy.  Even if you are thinking about the geometry that we all have to study in school, but honestly out of all the math that I studied in school geometry was the only one that made any sense to me.  My reasoning behind that is I am without any doubt am a visual person.  I think visually.  I approach the world and how I relate back to the world though how I visually experience the world.  Now, I would never really go back and study geometry again.  I’m pretty sure the boat has sailed on that part of my life, but the lines, tangents, and bisecting lines have become part of my visual vocabulary.

The cubists did it the best.  They oversimplified the world that they were apart of into line, shapes, and tone.  A world that is visually experienced through shapes.  I have learned to see the world very mush though these same lenses.  I cannot help but look out into Tokyo, where I live, and see the world sometimes reduced to nothing more than lines and cubes.  I, however, know in my heart that the world is far more complicated than that.  There are shapes that cannot so easy be reduced to just a square.  The natural world, even though, it is full of repeating fractal patterns they are never quite as straight as a line of hewn stone.

This is where my lens comes in to help me navigate my way through the visual world.  Trying to bridge the two ways to seeing the world together.  That world of the straight hard edge lines that follow the rules of geometry and composition.  Then there are the rulers of the plant and natural kingdom.  The ways in which a branch grows divides and multiplies as it reached out to the sun.  I am a part of both worlds.  My physical form comes from nature.  There are now straight lines to be found on my person.  Yet I love to see a rectangular door, meeting a window at just the right moment in space and forming can conforming to our geometric rules.

The door in todays group of images is a geometric homecoming.  There are no plants visible.  There is only the hint of the natural world by the shadows that are being cast on the image.  A piece of my inner mind has left its imprint on this image.

Welcome home.  Welcome to lucid communication with myself.

Another in the series You Can’t Stop Art.  This one was taken in the underpass at Yurakucho station.  Lovely old brick arches with little bars and eateries tucked into those arches.

A Yoshino family of fishermen, not far from my home.  No relation to the Yoshino I am married into, but a beautifully worn metal kanji.

Suwara is a little town in the country side of Chiba which was once a bustling merchant town.  Now it is quiet with most of the buildings dating from the Meiji Era.

Wedged in between Onarimon station and Shimbashi station lies a lovely plethora of backstreets, cafes, and drinking spots.  Some places it seems like time stands still, or that they have been forgotten by the people at large.  The wood breaks away from it’s frame, and the paint curls under the summer sun.  Soaking up the vibe and the sweat as I wandered back and forth from the two stations.

Yes it is true.  I went to Yanka area yesterday, and I returned there today.  I guess I just couldn’t get enough of that baking heat bouncing off the asphalt and the aluminum siding.  One big change was that we went to the Zakuro Persian spot on Yanaka Ginza Street.  We had an amazing meal of chickpeas, spicy soup, lamb, breads, and kebabs.  Amazing place.

After visiting the heart of Tokyo today, I am thankful for being close to Tokyo Bay.  It might not be much of a difference, but being near the water does keep things a bit cooler.  Surrounded by all that concrete and steel juts breeds hot air.

Wandering around some of the backstreets of Ueno is always an interesting for me and my lens.  I am never quite sure what I am going to find.  Walls that have been completely taken over by pipping and meters, A beautiful Lotus pond full of blooming flowers.  All harmonizing in the summer heat.

More from the Olympus Pen’s trip to Okitsu a few weeks ago.

These are from the little town.  Lovely decay, in the salty sea air.

I came across this abandoned fisherman’s house today not far from Kasai station.  It is a bit unusual because I had seen it before, but it wan’t till today that I realized that it was a fisherman’s house.  Fishing used to be a way of life in Kasai, but for the most part it has been abandoned, along with this house.

There also was a gorgeous graffiti piece done on the pad locked door.  That is really what caught my lens.  Here was this house of wood, with nets hanging on the wall, and there was this gorgeous painting on the door.

Tokyo, and even my own neighborhood of Kasai never ceases to amaze me.  I have cycled though so many f these streets, and I still manage to see things that I have never seen before.

Get out and explore your own neighborhoods.  Look for the things that you have never seen before.  Find those little gems that speak to your heart.

The little town that was adjacent to the beach was full of all my favorite things.  Door that are falling off their hinges, window just waiting to be framed, and all and all buildings showing their age.  The town was small and full of surprises.  I only really got to see just a taste of the town.  I would love to go back and explore some more.

I had to venture to the heart of Edogawa Ward to have my free yearly health check.  I love that there is some preventive medicine practiced in Japan.  It might not be perfect, but it is better than none at all.

The temperature peaked at about 32 yesterday.  Quite hot for June, but at least it was dry and in the shade it was perfect summer weather.  After the check I wandered alongside a shaded stream a little light headed from the lack of food, and the blood sample given.  I love looking at the simple structures and constructs that people have created for themselves and their community.  There were places to sit, things to climb on and back doors with everything all decayingly tidy.  A sort of wabi sabi attitude in the hot dry air.

This is the Tokyo that I have come to respect.  The endless winding streets, were everything at first glance looks the same as everywhere else.  Train your mind and your eye to work in unison to see something uniquely beautiful.

Tokyo, rust, concrete and wood.

It has been threatening to rain all day today.  The skies remained grey and full of the temptation to let forth and dump water upon the land, but the rain has yet to fall.  The air is cool with a hint of humidity.  The skies left no shadows on the ground.  All the colors were true to themselves.  The cool hues of the concrete, the muted rust interplaying with it’s blue brothers.  All beauty, all the time.

Just another day in the city.

Watching the colors, the doors, all interacting with one another.

Just another day in Tokyo, or I should say Chiba.

All of life we seem to separate and fragment into their individual elements.  We try so hard to distinguish between, life, work, and our spiritual pursuits.

The way I see the world though my lens, is that the elements are fragmented, but only because we choose not to see the way in which they are all interconnected with everything else in our life, and the world that surrounds us.

All the fragments merge together to create the collage that we all assemble as individuals called life.  These bits and fragments form the synapses of our being.  As we step though the world new ones are created while some decay into forgotten memories.

fragmented, divided, or collaged?

We must choose how we will view the world.

I know I should have charged those batteries before I left this morning, but being mad tired it just slipped past my mind.

I usually treat my self to a nice stroll after finishing up for the week, and before the sabbath begins.  I was walking all over Tsudanuma snapping up a storm.  There were some fabulous little nooks and crannies that need to be explored further.  I will make sure I have a fully charged battery the next time I hit that part of town.

Keep a spare, charge em up.  I also thought of bringing my half frame, but I was NAH, i don’t need it.  That will teach me, I hope.

Batteries are charging as I type.

The rain came back again today.  It seems like it never really left.  It also feels like the rainy season will come early this year.  Rain, rain, and more rain.  It sent me seeking cover to avoid getting my camera wet.  I got some nice macro shots of fonts and text in a state of decay from the stations today.

It just goes to prove that no matter the location, the weather, or my current state of mind nothing can stop me from taking pictures.  So, to all you out there that has a fiery passion, do not deny it.  Nurture your passions and go out and change your life.