Category: Japan

kokuei showa memorial park

whbeebe

As of today I’ve spent about a week in Tachikawa Japan. I’m here on business, and I’ve got another 2 1/2 weeks to go. Unlike other business trips this is a more normal work schedule, with regular 8-to-9 hour days with weekends off, unlike YS, where it’s 12 hour days 7/days week. Earlier in the first week I had time to walk over to Kokuei Showa Memorial Park and just enjoy being away from the urban area where my hotel is located.

These photos, taken in the mid-afternoon, don’t begin to do justice to the park, and I apologize for that. But I did enjoy being away from the dense urban area that completely surrounds the park. For a brief time I was surrounded by budding green trees and blooming cherry and orchid trees. I wasn’t the only person there, not by a long shot, enjoying the day in the park.

There’s a built-up structure in the park where the land essentially covers it, producing an artificial hill. I walked up that hill, and looked back into the area where my hotel is located.

With two more weekends here in Japan I’m planning some trips to look at the more memorable sites in Japan. In the mean time I’m walking around the area centered around the Tachikawa train station, using it as a visual anchor, so I don’t get lost.

And before anybody asks, yes, I’ve been to Bic Camera, and no, I’m not buying anything. I’ve got more camera(s) now than I know what to do with. I don’t need more.

cats and roses

whbeebe

Lucy’s been back home for over a week now and is eating steadily. Her weight dropped three pounds during her sickness, from 11 down to 8. I remember that was her weight when she first arrived back in 2008. I’m hoping to get her to eat more and get the weight back on. Otherwise she’s perky and energetic (when she’s not napping around the house like the other two cats).

The rose was taken at dusk tonight. My wife wanted oven-baked wings so I took her to a local spot that fixes them the way she likes them. The roses just happen to grow right next to the wing place. She was happy with the wings, and when she’s happy I’m happy. And why not? She’s been through a lot lately. In a way, my wife and my cat have been paralleling each other, fighting illnesses and getting excellent medical attention.

The photos were taken with the Olympus E-M10 and the Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 and pulled directly off the E-M10 with the Olympus Android app to my smartphone. I then pushed them up to Flickr off the smartphone. The only problem with doing it that way is I can’t add Flickr tags and a title before the upload like I can from a desktop browser (Linux, Mac, or Windows). But I’m going that route simply because I need to break out of the post-processing rut I’ve gotten into over the years. I’m almost a slave to Lightroom and I needn’t be. The Olympus OM-D’s have built-in “art” filters that can give a nice effect when combined with some halfway decent composition. The Lucy photo at top was made with the black-and-white grainy filter, while the rose was made with the pale and light color filter, which I have come to like these days. The processors in the OM-D cameras are now fast enough that using them is no longer a liability when it comes to shot-to-shot timings. There is no noticeable delay using these filters, unlike when I use equivalent filters on my E-P2 (which I still own).

I’m headed to Japan in two weeks on a three week business trip. I’m taking one of my E-M5s and the E-M10, along with the Olympus 18mm f/1.8, 45mm f/1.8, and the Panasonic 25mm f/1.4. I’ll throw in the chargers, some batteries, and some extra cards, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll do some post processing on my iPad Air 2. I’m going there to take a lot of photographs during my off hours, and I’m accepting the results that come out of both cameras. I’m concentrating “capturing the moment” and “telling a story”, not on some fancy Lightroom settings.

Wish me luck.