Life in Japan - Pictures galore !! Arcades, Temples, Rainy days, etc

Beautiful pics keep them coming. I like to use them as wallpapers.

 

They are taking this Senkaku bullshit a little too far!

 

Indeed but I bet nothing will be done about it.

 

Most of it is sand, from Mongolia.

 

I grabbed a few shots tonight just before I started my jog.


samurai in stone by Yakum01975, on Flickr


samurai in stone 2 by Yakum01975, on Flickr

Actual colour!

samurai in stone 3 by Yakum01975, on Flickr

Check out the high resolution version of this shot at Flickr. The lights are beautiful.

Kamon Bridge at night by Yakum01975, on Flickr

 

I wasn't there for this one, but I've been in a Mongolian sand storm (in Seoul). It looked far different than what I saw on Facebook.

Cool shots, Yakumo -- scenic. How's the jogging going?

 

The jogging is going well. I stopped for a while and ate like a pig so of course I'm a fat shit again but by summer I'm hoping to be down to 80kg which is not such a hard task I think. 80kg for a 180cm tall man is a good weight I think.

 

LOL, this remember me GANTZ! :congratulatory:

 

80k is a good goal -- I'm fighting to get back down to it as well. I took a month off after I face-planted into the cement off my bicycle and fucked up both hands. Then a business trip, and now back in the states. So, definitely well above my sex outdoors weight.

 

Yeah, getting back in to it was a bitch but once you do and remain positive it's not so hard. I'm also watching my diet. 2000cal' a day is what I'm aiming at. I figure that if I do an hour every other day I'm loosing 400 to 500 odd cal' each time which should knock my intake on those days to 1500cal. Keeping at that rate for a few months should meet my goal I'm hoping.

 

Nice shots from HK GP. I've only been there once for a day but I didn't like it that much. Too claustrophobic for my taste (but on the other hand I did love the game mall). My wife has started to ask me if we could move to hk for a year for her to work there and i'm a bit nervous about having to be stuck there for a year (I keep proposing japan but get a no). =(

 

I think it would grow on you... eventually. YOu can also do trips to Japan pretty cheaply if you leave during the week. It's literally half price if your flight is between Monday and Thursday.

 

That lens has improved your night-shots quite a bit, Yakumo!

Well, it wasn't man-made pollution. I can tell you that much. It's my job to measure it

 

I thought pollution by definition was unnatural. Maybe I'm just too liberal.

 

it sure has. I really love that Olympus lens. So glad you pointed it out to me.

 

Well, it depends how one defines the word "pollution". Natural events such as a [in this case, mongolian] dust-storm or volcano will "pollute" surrounding areas on a massive scale.

When most people think of "pollution from china", they think about factories and cars etc. Made-made [anthropogenic] pollution. One thing I find quite amusing is that they'll lambast China from their "assembled in china" iPhone, quite happily.

I covered this a little in my blog post

The pollution in each Japanese city is overwhelmingly dominated by local (Japanese) pollutants, e.g. in Tokyo, it's mostly diesel trucks. I use instruments to measure the pollution, and a clear diurnal signature is apparent.

You're welcome. Keep up the good work

 

How does Tokyo rank against other large cities. Tokyo is always ranked (amongst laymen, anyway) as "clean". I know it's not California clean air, but unless I'm in massive traffic, it never bothers me and I ride everywhere.

 

Tokyo is pretty clean in a particulate-matter sense (which is responsible for smog and haze), but utterly sucks for Ozone, which exacerbates asthma and other respiratory problems. A bi-product of "clean" car engines is that they're more efficient and throw out less soot, but more CO2 and other nasties.

If you don't have asthma, you'll think it's really clean (as I do). If you have asthma, you'll struggle occasionally.

This is all better discussed over beers

 

Haha -- def.

So, last question and I'll drop it: what's your take on the masks?