If you're seeing an error message:

If you are seeing "picture currently unavailable" error messages from flickr.com on this blog, don't worry. Click on the picture area and you'll be taken to my flickr page, where everything will be all right. Cheers.

写真のエリアに「現在表示できません」というFlickrのエラーメッセージが表示されていたら、そのエラーメッセージをクリックしてください。Flickrのサイトに飛びますが、写真はそこでは表示されているはずです。

7 May 2005

uk election on a japanese blog


uk election on a japanese blog
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

[ABOVE IS A CAPTURED IMAGE OF MY WEBLOG PAGE]

In my main weblog (in Japanese), basically I write about the UK - politics, society and sight-seeing tips.

You can't see politics itself - you can see politicians, posters, slogans, et al but not the abstract noun. That's why politics in another country looks "unknown", "unfamiliar", or even "difficult".

And the Japanese press and TV are not really interested in the politics in the UK - or at least, seems so to me. Thus, not many people know or are interested in the UK politics.

Whereas, I think UK's politics and Japan's are getting more and more similar. You really haven't got any choice between the two main parties, and a third party is not big enough now, so if you want to say NO to your government, it seems that there's nothing valid for you to do. The ways (or art) of control of the media is similar, too.

We need to know outside world to know ourselves.

So... as I wrote above, I write about the UK. Naturally I write about this elections as much as possible. But, the words are not enough. I was looking for something, and... hooooray! I have this flickr thing, mate!

Some of my contacts in Britain (knautia especially) have been showing me how it "looks" at the election time. Posters, badges, windows, stickers, stencils, handouts, ...

I was secretly watching them every day to get the picture - what it looks like. I loved them. I loved those images.

And now the election is over, Tony Blair won his seat as well as George Galloway, and I would like those lively images to help me and my readers a bit. Sadly words can't always reach. Images do.

I put toghether some links to the flickr "UK election" images at this page of mine (in Japanese, but it consists mainly URLs) including the group pool... but that didn't look sufficient: I needed a picture.

So I hesitated to do this for a moment, because people might not like me doing this, or purely concerning their licenses, but I put [prt sc] key and nicked the group pool thumnails. This will certainly make the readers click on, I believe.

I want a lot of people to "look" or just "see" how the election looks in there, to feel something.

If I am violating any your rights, please flickr mail me, and I will remove the picture both from here and my blog.

My blog is a non-profit, personal project, run on a free rental server.
ch.kitaguni.tv/u/917 (BTW, "kitaguni" means "a northern land" because the server is up in the north.)

Thank you all, I could have known less without your pictures of posters, ballots, polling stations et al.

look what I'm reading


look what I'm reading
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

A few days ago, Terry Bain commented on my dog picture with links.

I read two pages at amazon.com, and went straight to amazon.co.jp because I live in Japan, and voila! It's here today.

Thank you, Terry, for telling me that my dog was trying to protect me from the evil vacuum! I thought he just hated my mother's lovely vacuum cleaner.

-- Amazon.co.jp link here, if you are in Japan.

-- The author's flickr site and blog.

The stories on Terry's blog make me somewhat emotional, because our dog used to be a miserable stray dog before he came to our house. After almost 18 years at our home, he died peacefully, hearing all the family say "thank you".

I know someone in Tokyo who adopted a nearly-stray female dog. She had been kept by a homeless old man, and when he died, she had nowhere to go but a dog rescue team. She was a crossbred of Shiba and Siberian Huskie, and quite large, so had a long wait until she found a new family. I met the dog only once, but I can say she's a gentle, thoughtful soul.

6 May 2005

heard a conversation of bicycles


heard a conversation of bicycles
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

shadow


shadow
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

shadow02


shadow02
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

shadow03


shadow03
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

the number is 0-921


the number is 0-921
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

At a construction site. Tokyo, Japan.

no nukes in our city (repost)


no nukes in our city (repost)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

This is a reposted picture. I don't want this one to slip away.

Original post is here, with some comments.

thirty-year-old sign of "no nukes declaration." large letters were possibly hand-written, in a very beautiful authentic style.

"No Nukes Declaration" can be seen in a lot of cities around Japan, because Japan is the first country that was nuke-bombed (in 1945).

peace. :-)

no-no signs collection


no-no signs collection
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

These pics are about to slip away, so I decided to do this.

[Links to the original posts and short descriptions]
top left: "No Parking" (3 April 2005)

top right: "NO PARKING!" (7 April 2005)

second left: "no" (7 April 2005)

second right: "no parking, no parking, NO PARKING" (7 April 2005)

third left: "NO" (7 April 2005)

third right: a handwritten "No" (7 April 2005)

bottom left: "No Trespassing" (7 April 2005)

bottom right: "No Nukes In Our City" (7 April 2005)

5 May 2005

a girl in iraq (from a flyer) lips


a girl in iraq (from a flyer)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

This picture is a picture of a film flyer - It is a documentary film called "Little Birds".

The director, Mr Takeharu Watai, is a renowned journalist who has visited Iraq many times. He made a 102-minute film out of his material (more than 102 hours).

It's now shown in Tokyo (K's cinema in Shinjuku, Tokyo) and will be shown in Osaka, Nagoya and Hiroshima in June.

The original picture is a still of the documentary film.

If you read Japanese...
日本語でこの映画についての紹介記事のまとめのようなものを作成してあります。こちら(5月2日に書いたもの)

4 May 2005

a girl in iraq (from a flyer)


a girl in iraq (from a flyer)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

This picture is a picture of a film flyer - It is a documentary film called "Little Birds".

The director, Mr Takeharu Watai, is a renowned journalist who has visited Iraq many times. He made a 102-minute film out of his material (more than 102 hours).

It's now shown in Tokyo (K's cinema in Shinjuku, Tokyo) and will be shown in Osaka, Nagoya and Hiroshima in June.

The original picture is a still of the documentary film.

If you read Japanese...
If you read Japanese...
日本語でこの映画についての紹介記事のまとめのようなものを作成してあります。こちら(5月2日に書いたもの)。€‚

"steppower" with a bit more perspective


"steppower" with a bit more perspective
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

For hellochris, who asked me about that "STEPPOWER" thing . I hope this shows how they're used, though maybe there's a better way to show this...

I searched for the name of this thing, but no success. This is very usually seen on the streets in Japan, but I don't think I've seen this in England, France and Italy. (These are the only foreign countries I've been to.) ... I'm not sure. I usually pay no attention to this kind of thing. :-)

Many of ordinary streets in Japan has a "step", which is 10 centimeter or so (I think this is because the streets have ditches at the side) , and people tend to trip over at the "step". The "STEPPOWER" thing is something to make it safer: they make the step into a slope.

I've noticed there are wide varieties of this "thing" -- not only "STEPPOWER", there also are "High Steps" (don't know what they are thinking about) etc, so many trademarks. Maybe I should take pictures everytime I see this to get the full catalogue of this "very Japanese Street Furniture."

times square remixed


times square remixed
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

From a train window. Shinjuku, Tokyo.

empire state building remixed


empire state building remixed
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

From a train window. Shinjuku (Yoyogi should be more accurate) , Tokyo.

afternoon train goes on


afternoon train
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

afternoon train


afternoon train
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

nothing on the disc


nothing on the disc
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

CD surface under a yellow-ish light.

nin.com

HALO_19


HALO_19
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

CD surface under a yellow-ish light.

nin.com

NINE_INCH_NAILS


NINE_INCH_NAILS
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

"My world is getting smaller everyday."

nin.com

nothing


nothing
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

nin.com

peel (rear)


peel (rear)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

"There is no f-----g you, there is only me."

nin.com

peel


peel
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

********************************************
"take the skin and peel it back,
now doesn’t that make you feel better?"
********************************************
nin.com

nin


nin
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Because I'm in Japan, I waited a few days shorter.

nin.com

with_teeth


with_teeth
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

*COLOUR CHANGED BY THE LIGHT*

Because I'm in Japan, I waited a few days shorter.

nin.com

halo_19


halo_19
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Because I'm in Japan, I waited a few days shorter.

nin.com

glass detail


glass detail
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

glass


glass
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

1 May 2005

"This will save your heart, I assure!"


"This will save your heart, I assure!"
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

An advert on a train door, which made my friend scream out "What's this?!".

The moment I saw this in front of me on a crowded train, I thought I must take a picture of this to tell the world what Tokyo is like, or I would regret for ever!!

See the notes for the language(s) et al .

a door mat with Japanese characters


a door mat with Japanese characters
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

An "onigiri (rice-ball) restaurant" - no, I'm not kidding, this really exists - in Tokyo.

See the notes for the language tips!

sky, buildings and a star


sky, buildings and a star
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

designed wall


designed wall
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Seibu department store.
Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

to the right


to the right
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

to the left


to the left
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

buying a lotto on a "extremely lucky" day


buying a lotto on a "extremely lucky" day
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

At a lotto booth. ikebukuro, Tokyo. He seemed to be having a humourous conversation with the booth keeper.

See the notes for the languages.

a taxi driver waiting in a line


a taxi driver waiting in a line
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

a short guide to Kanji (Chinese characters) 1


a short guide to Kanji (Chinese characters) 1
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

View this image in a full size to see the script more clearly. (I hope I was not writing in "Engrish"!)

I'm trying to make what I commented on my photo visible if your doesn't display the characters.
:-)

camera-hater no. 2


camera-hater no. 2
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

"I don't like you because you have the dog-damn camera," she said.

camera-hater no. 1 (another bit)


camera-hater no. 1 (another bit)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

"If you insist, there you go," he murmured, "but remember that I really don't care about your camera. I am not interested at all."

camera-hater no. 1


camera-hater no. 1
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

"I don't care about your camera," he said.

something furry and a dandelion


something furry and a dandelion
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

step power


step power
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

This looks like Engrish, but I'm not sure. They are in a row like "power step power step power step power ..."

I'm sure "power" here means "something strong."

bikes that commuters left here


bikes the commuters left here
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

bikes


bikes
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

skyblue


skyblue
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

my favorite moment (heart)


my favorite moment (heart)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Oh, yes, it is.

T-shirt for kids. Tokyo, Japan.

I think this is English, not exactly Engrish, but why on a T-shirt? Does it have a message?

And I like the neat design.

tri-colores on grey


tri-colores on grey
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

... and my shoe.

on a sunny day, so without umbrellas


on a sunny day, so without umbrellas
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

"water"


"water"
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The symbol, "水", stands for water.