Map of Kyoto

京都の地図

Use this map of Kyoto to navigate your way around the ancient capital to temples, shrines, hotels, ryokan, sento (Japanese bath houses), museums, traditional shops, department stores, subway stations and Kyoto parks and gardens.

View Kyoto Map in a larger map

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Japan News this Week 31 October 2010

今週の日本

Japan Calls on China to Resume Rare Earth Exports

New York Times

Beijing now worried anti-Japan protests could backfire

Christian Science Monitor

Goodwill and compromise: Nagoya biodiversity deal restores faith in UN

Guardian

China, Japan spat dims possibility of talks

Washington Post

日本处置在华遗留化学武器全揭秘

Caijing

Dolphin hunters, activists set to hold parley in Taiji

Japan Times

Japan and China island row flares at Asean summit

BBC

Avec l'initiative Satoyama, le Japon se lance dans la protection des terroirs

Le Monde

Nishioka beats Munroe to defend WBC title

Yahoo Sports

Last week's Japan news

Japan Statistics

The Japanese Giant Salamander, which can grow to up to 1.5 meters, may be disappearing. It is not however environmental and or human pressure that is causing the decline.

Rather, it is an invasive species - the Chinese Giant Salamander - that is the problem.

The Chinese Giants are mating with its Japanese cousin, creating bastard salamanders.

According to a research team from Kyoto University, of the 79 salamanders living in the area in the northern reaches of the Kamo River, just four percent were pure Japanese Giants. 11 percent were pure Chinese Giants, and the rest (85%) were half breeds.

Though the total number of Giants has increased slightly, only three years ago, 47% were pure Japanese Giant Salamanders.

Source: Asahi Shinbun

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Butakusa Ragweed

The tall yellow weed seen at this time of year along river banks and on waste ground is ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia, known in Japanese as ブタクサ （豚草) lit. "pig grass."

This invasive plant is also a major source of allergy from the pollen on its yellow seeds and affects people who also suffer from allergies to the pollen from Japanese cypress (hinoki) and cryptomeria (sugi) trees.

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Happy Halloween Everyone!

Enjoy the weekend and have a safe Halloween. Here's a little treat of what will be featured next week.

Done Editing Salinas Photos

Done editing. Will post a featured bike from Cole Foster next week.

The Man with the Golden Arm

Today I was looking through the Art Director's Club Hall of Fame list for some inspiration. The list is long and exceptionally distinguished. (I mean, come on—they don't call it the Hall of Fame for nothing!) Name after name, I recognized so many of my favorite designers. I say this knowing it's nearly impossible to pick a "favorite" from this list because the designers are all so amazing. But one of my particular favorites, inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1977, is Saul Bass. His quote, "Design is thinking made visual," has been the cornerstone of my design philosophy for many years. (Not to mention, it's also the title of this blog!) I remember seeing the opening credits to THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM when I was a freshman in design school and being completely blown away. That film was made in 1955 and the design was still just as fresh in 1999 as it was 50 years earlier. So, while reading Saul's bio on the ADC site, I found another quote that I couldn't stop thinking about. He said:

"There is nothing glamorous in what I do. I'm a working man. Perhaps I'm luckier than most in that I receive considerable satisfaction from doing useful work which I, and sometimes others, think is good."

This rings true for me. There aren't many people who can say they love what they do, that they take satisfaction in their work. I realize I probably won't ever receive Hall of Fame recognition, but I know the work I do is good, and honest, and it makes me happy. My challenge isn't to design for fame or money (even though those are very nice!)—it's to design because that's what I love doing and I couldn't live any other way.

Some of Saul's work:

There's No Biodiversity In Tarmac

ｺﾝﾋﾞﾆ文化

The images below are of a new convenience store near where I live in Nagoya.

The store must have the largest car park of any konbini in Japan. It used to be a second hand car showroom which went bust recently. As is often the case in Japan, when a business goes into liquidation its premises are simply leveled and tarmaced over, awaiting a new owner.

A small area at the edge of the car park, which only ever has a few cars in it, has been turfed and a sign "planted" politely asking customers to keep quiet so as not to disturb the neighbors.

As Nagoya hosts the COP 10 conference this month and suffered from its hottest ever summer this year, its mystifying why so little is done to combat the city's notorious heat island effect.

Trees? Who needs 'em? Trees are not part of the convenience culture.

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Job Stevens-Salinas-Panhead

Miso Soup

味噌汁

As part and parcel of Japanese cuisine as sushi and rice, miso soup (misoshiru) is a true gourmet's delight. Made from a fish-based stock (dashi), miso soup is not suitable for vegetarians but for demi-veggies miso soup is usually a meat-free zone.

Softened miso paste (made from soy beans) is added to the dashi stock to form the base of the soup and various ingredients are added such as cubes of tofu, Chinese cabbage, daikon radish, wakame seaweed, sliced negi onions and mushrooms.

There is considerable regional as well as seasonal variety in the type of miso used producing different flavors between Kansai and Kanto miso soup.

Instant miso soup comes in single-serving sachets containing dried wakame and tofu with miso paste that dissolves with the addition of hot water and can be bought in any supermarket.

Miso soup is usually served in red and black lacquer bowls.

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Aaron Elliott-Salinas

After I was done at Cole's I followed Aaron back to his shop to shoot his Honda.

Inside Aaron's shop. This used to be Cole's old place.

Aaron ready to take off to our shooting spot down the street.

Hakone Botanical Garden of Wetlands

箱根湿生花園

The Hakone Botanical Garden of Wetlands (Hakone Shissei-en in Japanese), established in 1976, is one of the most enjoyable natural attractions in Sengoku, Hakone - but is closed during the winter months.

The Gardens are home to almost 1,800 species of plants found in Japan's wetland and alpine habitats. They strike a balance between meticulous presentation, with careful labeling of plants (including English) and habitat-based partitioning of plant types, and unspoiltness, with a layout that is as close to walking through nature, as is, without getting your feet wet.

The visitor pays the  admission at the entrance lodge, where he or she can view get an overview of the Garden layout and content, and view some exhibits - including a tiny darkhouse featuring mushrooms that glow green in the dark!

The rest of the Gardens consist of various gardens, and a series of large meandering boardwalks that takes the visitor comfortably and effortlessly through otherwise virtually inaccessible pristine marshy groves, overlooked by picturesque surrounding hills.


The Gardens' shop sells a selection of souvenirs, including seeds.

The Gardens are open daily from March 30 to November 30 every year. Hours: 9am-5pm daily. Admission: 700 yen for adults, 400 yen for school age. Free on weekends and public holidays for junior high school age and under.

Access to the Gardens is by the Hakone Tozan Bus route that starts at Hakone-Yumoto Station bound for Togendai. The bus stop is Sengoku Annaijomae, about 25 minutes from Hakone-Yumoto, and the well-signposted Gardens are about 8 minutes walk away.
Or, from Gora Station, the terminal station on the Hakone Tozan Railway, take a Hakone Tozan Bus to Hakone Shisseikaen-mae bus stop, about 20 minutes from Gora, right in front of the Gardens.

Guide to Hakone


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Salinas Boyz Photoshoot

A few pics from the shoot at Cole's place.

Special K bike.

Aaron cleaning up the bike for me to shoot.

Unloading the Blue Bike.

The shop.

Project 3.0. Cole has a plan and it's going to be bitchin.

Kirk's 36 in for service before heading out to Japan.

Shooting the breeze after I was done shooting Cole and his bikes.

Goldengai By Night

新宿ゴールデン街

Tokyo's Goldengai drinking area is located a short walk from Shinjuku Station's east exit.

Saved from destruction by the devotion of its committed patrons, Goldengai retains the atmosphere and architecture of 1960s Tokyo.

A drinking haunt of artists and mavericks, author and fanatic Yukio Mishima is known to have socialized here.

Quirky, odd, ramshackled, bohemian and good fun. Enjoy these photographs of a Tokyo institution.

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More photos to come.

Nagoya Friends Halloween @ Red Rock (THIS SAT!!) 10/30

Nagoya Friends is holding it’s 96th party in Nagoya!

at

• Date: Saturday Oct 30th, 2010
  
• Time: 6:00-9pm
  
• Drinks will be served between 6:00pm-8:50pm.
• Place: The Red Rock (2F Aster Plaza Building, 4-14-6 Sakae, Nagoya (very close to Sakae Station)
• Fee: 3000 Yen
• Halloween Costume Contest
  1st Prize Nintendo DSi LL

  2nd Price 2Gb iPod Shuffle

  3rd - 5th prizes as well!!
• Dress code: Anything (Casual, etc)
• Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party!
• Over 25,000 Yen worth of exciting prize giveaways each month!