Sleepy… leave me alone… A hippo, sleeping contentedly as if to say exactly that. It was warm today, after all. Everyone faces the sun for nap time!

Lured out by spring weather, I shot the falling cherry blossoms at Ueno Park — and learned how much a telephoto lens helps when you want one subject to stand out.

Three years after moving nearby, I finally caught Sakurazaka — the slope behind Masaharu Fukuyama’s song — in full cherry blossom season. So did everyone else.

Two and a half years in Tokyo and I finally walked through Kabukicho. After working part-time in Nagoya’s Nishiki district, I thought I knew nightlife areas — not even close.

The day after GO!FES, a classmate’s wedding afterparty in Nagoya — old friends, marriage talk creeping into conversations, and the end of a packed month.

I went to GO FES! First time back at a festival since COUNTDOWN JAPAN 09/10 at the end of last year — three months in between.

After surviving an 18-month crunch at work, I wandered Nagoya Station and Sakae — the TV Tower nearing the end of its broadcast duty, Matsuzakaya closing, a cityscape about to change.

Impulse-bought a pour-over coffee set at Tokyu Hands because instant wasn’t cutting it. The aroma is better — now to avoid the three-day dropout.

Dan dan noodles at the Chinatown restaurant I first visited on a school trip, then night views from Landmark Tower — Yokohama at night like an upside-down planetarium.

Yakiniku with a university friend who, it turns out, reads this blog. Cameras came up, so naturally I photographed the meat — slightly blurry, slightly drunk.

Fed up with MS-IME’s conversion errors at work, I bought ATOK 2010 — ¥6,000 download, multiple PCs allowed. This post doubles as its first conversion test.

Another month went by in no time since the last post. Today was the usual — karaoke with friends to let off some steam.

Took visiting relatives up the Roppongi Hills observatory — ¥1,500 to ascend, but sunset over Tokyo Tower and a silhouetted Mt. Fuji made every yen worth it.

Happy New Year. Please keep reading this blog in the year ahead. Over the New Year break, I went to photograph Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and Himeji Castle.

Back in Nagoya for the holidays, I set up a tripod for the station’s ‘Dream Promenade’ illuminations — only to find the subway below causing camera shake.

COUNTDOWN JAPAN 09/10 — my second festival ever. This time I dropped the self-consciousness and danced. From Perfume to Sakamoto Ryuichi to Unicorn.

Today I picked up a remote shutter release and a tripod. To test them out, I photographed the camera lens itself and some keys.

Marunouchi Illumination 2009 with the new DSLR: ISO, white balance, shutter speed — illumination photography is humbling, but Ginza at night shoots like daytime.

Hit with an overtime restriction and told to take four days off, I grabbed a Seishun 18 ticket and headed north — to a gyutan restaurant in Sendai, DSLR in hand.

Beaujolais Nouveau season again — glass bottle, not the bargain plastic. Plus a new Walkman from camera points, leaving my iPod nano in the dust.