Two weeks of business trips with no days off, then finally a break: Michael Jackson’s film in Odaiba, a packed Tokyo Disneyland, and the new Don Quijote in Kamata.

A ride with a colleague from Tabata: Senju Ohashi, Oji, Tokyo University, Tokyo Tower — starting with a chatty ‘bicycle safety instructor’ showing us printed photos of folding bikes.

While looking for an efficient way to post a lot of photos, I found this: Gallery It’s in English, but at a level I can just about manage.

Not mine — it’s from work, unfortunately. With all the business travel lately, a high-speed mobile data card finally made an appearance.

I got a random craving for gyoza and picked some up from Gyoza no Ohsho. If you go at mealtimes, even takeout for pan-fried gyoza involves a 30-minute wait.

A Sports Day loop through Tokyo’s core: Imperial Palace runners, the Diet Building under maintenance, the Supreme Court — all photographed from the saddle.

I’d arranged to skip work today due to the typhoon — but by the afternoon, the storm had passed and blue sky opened up, so I headed out to practice with the ca…

Camera practice at home with the new EOS Kiss X3: lining up bottles at different distances to compare background blur at F4.5 and F9 — and the compact camera couldn’t keep up.

I did it — bought a Canon EOS Kiss X3 twin-lens kit as a reward for surviving the overtime storm. First mission: night scenes a compact camera could never shoot.

Cycling access to Haneda Airport is barely documented online, so here’s the route: Tenkubashi, the tunnel under the runway, and what to expect on the airport island.

Rented all 14 remastered Beatles albums from TSUTAYA — 16 discs. The clerk: ‘Isn’t that the entire Beatles section?’ Yes. Yes it was.

Drove up to Mt. Fuji’s 5th Station during Silver Week — straight into a cloud. The clear view came later, heading north along the western side in the afternoon light.

First trip home in three months, courtesy of Silver Week. The blog may look leisurely — cycling, concerts — but that’s exactly because the weekdays are last-train busy.

Rainy day off, so here’s a proper introduction to my bike: how a shop clerk talked me out of a Panasonic LIGHT WING and onto the DAHON Speed P8.

Back to Minato Mirai, this time on the DAHON Speed P8: perfect weather, Landmark Tower against a clear blue sky, and three 90-yen steamed buns in Chinatown.

A log cottage in Hakuba with colleagues from Tokyo and Nagoya — curry night, Wii battles, and a 45 km traffic jam on the way courtesy of the ¥1,000 expressway weekend.

With a desk job, I’d been feeling out of shape lately, so about three weeks ago I bought a bike!

My first festival ever: Summer Sonic 2009. MONGOL800 on the beach, a thunderstorm evacuation, and Beyoncé closing with something closer to a full-scale show than a live set.

Inspired by my impulsive Ayumi Hamasaki night, I bought a Summer Sonic 2009 ticket — and added a countdown widget to the blog while I was at it.

The humidity is brutal! It’s been above 70% humidity for the past two weeks straight. The fate of living on the ground floor facing west, maybe.