Thank you, everyone

Thank you so so much for your kind and warm supports since the horrible incident happened.  All my family and friends are well so far, but my heart aches for those people who were hurt, killed and who still cannot find their loved ones, and had to evacuate their homes.
The earthquake (even in Tokyo) was stronger than anything we (those of us who are alive today) have ever experienced.  I happened to be taking a day off from work, which means I was closer to home than from my office, so I was able to walk back home when all the trains were shut down.  I was also lucky enough to be at a language school, which means I was not alone.
The ground still trembles every 5 or 10 minutes.
I canceled my schedule for today and am staying at home.  I know that I am not at all in a bad condition, but I just don't feel like to do anything right now.  All I can do now is to donate some money, but that does not seem a lot... I am devastated.
Thank you again for everyone who emailed me, wrote on my Facebook wall, and called me, from all over the world.  A friend of mine called me late last night, worrying about me feeling depressed, and I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such incredible people.  We truthfully thank your governments for their support as well.

In the time of great uncertainty and horror, being with someone, even if they are strangers, means so much.  Knowing that there are people who care means so much.  Call your loved ones.  It is really people who give us courage.

Nicolai Bergmann

On Saturday, I met up with my friend Kishiko from the French language school (which I dropped out a year ago) for late lunch. She took me to a gorgeous florist and cafe in Aoyama area. The "walk back" post from yesterday was about from there to my house.
Spring is right there, and I felt more so, looking at this purely green grass above.

A half of the interior space is the cafe.  It's spacious, crowded, and the light is gorgeous.

My friend, Kishiko, is a lady extraordinaire. She studies 6 languages including ancient greek and latin.  She encouraged me to go back to the French school, and I decided to take classes with her, one on Marie Antoinette and the other on French philosophy / Foucault.  I have no idea if I can keep up at all...

 

My April will be extremely busy - French school twice a week, Unraveling eCourse on Photography, probably moving to a new place, learning to do art journaling, and my friend is coming to visit me from overseas.  Oh, I forgot.... and work.
Please wish me luck!

This week's inspiration

An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration From The Private Sketchbooks Of Artists, Illustrators And Designers by Danny Gregory

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is amazing!!! I love love love looking at other people's sketchbooks. Such an inspiring book.

Walk around the town back home

Stop and look around. Take your time to look into the finder. Take no heed when someone bumps into you while you adjust your camera.

Some works

I am looking for my drawing portfolio, and I can't find it anywhere... Does anyone know where it is?

I am restarting to draw, so digging up what I used to draw and revisiting where I used to be. Some sketchbook from my more creative days (grad schools till the first 4 years of my career) contains a lot of pictures and interesting ideas.

Where had I been in the past 5 years? I think I had been completely lost and had been wondering around a dry desert.

Organizing Books

Today I spent a whole day restacking and repacking my books into my small bookshelf.  I actually have 2 other places to hide books, but those two are helplessly full.
For several piles of books, I only had 2 rows of shelves.

 The remaining 3 rows are already taken: this is "crafts and knitting books" row.

 And art books and picture books row.

 And this area is dedicated to urban design/planning/architectural books.  Some very technical, like planning laws.  Others, the magazine that I used to work for.

 Found some treasures berried under the piles.  Lee Bailey had been my inspiration growing up.

 Left is a book by a Japanese water-color painter, Goro Sasaki.  I love his work so much.  Right hand side are the books that went into a recycle bin.

 Wow, this classic.  Jane Jacobs is like Mother Theresa to urban planners.

 These two books.  Both are essays introducing the authors' favorite items and books.  Left by a magazine editor (male), right by a fashion stylist.  I used to love both, but somehow, I cannot find the right book inspiring anymore.  Too materialistic and pre-historic.  I think we are in a new world now.

The rest of the day, I was experimenting with iPhone apps and online tools to organize my books.

My Library
I tried this app first. The same guy developed iBookshelf and I don't know which is better.  iBookshelf is cheaper and looks a little better.
It took me a while to get a good handle on this app.
(1) Japanese books have 2 barcodes on top of each other, and the app recognize both but only the top one is valid.
(2) You can't cancel what you are doing.  You just have to follow through and delete the wrong uploads later.
(3) You have to change the setting (at System Setting) to automatically save the uploads, otherwise the app crashes sometimes.
But this app is good because you can access to the data online, email it to your computer.  I used the emailed file to upload to other online tools.

今日は本をオーガナイズするためのiPhone Appsやオンラインツールを発掘してみました。散々探したあげく、一番良かったのはMy LibraryもしくはiBookshelf。両方とも同じ人が開発したようで、私はMy Libraryを使いましたが、iBookshelfの方が安く見た目は良いようです。こつを掴むまでに少し時間がかかりました。
（１）バーコードをカメラから読み込めるのですが、非常に感度が良い。何故か日本の本はバーコードが２つ付いていて、うっかりすると両方とも読み込んでしまい、一個がエラーになってしまいます。上段のほうがISBNコードで、下段は何に使われているのか不明のコードです。途中から下を指で隠して上手く行くようになりました。
（２）やっている作業をキャンセルが出来ない。たとえば間違えたバーコードを読み込んでしまうと消したりできないので、取りあえず読み込んで保存して、あとで消します。
（３）日本語が文字化けすることがある。でもあとでオンラインのツール（後述）にアップロードすれば解決します。
（４）システム設定で設定を変えて、アップロードした本を自動的に保存するようにします。そうしないと、たまにアプリが落ちて消えます。
そんなこんなで、今日は200冊くらいはアップロードしました。（所有する本のほんの一部）

The next step was online book organizers.  I had been using LibraryThing but I couldn't find a way to upload Kindle books, and I don't like the interface that much.  I ended up trying 3 tools.


LibraryThing
Pros:
Has the most data sources.  You can upload any kinds of books in any languages.
Cons:
Interface is a little hard to navigate.
Help is difficult to use.
Can't use ASIN codes, thus can't upload Kindle books

Shelfari
Pros:
Great interface, very easy to connect with Amazon.com
Cons:
Upload function is difficult to use
Help is nonexistent
You can't export your books unless you invite friends and do everything that Shelfari requires, which is too much

Goodreads
Pros:
Simple and easy to navigate interface
Works with Japanese books!
File (booklist) upload is easy to use
Cons:
Cannot connect with Amazon

All in all, for a Japanese, I think Goodreads is the best.  Perhaps if you live in the States and read only English books, Shelfari may be a good option.

今日試したオンラインツールは３つ。以前からLibraryThingを使っていたのですが、どうも使いにくくて、今日色々試そうとしたところASINコードは認識しないことが発覚。

LibraryThing
Pros:
６００以上のDBとリンクしているので、どんな本でも見つかる
Cons:
インターフェースがごちゃごちゃしていて分かりにくい
Helpが全然助けにならない
ASINが読めないので、Kindleの本が登録できない

Shelfari
Pros:
ブクログに似て、一番見やすく使いやすそう
Amazon.comとリンクして、一括して購入履歴から本を読み込める。でもAmazon.comのみ。JPでは使えない
Cons:
アップロードが非常に使いにくく、一冊ずつ本を登録する向き
Helpがないに等しい

個人の登録をしたり友達を招待したりしないと、データのエクスポートが出来ない。面倒。
Amazon.comとしかリンクしていないので、日本語の本が登録できない

Goodreads
Pros:
シンプルで見やすい
日本語の本も登録できる
一括アップロードが比較的使いやすい。フォーマットが違っても、ファイルに含まれるISBNをなんとか読み取る
Cons:
Amazonとリンクしていないらしく、購入履歴から読み込むようなことが出来ない

日本ではブクログがありますが（アカウントを持っている）、一冊ずつしか登録できず、しかも洋書には弱い。Kindleにも対応していない。ということで見た目は可愛いけれど、使い心地はイマイチ。

ご参考まで。

G Tokyo

G Tokyo art event : http://www.gtokyo-art.com/#/op/

I went to an art exhibition in a neighborhood at Roppongi Hills called G Tokyo.  No idea what "G" stands for, but this is an exhibition of up and coming artists both Japanese and others.  Found a couple of unique talents such as Djordje Ozbolt, who was originally from Yugoslavia. (linked here)
His work look like this, for example:

Photo courtesy of Primeira Avenida: http://primeiraavenida.blogspot.com/2008/11/djordje-ozbolt-at-303-gallery.html

Obviously, he already has a big fan base, for there are blog articles about his work, everywhere.  I wanted to buy his book, but too expensive.  Can't wait to see more in the near future!


One of the featured artists was Hisashi Tenmyouya.  He uses traditional Japanese paints, a genre pretty common in the Japanese fine arts world.  I was completely fascinated by his subjects, texture of the paints, and the colors on black backgrounds.

Courtesy the artist and Mizuma Art Gallery and G Tokyo website - pls visit here http://www.gtokyo-art.com/mizumaartgallery.html

Last but not least, Kei Imazu had a very small lovely painting exhibited as a part of Bombay Sapphire funded collection.  The one exhibited there cannot be found online, but her work look like this:

Photo from this blog, and courtesy of the artis and Yamamot Gendai gallery. http://maborosi.yasumina.com/

All in all, it was a great fun!

After that, I strolled around the neighborhood and bought some flowers at my favorite florist.  The shop was literally full of gorgeous hyacinths, so naturally, a few bunches accompanied me home.

 A new season is close...

But it's still cold outside, so we need something for our tummies... like a divine hot chocolate.

On another topic, this guy and I have been bumping into each other quite often.  I have been wanting to ask a permission to take a photo, and today, I found him left alone outside a grocer.
Don't you think a grey short haired dog is the coolest, most fashionable thing?

He also has this very strange and funny expression... definitely something complex is going on in his head.

The best profession in the world

The best way to experience music is to be there on stage with the orchestra. Your whole body resonates with  drums and cellos and trumpets. To experience this, being a conductor beats anything else. I imagine, once you experience it, being on a stage, it's irrevocably addictive and you would do anything in the world to do it again.

Today was the last day of a series of Beethoven Symphony concerts (link to the project site - in Japanese). The event was to play from the 1st to the 9th in four installment, spanning for 2 weeks. It was a magical experience, almost like a journey with the orchestra.

When the chorus hit the highest note, my eyes burned and my heart pounded. My very first "live" 9th. I am incredibly lucky that the first time listening to it live was this occasion. Amazing, amazing.

My seat for 4 evenings was in front rows 3rd floor balcony, which means I was practically sitting right above the stage. The sound felt so textured that I could almost touch it with my hands and tongue.

I'm no expert nor critic, but his symphonies seemed to progress as more pieces were produced. The 1st and 2nd being a little bit nervous, a lot of reference to his predecessors. By the 3rd, he gained confidence and the quality jumped. From the 4th to the 6th, he had more ideas than he could put together as one symphony. Unique melodies after another. The 7th and 8th, he became an expert, skillful master, that he could almost compose an entire symphony with his eyes closed. And I found these two a bit boring.
The 9th, the last piece, came to a completely different stage. Like the Beatles' Abby Road. It was like a music fell from the heaven.

My mind still continues to journey with thoughts on Beethoven, it's hard to return to where I physically am.

Inspire Me

This image of a restaurant had hit me like a lightening.  This is how I want my house to look like.  The warm color pallet, aged beech color timber, glass and steel, a combination of small lighting...

I found a nice (very old ) apartment where the owner is willing to pay for the refurbishment expenses.  The apartment is on a rooftop, and has large planters.  But I am in the middle of "discovering myself" and "looking around what to do next" phase, I can't make my mind up whether to commit to live in Tokyo just yet.

( I can't remember where I found this photo - I tried to track it back but the site address is gibberish.  I am sorry, it's from the below link.  No intention of violating a copy right.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj2KZ4lPqq-NVPoPYvEb49ITt8rAiQ1Jz0Gdyfg-YVdaTz6PNA-kaYl-57nL3IGXxk_oWnnLkSvoxGcxf1kqhumucrB-Os7lIePgZCPRcypXZ4FKOWtv74d8nNvrOOWbEDNMh1FqTPtOUF/s1600/gusto.jpg  )

être aux anges

An angel came to me this afternoon with some chocolates wrapped inside it.
Happy Valentines' Day!

Skip my heartbeat

Yotsuya

The series of snow-infested days is keeping me very happy. In fact, over-the-top happy.

Ice cold air brushing my fingertips. Snow flakes. Evening strolls. Moonlight on the ground covered with snow. Long evenings. Quiet, deafeningly quiet midnights. Steams from hot drinks.
These things make my heart skip.

Writing this now suddenly reflected an image of a pack of wolves strolling in a snowy woods in the dark.
Perhaps, I had been one of them in my past lives. Or, maybe it's my after life.
No wonder I am a devoted dog person, and I love Jacob.

When the temperature starts to drop, a bell in high above starts to sound, first very subtle, then stronger and stronger. The bell sounds crisp when the air is frozen. The bell is singing, "be aware, something is going to happen. Be aware, the gods are chanting. A happiness is coming."

Snow is like magic powder, like sprinkles of small happiness.

(I have a theory of temperature and human creativity, but I won't go into that today.)

The Young Victoria

An amazingly romantic, beautiful movie.  Emily Blunt, who played the mean co-worker in the Devil Wears Prada, was very charming and serene.  She successfully portrayed a new Victoria, naive but strong and wise.
I had always been wondering what kind of a queen Victoria was, for it was one of the most prosperous time of the English history.  In my school history books, I remember learning many things about the Elizabeth, but not much about Victoria... Most of the descriptions about her era were dedicated to Industrial Evolution and all that had happened during the period, non politically.
Another reason for watching this film is the gorgeous dresses and the interior decoration.  Makes me want to watch it again.
I love this green dress!

http://periodmoviecaps.blogspot.com/

Movie Synopsis