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| john ricciardi's home page - www.nokonoko.net |
I spent most of the day today on the beach in Enoshima with a friend. It was fantastic. Until about a week ago, I had forgotten how much I absolutely LOVE spending time in the sun and sand... I spent far too much of my summer this year thinking about work and not nearly enough of it thinking about me, which really sucks. Next summer, I swear, I'm hitting the beach at least once every two weeks, if not moreso. Fortunately this summer isn't over yet, so I'm going to try to make the most of what's left of it before I pack up and head to New York for a couple of weeks.
A couple of pics:
I must've stood in that water for about two hours without even moving... it was so refreshing. I wanna go back...
Reading about somen on Noriko's page earlier today reminded me of my visit to Kamakura last week. There, I had a chance to try out nagashi-somen, which was definitely one of the more unique eating experiences I've had since coming to Japan. According to the Niigata Prefecture home page, "Nagashi-somen is a summer favorite of many Japanese people; very thin, white noodles are put in water flowing along a long sink, from which diners catch the noodles with their chopsticks and dip them in a cool broth before eating them."
If it sounds a bit strange, that's because it is. But it was fun! I took a video of it so the rest of you can see it in action. Unfortunately it's a little big (almost five megs), but hopefully you can deal. Check it out here.
Just a little public service announcement for those of you who had me on your AIM lists: IG John is now dead.
Back in 1996, AOL gave me a sponsored account because the magazine I was writing for at the time had a forum of some sort on AOL. Seven years later, they've finally decided to deactivate it, and so, the screen name I've been using forever is no more. It would've been nice if they'd at least given me a day's notice, but hey, I'm not about to complain. After all, I had free access to the net from pretty much anywhere in the world for seven years! Heh. I've never been a fan of AOL and I haven't used their e-mail service in years, but I always kept the account around as backup in case I went out of town and needed a quick/easy way to get online. And obviously, I used the screen name for instant messaging.
In any case, I've got a new screen name, and I've still got my old buddy list, so I'll try to get my new info out to those of you on my old list ASAP. If you need to get ahold of me before then, just drop me an e-mail.
My friend sends me an IM earlier today telling me about his dream:
(0:21:40): I had this weird dream last night, that I was going to vegas for 4 days, and somehow ended up in Japan, and I was staying at a hotel with no elevators, and I was trying to get in touch with you via the Gameboy Advance SP, because I was able to get IRC on it, but I wasnt getting the server that we use. It was weird
In case you ever wondered what us tech/game geeks dream about...
Nishi Azabu is home to a kind of popular-ish bar that some of my friends frequent called Super Deluxe:
Of course, I've had the name 'super deluxe' for years, and a google search brings up me at #1 and the bar at #2 (smart google!), so I don't mind all that much. Seems like a nice place, after all...
BTW, random question time: What kind of pics do you guys want to see more of here? As you've probably noticed, I like taking pics of Japan. I don't usually go out of my way to get a shot, but if I see something cool during my travels, I'll try to capture it. So what do you want to see? Drop me a comment and let me know!
Another view of the giant spider standing guard over Roppongi Hills:
Modern art is cool.
Yesterday I took a much-needed break from work and spent the day wandering around Kamakura with a friend. You'd never guess what I stumbled upon while exploring the 750-year old Kencho-ji Temple:
That's right, folks. I found... the Triforce. :)
This was in the first temple we visited, and as silly as it may sound, the moment I saw that symbol, I just knew it was gonna be a good day (and I was right). Kamakura is a beautiful place, and I honestly haven't had an experience as fulfilling as this one in ages (and no, it's not just because I saw the Triforce, silly).
I took a lot of really nice pics of Kamakura and a couple of videos, so hopefully I'll get around to posting some of them at some point. For now, have a few more looks at the golden triangles in action:
Fortunately, there were no Octoroks on the premises...
I had no idea so many people used Friendster. I signed up months ago but only recently did I start screwing around with it. To my surprise, tons of my friends back in the U.S. use it, and even a few here in Japan. It seems like a pretty cool way to stay in touch with people, but I have to wonder how long they'll be able to keep it going as a free service? Seems like everyone and their mother is using it these days. And now I am too.
As if I needed yet another distraction...
The view of Shinjuku from the window of my old apartment back when I lived in the area:
This picture hits home for two reasons:
1) I took it four days after the September 11 terrorist attacks. From that day on, the world no longer felt like a peaceful, carefree place to me. You couldn't really look at a city skyline anymore without thinking about the horrible events that unfolded a few days earlier. We used to take a lot of things for granted, but not anymore; I wonder how long it'll be (if ever) before we can return to that kind of worry-free lifestyle again?
2) That apartment was the first place I lived when I moved to Japan back in 2000. I lived there with my girlfriend (at the time) for 15 months. It holds many, many special memories for me, most of them related to the many incredible experiences I went through as a wide-eyed newcomer to this strange, foreign land. It's very hard to put any of them into words, but I promise -- if I ever can, I will. I wish I was as camera-crazy back then as I am now so I could've had more of those memories captured in some kind of tangible form.
I often bitch about little things that really annoy me about Japan, but the truth is, despite the quirks, it's still probably the most amazing place I've ever lived.
Saw this girl on the train on the way home this morning. She obviously knows how to beat the heat:
Let's just hope that's not sake in there...
The other night, whilst wandering through one of the buildings in Yokohama station looking for a place to have a drink with a friend, I stumbled upon a rather bizarre display of Japanese craftsmanship. I didn't have time to get the details, but apparently there's some kind of SD convention going on at the moment. because there was a huge showcase on display, littered with super-deformed dolls of famous Japanese people. The detail on these things was pretty high; even I had no problem picking out several TV celebrities and comedians after just a quick glance. I snapped a couple of pics and moved on, but in hindsight, I kind of wish I would've stuck around to investigate further, because I didn't get to check out very many of them. And I still have no idea why any of this stuff is on display in the first place. :)
Of the ones I saw, this is my favorite:
I mean, how can you top that? Not only is she wearing a schoolgirl outfit, but she's got a machinegun, too. Now all she needs is a twin sister for the golden triad to be complete.
A couple of other random celebs:
Only in Japan...
I can't get over how good this game looks:
I'm a lifelong Dragon Quest junkie, so to me, this is like a dream -- my favorite game series FINALLY gets a developer that's worth a damn (Level-5) to bring Yuji Horii's vision to life. It's like a recipe for gaming perfection, at least as far as I'm concerned. I spent over 120 hours with Dragon Quest VII, and that game looked like utter $#!%. To be able to explore a world like that with graphics like these just seems too good to be true.
To see more, head over to Level-5's Dragon Quest VIII page, which just went up today. I'm also looking forward to their other big project, the Xbox MMORPG, True Fantasy Live Online. Sure, the title is retarded (I'm sure Microsoft is to blame for that), but the game itself looks really promising.
| ©2003 john ricciardi - all rights reserved - the only constant is change. |