Tag Archives: honeymoon

Scrapbooks + Journals

Scrapbooks: Tsuchida Life, Cards & Letters, Baby book + in-process (annotated)

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Catching up on some scrap books: A few fresh ones, a few bonus items some old ones, breaking the seal on a few others, organizing odds and ends for future use (and the biographers).

Annotations on individual books if curious.  Note: need more bookshelves, the overhead shots don’t really show the girth.

* Tsuchida Life 2020, part 1 *

Scrapbook: Tsuchida Life 2020, part 1

Ephemera from “regular life” / normal out and abouts to museums, events, cafés etc., mostly from this year (earlier).

Btw the kanji characters on the left are pronounced “Tsuchida” which mean dirt/soil field/paddy – this is the name of our neighbourhood.

* Baby Book *

Scrapbook: Baby book

Just starting on this one for the new human with various ultrasounds, lists, notes, name ideas, announcements and eventually, maybe some of your cards and letters.

* Nagasaki Usual Days *

Scrapbook: Nagasaki Usual Days
Scrapbook: Nagasaki Usual Days

This one is well, it’s pretty awesome… from our trip in February (which seems like 1 million years ago) to a remarkable city to visit cousins, ride trains, see some sites, and eat all the food. As such: Tidbits from museums, cafés etc. included, plus various snapshots and notes. Just about done…, But I always say that ;)

* Cards & Letters, 2020, part 1 *

Scrapbook: Cards & Letters, 2020, part 1
Scrapbook: Cards & Letters, 2020, part 1

As you might expect, this gathers up postcards, cards, letters and related oddments so they don’t get lost in a shoebox.
Repurpose envelopes, or envelope type things, attach with double-sided tape (of course) and decorate with inky stamps and various seals. Continue reading Scrapbooks: Tsuchida Life, Cards & Letters, Baby book + in-process (annotated) →

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Personal Musings

Noto Fish Auction / Dave + Ryoko Shinkonryoko Ramble

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Noto port, feels like the end of the world, indeed, a rather remote peninsula jutting out into the Sea of Japan, often ravaged by disaster, yet intrepid fishers head out to sea…

[Note: catching up with dossiers from May 2019 when we took an extended ramble around rural areas of Japan as a sort of honeymoon – see Shinkonryoko for more from this journey]

The following is as documented at a small morning fish auction in Noto, Ishikawa-ken [map] (at the end of the Noto peninsula) where various Norwegian and Russian ships also exchange wares. 

So many kinds of sea creatures! How many can you name? a few of these (Ankou / angler fish and shellfish of which i don’t the name and more slippery little treats) were later consumed by our hosts and us.

+ Fish etc Variety Pack +

{update: the remarkable Sandra DeMonti sent along many names for many fish, added as captions – consider helping with the rest]

Tuna
Squid

Continue reading Noto Fish Auction / Dave + Ryoko Shinkonryoko Ramble →

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Japan Life/Travel, Scrapbooks + Journals

Japan Travel Ephemera Scrapbook / Shinkonryoko Ramble

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On our Shinkonryoko (honeymoon) travel, we rambled around Japan via various trains, occasional rental car, trams, busses and a coach visited pals, museums, hot springs and natural locales while staying at an assortment of accommodation types (ryokan, “western” hotels, guest houses/minshuku, friend’s homes, resort hotel etc). Note: extensive documentation of all these elements elsewhere.

Anyhow, as is my routine, i gathered ephemeral papery items (tickets, brochures, maps, coasters) and glue/2x taped into a scrapjournal along with insta-photos, scraps of poetry/prose, words which stuck in my head (possible band names) and topped off with a few stickers, stamps and seals.

Then photographed the whole tome for archival and sharing purposes. (Some pages include “pop up/fold out” elements which may or may not be pictured. Provided as-is here without additional annotations as the purpose is emotional, not purely documentary.

Continue reading Japan Travel Ephemera Scrapbook / Shinkonryoko Ramble →

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Personal Musings

Watching steps… / Shinkonryoko Ramble

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Watching my every each step

Is the task at hand

So i’ll watch yours instead

Continue reading Watching steps… / Shinkonryoko Ramble →

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Personal Musings

Messages (poems, guestbooks, stamps etc) / Shinkonryoko Ramble

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signed in a book for Hongo-sensei – remixed from my “post box poem” at Mac Kobayashi’s goat farm

Along our shinkonryoko (honeymoon) travel, there were many chances to sign guestbooks, write notes for folks, as well as fill our booklets with inky stamps to commemorate being somewhere. As it goes, here are a few mediocre snapshots of hastily scribbled words for archival purposes. 

note quite sure where or what the context is but it’s from the heart – quite literally
written in the guestbook for Hanayume Noren (bridal curtain?) historic scenic train
a stamp available for stamping (obv) aboard the Hanayume Noren scenic train
another view of the same, ergo: written in the guestbook for Hanayume Noren (bridal curtain?) historic scenic train
writing a haiku at the home of haiku master Kobayashi Issa alongside long lost pal Steve Gruett, in his honour
this scrapbook style is readily available at stationery stores around Japan,…
in this case, the books displayed artifacts and articles related to the Mawaki Ruins Jomon Museum in Noto
doesn’t *quite* fit with the others, but this is letterhead from one of the many hotels we stayed at along the way…
guestbook in the fantastic “Shinse Kinenkan Museum” museum in Kanazawa, basically an old apothecary turned into exhibit of both pharmacy but also all sorts of other crafts and art

More artifacts may be added to this post later as sorting and curating continues. Carry on. 

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Personal Musings

Jurisdictions, passed and stayed / Shinkonryoko Ramble

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On this Shinkonryoko (honeymoon) ramble, we ventured from our home in Okayama to various locations, most of which are noted on the accompanying map. We had planned a tentative map a few months earlier but streamlined the ramble a bit for logistics and keep tuned-in to calm locations. 

Note: Japan consist of 43 prefectures (県 ken) proper, two urban prefectures (府 fu, Osaka and Kyoto), one “circuit” or “territory” (道 dō, Hokkaido) and one “metropolis” (都 to, Tokyo). Overall, we visited (either passing through, transferring, staying) in the following jurisdictions.

  1. Okayama / start finish
  2. Hyogo / pass
  3. Osaka-fu / transfer
  4. Kyoto-fu / pass
  5. Shiga / pass
  6. Fukui / pass
  7. Ishikawa / stay, various
  8. Toyama / stay, various
  9. Nagano / stay, various
  10. Niigata / stay
  11. Gunma / pass
  12. Saitama / pass
  13. Tokyo-to / pass
  14. Kanagawa / stay
  15. Shizuoka / pass
  16. Aichi / pass
  17. Gifu / pass

Continue reading Jurisdictions, passed and stayed / Shinkonryoko Ramble →

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Personal Musings

Back to Tsuchida cottage / Shinkonryoko Ramble

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So many trains, various accoms, pals, museums & kisses. Back where we started at Tsuchida cottage, Okayama.

Next up: spouse visa application, so many thank you cards & documentation (scrapbooks, photos, archiving), and fixing up our lil home (and more kisses)

Update: May 24, 2019

Spouse visa underway! Immigration office was well… an immigration office and not very pleasant but we jumped through appropriate hoops, scribbled necessary information, turned in various photos and the like and celebrated with a burger.

Continue reading Back to Tsuchida cottage / Shinkonryoko Ramble →

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Personal Musings

Visiting Friends / Shinkonryoko Ramble

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One of our objectives on the honeymoon ramble was to visit and pay respectful greetings to various friends including bringing custom bizen-yake saké cups and various paper artifacts from the wedding. 

Here are a few snapshots from these meeting to document and enjoy. 

First off, wise Hongo Sensei in Noto, Ishikawa. Ichiro was Ryoko’s professor and mentor at Nihon University including a few international trips to Indonesia and Russia. 

In Noto (at the end of a peninsula jutting into the Sea of Japan), we stayed at his home in a refurbished fishing boat / fish processing building right on the port (required extensive fixing up after an earthquake/tsunami in 2011 iirc). He took us for a beach picnic and small museums about fisheries and Jomon-period life. 

Continue reading Visiting Friends / Shinkonryoko Ramble →

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Personal Musings

A lot to tell you about… / Shinkonryoko Ramble

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A lot of things to tell about… We’re rolling slow, visiting tiny museums and riding various trains.

Also have ordered printing of handmade thank-you cards for wedding guests and gift-givers.

My body is achey but heart and head are splendid (two out of three…).

Yesterday Toyama, today the mountains.

Also, haven’t forgotten about acknowledging all of your lovely comments, photos and cards. Thanks for those.

Love is love is love is love, etc. #DRO420

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Personal Musings

In my natural habitat… / Shinkonryoko Ramble

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Still-life of scrapbook assembly at a kisaten cafe (with coffee and snacks), Toyama i think. Continue reading In my natural habitat… / Shinkonryoko Ramble →

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