Tag Archives: slow roll

Noto Fish Auction / Dave + Ryoko Shinkonryoko Ramble

Gallery March 29, 2020 daveo Leave a comment

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]

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Japan Life/Travel, Scrapbooks + Journals

Japan Travel Ephemera Scrapbook / Shinkonryoko Ramble

Gallery June 30, 2019 daveo Leave a comment

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.

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Personal Musings

Watching steps… / Shinkonryoko Ramble

Gallery June 25, 2019 daveo Leave a comment

Watching my every each step

Is the task at hand

So i’ll watch yours instead

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Personal Musings

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

Gallery May 30, 2019 daveo Leave a comment

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

May 24, 2019 daveo Leave a comment

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.

Okayama / start finish
Hyogo / pass
Osaka-fu / transfer
Kyoto-fu / pass
Shiga / pass
Fukui / pass
Ishikawa / stay, various
Toyama / stay, various
Nagano / stay, various
Niigata / stay
Gunma / pass
Saitama / pass
Tokyo-to / pass
Kanagawa / stay
Shizuoka / pass
Aichi / pass
Gifu / pass

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Personal Musings

Back to Tsuchida cottage / Shinkonryoko Ramble

Gallery May 23, 2019 daveo Leave a comment

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.

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Personal Musings

Visiting Friends / Shinkonryoko Ramble

Gallery May 23, 2019 daveo Leave a comment

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.

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