_valerian

I started writing this list a few months ago but I never posted it. Too bad half of them are weapons.. I am actually a really peace-loving liberal kind of guy.

F-4 Phantom II

John Deere 4020

Nikon F-2

Nintendo Game Boy

Desert Eagle

Mitsubishi Zero

Thanks to Aki Asahi both of my SX-70s are looking better than ever. The original rubber coverings had rotted away and became a real mess. The Polaroid SX-70 (an SLR!) is one of my favorite cameras to shoot with, and if there was a way to attach a roll film adapter to it that would make it the camera that I would shoot with forver. I would shoot more color film if I could find some that looked like the photos from an SX-70. These cameras go for about 20,000 yen each used in Japan. In America I think the most I have spent on one was 20 bucks. I took this series of portraits with an SX-70.

I got this from The Hacker’s Guide to the SX-70. There you can find just about everything you need to know about this machine, including how to adjust it to take the more easily found polaroid 600 film. Good stuff, and a great site.

Tonight at the grocery store I found english muffins! I never go into grocery stores. If I buy something, like fruit, I forget I have it and then it is too late. In my fridge I have a still un-opened bottle of orange drink from March, two cans of canned peaches from last October, a bottle of Bull Dog brand tonkatsu sauce from maybe last november, and two bottles of pepsi I got tonight. Not to mention the 70 rolls of film I still need to develop. In a cabinet I have a big tub of skippy peanut butter (thanks Jason!), some of which will go on those muffins for breakfast.

I shall eat like royalty!

British royalty!

So all day between Matsudo and Yokohama I was thinking about this first year (today!) in Japan. To be more specific, it has been one full year. Counting the 3 month fall program at Senshu University in 1998 and then the month of July in 1999, and then again ofically at Senshu University from September 2001 to August 2002– I have been in country for a rough total of 2 years and 3 months. The weird thought is that in 2008 I will have been in (and out of) Japan for ten years. I am not so sure my Japanese ability reflects 7 years of study. By 10 you had better be fluent. I don’t think I have really improved since 2003, but thats also the last year I had a Japanese class.

My work visa has another 2 years on it. If all goes well I will be at the school I am at. This past year has been great, every day it feels like study-abroad and not Work. I have learned more than I thought I would but there has been a cost to all that. Nothing that I would ever write about here though.

Getting to this point, the whole teaching and living in Japan thing, has been a goal of mine since I first heard about the jet program back in 1997. JET and I broke even- I was turned down for an interview with them in 2003 because I forgot a transcript with my application, and then in 2004 I turned down an offer to participate in their program. Funny how things work out the way they do. Now I have to think about what to do next. For now I want it to involve my school, my apartment, my friends, my salary— But it can’t last like this forever. I have also wanted to apply for the Monbukagakusho scholarship to do research in Japan. If there is anyway I could get to do that in the realm of photography that would be what I want to do. Grad School is also an option. Again, I would want to do it in Japan.
In the near future I have my photo show coming up. Next year I want to try and do two exhibitions in Tokyo. Sometime I want to publish a book. This fall I am going to get my portfolio put together, my work from Japan.

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Originally this post was going to be collection of what-ever about the past year. Some things like this:

___In the past year I have:

shot just over 660 rolls of Fuji presto 400 35mm film. Developed over 1000 sheets of 8×10 Ilforb black and white photo paper. Bought some cameras (not going to post that total). I am not sure how many polaroids I have shot but my digital camera says that I have taken 3748 pictures with it since I got it in June.

seen no less than two grown men (at different times) just standing there peeing on the sidewalk near a bush or off the road into the field right in front of my house. This is also a spot where people throw old adult magazines from their car, I think.

had the title of “Sensei” given to me by not only students, but convienence store workers, bento shop cooks, neighbors, ramen shop owners, taxi drivers, etc.

have been told I was cool or handsome (neither is true) by more girls than I had ever thought possible. Half of which will start elementary school next spring. The other half would be those same kids’ mothers and grandmothers.

spent 700 yen on some meal and thought, “wow that was cheap”

slept on the deck of a ship in the pacific ocean, climbed (the stairs) up a volcano

bought a leica and had to get it repaired. Twice.

___Still have not:

ever had a beer or sake.

gone to an onsen or public bath.

come to like soba, green tea or ikura.

ever hesitated to blurt out an awful oyaji pun in front of the principal or a class of kindergarten students.

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Here is to many more.