The Eye of Patrick

Recently I was in Sapporo for a school event and with the improving weather I decided to take same street photography.

This photo was taken in Sapporo this past spring, when it was Cherry blossom season. I really like this photo becuase of the focus on the simple red leaves and the blur of the background.

I was reading japanprobe.com and I noticed this article on Shunsuke Nakamaura. He is a Japanese player who is playing in Scotland for Celtic. The reason I found it was interesting, was because when I was in Russia on vacation I met him in the hotel I was staying at. Though just a brief encounter, it was my first time meeting someone famous. But from the article, it seems that Rangers was not so welcoming of their crosstown rivals star.

Celtic fans have been getting agitated about a banner brandished by Ran

gers fans bearing the legend ‘Nakamura Ate My Dog’.

Such faux outrage might have been more credible had the Japanese midfielder not been greeted on his early appearances at Celtic Park by the chorus: ‘He eats Chow Mein and he votes Sinn Fein’.
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Dog, of course, is a Korean staple - at least, it was in more impoverished times - and the consequence of poor agricultural soil, although a recent survey revealed that seven per cent of Japanese respondents admitted to eating dog food, albeit a top-end brand associated with the British Royal Family.

Telegraph

Omikuji (御御籤, 御神籤, or おみくじ) are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines in Japan.

The omikuji predicts the person’s chances of his or her hopes coming true, of finding a good match, or generally matters of health, fortune, life, etc. When the prediction is bad, it is a custom to fold up the strip of paper and attach it to a pine tree in the temple grounds. A purported reason for this custom is a pun on the word for pine tree (松 matsu) and the verb ‘to wait’ (待つ matsu), the idea being that the bad luck will wait by the tree rather than attach itself to the bearer. In the event of the fortune being good, the bearer should keep it. Though nowadays this custom seems more of a children’s amusement, omikuji are available at most shrines, and remain one of the traditional activities related to shrine-going, if lesser.

(Wikipedia

This photo was taken at the shrine in Sapporo this past Spring. The fortune I got said “That you had as much patience as a mossy rock which had never moved an inch for a thousands years!” and that it was a “fairly good luck” fortune. So because it was a good fortune I could keep it

This an SNL parody of the Office. It starts off with the lead actor from the British version of the office talking about how the American version of the Office is a complete copy. Making mention to small changes like one characters name to Jim from Tim. Then he goes on to say that the British version is really based on a Japanese show. Please watch, it is really funny.

The story simply amazes me because of how incompetent the police were. Isn’t it common sense when you have a mentally ill guy covered in gasoline to not give him a match so he can smoke.

NAGOYA —

Nagoya prefectural police authorities said Monday they are considering disciplinary action for three police officers after they gave a cigarette and a lighter to a man in their custody who had doused himself with kerosene. The man set fire to himself in front of police after asking to smoke during interrogation on Sunday. He died of his burns on Monday, police said.

Hifumi Kubota, 45, was taken for questioning to a police station in Nagoya on Saturday after a woman who was living with him told police that he was acting violently. When officers came to his house, “he poured kerosene over himself in front of police,” a police spokesman said.

Kubota refused to change his kerosene-soaked clothes at the police station and asked to smoke during questioning, according to police.

Despite no-smoking rules in the building, a police official gave him a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. When Kubota stood up, his right knee was ablaze and he quickly turned into a fireball, the reports said.

Japan Times

Two weeks ago I went to Muruyama Koean in Sapporo for Cherry blossoms (Hanami). The season for Cherry blossoms is later here compared to Osaka or Tokyo due to its more northern location. This means we get ours in May and everyone else gets there is March or April.

A common thing to do when it is Cherrry Blossom season is to get with your friends and have a BBQ. In the more popular places this can mean you have to go really early to lay down your blue tarp so that you can enjoy your bbq later.

Some random tidbits from Wikipedia.

The teasing proverb dumplings rather than flowers (花より団子, hana yori dango^?) hints at the real priorities for most cherry blossom viewers, meaning that people are more interested in the food and drinks that accompany a hanami party rather than actually viewing the flowers themselves. (A punning variation, Boys Over Flowers (花より男子, Hana Yori Dango^?), is the title of a manga and anime series.)

Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees! is a popular saying about hanami, after the opening sentence of the 1925 short story “Under the Cherry Trees” by Motojirō Kajii.

[edit]

As I was taking this photo I realized it is likely the last time I see Cherry blossoms in Japan as I will be returning to Canada in August when my contract runs out. I likely will keep this blog but more turn it into a photo blog as that is what it seems to becoming.

I hope you enjoy the journey.

Patrick

Spring has come! Atleast that is true here in Hokkaido. With the recent improvement in weather, the flowers have started to bloom. So when i went to play park golf during golden week I saw many wonderful flowers and decided to take their photos. I have recently been expanding outside of my comfort zone with taking photos. I have been trying to play with how it focuses. I really like photos with things blurred in the background and the focus point really crisp. I hope you enjoy.