A couple of weekends back we celebrated ‘Coming of Age Day’ here in Japan. During the day off, I visited Odawara — a somewhat faded tourist town near Tokyo.

As ever, I’ve uploaded a small collection of photos to the usual places:

• .Mac Gallery (Fast Computers)
• Flickr (Slow Computers)

Odawara Castle itself is a modern reproduction and hosts a small museum of Japanese artifacts. One particular display brought back a childhood fascination with pocket sundials, instilled after seeing a number in the London Science Museum:

Last weekend, a friend — Dede — invited me to the Tokyo 12th annual ‘Foreign Students’ Music Contest’ in which she was competing.

Performances ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime; the audience watched a Jackson-esq dance routine set to ‘Smooth Criminal’ followed closely by a performance of traditional Japanese Noh-style drumming.

I snapped a couple of the photos of Dede’s Indonesian group performing a SMAP number and was lucky enough to catch Dede in full swing with her ‘angklung‘:

Last weekend, I enjoyed my first snowboarding of the season, taking first a day trip to Gala Yuzawa and then spending three days in Shigakogen in Nagano.

Nagano is referred to as the Japanese Alps and, with all the intertwined slopes and beautiful scenery, it’s easy to see why.

This year I ventured out with my camera and took a few photos:

• .Mac Gallery (Fast Computers)
• Flickr (Slow Computers)