Around Kyoto, Aug. 2008

This is where the mountain is lit on fire for Obon. This Japanese character (kanji), means "big". I can't really understand why they do this, even though it's been explained to me a few times...


A random shrine. They're everywhere...



Eating Tako Yaki (like octopus bread balls, with dried dish flakes and "yaki" sauce) at the Kitano Market. Taki Yaki always burns your mouth, right off the grill.


Glowing Crossing Guard

All the yukata (casual kimono) photos and the mountain lit on fire, is a holiday called Obon. The deceased ancestors come back to visit and people pay respects to them.

Kyoto/Osaka Aug. 2008

Kyoto/Osaka Aug. 2008-Mitsuo's Birthday

Kyoto/Osaka Aug. 2008 -THE GECKO

Kyoto/Osaka Aug. 2008 -THE COUCH

Song gi and I are working on our first collaborative project together.  When I was living in Montreal I learned the very basics of upholstery from Sarah Hanneman so SG and I wanted to make a couch together.  He's building (and designing) the frame out of wood (not done yet) and I designed the fabric.  He helped me silkscreen it and is helping with the upholstery.  So far we have the base of the couch done with all the springs and webbing attatched and the fabric silkscreened.  There's a lot more work to do so we'll do that little by little this year.

The pattern is based on the zodiac constellations and there are a few others too.  I've been really interested in constellations lately and the Greek myth they were derived from.  The couch frame is going to have a very rounded back and arms, I want it to feel like a planetarium.

I don't have photos of the springing work right now but I'll take some this weekend when I visit Kyoto.

Kyoto/Osaka Aug. 2008

I finally have the internet in my apartment in Kochi so here are the photos I took in August in Kansai, while staying with Song gi.  I don't have many pictures of Kochi City, Shikoku (where I'm living now and teaching English) but I will take more and put them up soon.