Sagemonoya (Netsuke Shop)

They released new catalog The 2009 New York SANS IVOIRE Netsuke and Sagemono selection. Sad to say I love ivory netsukes best, but this booklet seems very interesting and useful.

In fact, I had once visited Sagemonoya several years ago. It was like being a guest in private residence of a great netsuke (and other Japanese antique) connoisseur, and somewhat intimidating experience. I didn't know what kind of place it was, in the first place. I was expecting to visit a little 'shop' of netsuke... Though, if you are really interested in this kind of art and are in Tokyo, I strongly recommend to visit them.

Sagemonoya (English site)

At Jimbocho (Bookshop District)

Tokyo Guide (Kanda, Jimbocho & Ochanomizu)

Solfege Class (2nd)

The class was divided into two. And tonight (in late class,) 3 people including me attended.

Rhythmic dictation was the hardest for me as before. And my hand was slow to write musical notes, but I was a bit relieved to know other people also have same difficulty to some extent. Anyway, now I can spot my weak point (rhythmic segmentation) and strong point (grasp of pitch.) I am making some progress, aren't I?

Voice Lessons (34th)

Finished Concone #15 vocalise though rather half baked. The teacher said "Do not try to 'save' your breath. Instead, let out ALL the air within one phrase."

Caro laccio went much further than I expected, or prepared. Usually we work to grasp the melody line on the first week, read and interpret the Italian lyrics on the second. Today, we did the molody two or three times and the teacher told me to read out loud the Italian. Then she helped me in my faltering interpretation. Next week we will work on this song with lyrics!

Caro laccio, dolce nodo (lyrics)

TV Series Memorandum

Grey's Anatomy
ER
The X-Files
Columbo
Miss Marple
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Desperate Housewives
Bones
ReGenesis
Law & Order
Project Runway
The Closer
*Sex and the City
*Numb3rs

Equation3

I drew 1006 yen from my another unused bank account and closed it. This time I had to wait over half an hour, maybe because I had been leaving that account untouched for nearly ten years.

Now the amount I have to gather for the new coffee mill is 3340 yen. (To be continued...)

Baby Crow

I found this baby crow on the pavement near a subway station. I thought it had failed to leave the nest and/or got hurt, but I changed my mind after reading a PDF document titled "Found a Baby Crow?" provided by Pacific Wildlife Care. (If you want to read it, please google. Somehow I cannot directly link to the file.)

In general, fledgelings can look very miserable (from a human point of view) and be absolutely normal at the same time, now I suppose. I also learned only baby crows have blue eyes. This colour turns to brown as they grow up.

What To Do When You Find a Baby Bird

Equation2

Today I withdrew all 985 yen from one of my unused bank accounts and closed it. The teller was very kind and the procedure went unexpectedly smooth.

Now the amount I have to gather for the new coffee mill is 4346 yen. (To be continued...)

A Lot of Cats

I took this picture at the same parking lot of which I posted on May 23, 2009. You might find 12 or 13 cats above, but there were 3 more out of the frame!

Angels With Fur Japan

Japanese Army Ration

This is real Japanese army (Self Defense Force, I mean) ration. As you see, canned chicken and vegetables. These rations are not allowed to be taken out of the bases, so how did I get it I will leave to your imagination...

More detail about Japan Self-Defense Force

Voice Lessons (33rd)

Friday again. Today I did not get nauseous, but my voice was fading when we were working on Concone #15 vocalise and keeping proper high tone got harder and harder. Next week the same vocalise one more time.

Though I have finished Vergin, tutto amor by 'pure will power' or by keeping the right posture. To my surprise, the teacher even said "Well done!" Caro laccio from next week.

Vergin, tutto amor (lyrics)

Solving An Equation

Today I went to BIC Camera and bought the burr coffee mill. It cost me about 5,300 yen (55 dollars.) I am scraping together some money from my dormant bank accounts, so that I can cover the expense. I haven't used the mill yet, I will give it a 'test run' tomorrow.

Bic Camera: Ikebukuro

Honey Memorandum

Acacia honey

Clean and pure.

Blueberry honey

Sour-sweet on your soft palate.

Buckwheat honey

Smells like wet feather. Best in yogurt, I think.

Cherry blossom honey

Pleasantly light taste with flourishing aroma. Rare.

Chestnut tree honey

A touch of cinnamon-like aroma.

Chinese milk vetch honey

Most typical honey in Japan. Becoming rare, though.

Wildflower honey

Rich and deep.

How to Organize a Honey Tasting Party

The Bluff

This is an enlarged copy of a flyer for a speculative house in Tokyo. I don't know what made them to name this model 'THE BLUFF.' It is located by a cliff, I suppose. Or is it something related to the price ($878,000)?

Housing in Japan

Angel by Francois Ozon

Last weekend I saw DVD Angel (2007/I). Basically it is a melodrama, but Charlotte Rampling (Hermione, publisher's wife) and Lucy Russell (Nora, Angel's secretary) add this movie a touch of bitterness and reality, I think.

Angel (2007 film)

Burr Coffee Mill

I have been using blade-type grinder for years and it was not so bad, but I gradually became frustrated by the uneven coffee grains. (That leads to inconsistent brew quality, the experts say.) Now I am wondering if I can tuck this (see right) into our budget...

Before You Buy a Coffee Grinder

Kabuki-za At Night

I entered Kabuki-za only once and long ago, when I was an university student. As far as I can remember, the upper gallery was somewhat cramped, and also very barriar-ful...(I mean, hard to climb up there.) This exotic building is scheduled for demolition in May 2010. I (and a great many people) will miss this outstanding landmark!
Kabuki-za to be reincarnated in form of commercial high-rise(Kyodo News)

Voice Lessons (32nd)

Today was my lesson day. And I had to do some quick reading of Concone #15 vocalise with help of my MP3 before going out. There are some tricky tonal shifts!

The lesson went better than I expected. To keep the diaphragm tension (or 'support') is hard and makes me nauseous for a moment or two, but now it doesn't last as long as before.

About Italian Songs, I am still working on Vergin, tutto amor. To pronounce L more forward in the mouth improves my whole performance, the teacher pointed out.

Pronouncing Italian Consonants

Be Kind Rewind2

My other favorite trailer is Ghostbusters Rewind Kindly Sweded. I love the playfully running dog and the hand signal that looks quite genuine. BTW, you can learn some basic hand signals used in the military. See below:

Army Training: Hand Signals
"I can't reach this pocket." lol

Bankbooks

I have decided to cancel bank accounts I no longer use. There are at least four (maybe more.) The problem is, for doing so I have to visit branches of each bank during their business hours (usually 9:00-15:00.) To avoid exhaustion, I am planning to cancel an account per week.

How to Organize Your Finances in Four Easy Steps

A Very Small Victory

I confess that I could not swallow powdered medicine without help of a (medical) wafer -- until yesterday. Since I have been suffering mild indigestion for about a week, my husband strongly advised me to take some stomachic. And we have only powder type in stock...

His instructions were:
1)Hold some water in your mouth.
2)Pour the powder into mouth.
3)Then shake your head as if you're saying "No,no,NEVER!"
4)When doing 3, do not forget to keep your mouth shut tight.
5)Quickly swallow down the mixture of medicine and water.

But it sounded too difficult for me. So I simply rolled my tongue, carefully placed medicine in the centre of the tongue and drank a glass of water--and that was it! I had succeeded in swallowing powdered medicine without trouble for the first time in my life.

Tongue Rolling Genetics?

Heneybee And Clover

After showing yesterday's photo, I think I should add my camera is pretty good for this kind of shooting (see right), for the honour of it. As you see, this is a honeybee collecting clover nectar with yellow pollen on her rear leg.

Honeybee

I also uploaded a photo of four leave clover wishing every reader good luck. Thank you very much for reading so far -- this is my 30th blog post!

Kingfisher

Today I saw a kingfisher for the first time in my life (see left, in yellow circle.) I had brought my binoculars so I could see it quite clear. It was so beautiful, really shining and it is a shame my photo is so sloppy. It is just impossible to take picture of birds properly with my cigarette-case camera, it takes something like below:

By the way, the location of these photos is by a pond in Hikarigaoka Park (former Grant Heights.)

Be Kind Rewind

Today I saw DVD Be Kind Rewind, but now too tired to write about it. I also saw some 'sweded' movie trailers made for or inspired by the film on YouTube, for example: Terminator 2 sweded(lol)

Ready For Harvest

Today I confirmed that was really a BARLEY field. I also estimated the area using pace count. It was approximately 27x27 metres -- that means some 800 square metres.
How to use pace count to measure ground distance

The strange thing is, though I pass by this place at least twice a week, I had never seen anyone working in the field. Barley seems to come up, grow and one day disappear just automatically.

Farewell, Sweet Sweeper

This week I have been working on clean up my house. At least I have succeeded to organize our 'cleaning locker,' but not so successful at organizing my papers. Somehow the most essential documents are very uncooperative to be filed!
Anyway, I made arrangements to discard some old home electronics (including a vacuum cleaner), and now planning to recycle a full length mirror and a small low table. Haven't I made some progress?

Imagine no possessions (The Japan Times)

A Phantom Crop Circle

Near my apartment, and in very unbecoming place, there is a small barley (or wheat? I cannot tell) field. In April, when the barley leaves are all green and shining, I always have the itch to make a tiny crop circle of my own -- but I don't know HOW.

Image results for crop circle

Dog Whistle

Yes, this was a dog whistle, which is used not only for training dogs but also for signaling to dolphins during a show.

It is supposed to create sound around 20,000Hz, but somehow I can hear that high pitched tone during dolphin shows. Maybe I am not hearing the 'ultrasonic' sound itself, but low frequency noise produced by breathing.

On the other hand, my father was working at a labo and one day, when he entered a room in which an ultrasound mouse repeller was ON, he immediately responded like "What is this noise?" So it might be something runs in our blood.

Can anyone hear a dog whistle or am i the only one?

What Is This?

Test of posting text and photo via my cellphone. To be continued...