river

Picture of the Month: A Year in Japan #2

Posted: October 1, 2019

For the first time in my life, I would officially reside in another country, Japan. I have stayed up to three months in another country before (Ireland and Japan) so I was a temporary resident there, but more like a long stay tourist.

I’ve also stayed about two months in several more places.

This time, as noted in the first PotM: A Year in Japan edition, I had/have a one year (and three months) visa, provided I study Japanese during that time.

For the first two months or so, I had two goals in mind: see as many cherry blossom trees I could stand and settle into my new life in Kyoto (my new apartment and as a student).

And that is basically what I did through April and towards the end of May.

I live close to the Kamogawa river, and when the temperatures aren’t consistently above 25 degrees Celsius, I often go for a walk along it. It has beautiful cherry blossom trees, and I look forward to seeing it in autumn glory too.

I also took the opportunity to see some geisha/maiko dances that are mostly held in spring (with a couple at other times of the year), and I can highly recommend it. Beautiful shows.

It was also in May that I turned 30 years old. No more twenties for me.

Kamogawa river in Kyoto during the day — Same river as above, not the same place and not the same type of day. A lovely place to walk at.

Picture of the Month — June 2019

Posted: June 1, 2019

Sailing-on-the-Baltic-Sea-2003 — How far away might that piece of land be? I have no idea.

Three photos of three different waters from three different years and 2–3 different countries.

The first one above is of the Baltic Sea taking in 2003. I was on a sailing vacation with a friend’s family who owned the ship. I think we were mostly in Swedish waters, depending on how far out Swedish waters go, but we visited Bornholm on the trip too, which is part of Denmark. So those waters could belong to Denmark.

Second photo was taking in Boston, USA, in 2017. I was out canoeing with a friend. I had a great time and thought a factory looked pretty for once.

Structure-by-lake_factory-Boston-2017 — Factory by the river, view from a canoe.

Third photo is from a middle-of-the-week vacation I took in 2015 a little ways outside Stockholm. I wanted to be a bit pampered and to take in some nature. And some nature I found! Really great. Back in April, I shared a photo of a tree from the same vacation.