Sunday, August 12, 2007

Japanese Expansion

Well, friends, I've decided to expand on my content. I am planning on including pictures and articles about Japan, it's culture, people, literature, etc. I am doing this for a number of reasons. One of which is simply the desire to provide more material for my readers. Looking beyond that, though, is the fact that I am doing some research on all things Japanese right now. I am planning on writing a novel-length work that is taking place primarily in Japan. I am hoping, in fact, to write it for future publication as a podcast novel.

Why Japan? Well, I fell in love with the country when I lived there for a couple of years. The Japanese people, existing in their melded world of ancient tradition and modern technology, fascinate me. Also, I have some great sources I can call upon for information. Not only is my wife a very well-educated native of Japan, but her family and numerous friends of our are still living over there.

To start this off I will present you with a picture that was taken by my father-in-law, Tetsuya Tanaka. Tetsuya is an amateur photographer. And I use the word amateur to mean that he simply doesn't get paid for his incredible pictures. He has an eye for the artistic side of Japanese nature. I think that you will love his pictures.

The following picture is kind of a tribute to my good friend Jason Heath over at the Double Bass Blog. Jason has two cats and has numerous posts on his blog related to cats. Check out the page for cat labeled posts. You'll love watching the Cats listening to various styles of music post. This is a picture of a cat sitting on a wall with Mt. Fuji in the background. The photo was taken on January 2, 2005. I believe this is a view of the south face of the mountain, though I may be wrong about that. I hope you enjoy it.