Thursday, March 26, 2009

Tokyo Cherry Blossoms

Ok there I am pasty faced and very,very tired.
Check it out in B&W.
Better?
No?
Ya I get it.
Get a real life Terry.
The cherry blossoms are a week away from being on high beams in Tokyo.....I never get here at the right time.
I have been busy.
Not busy as you desk bound folks feel the pain.
I mean kick ass time zone madness busy.
No matter.
I saw some nice stuff today.
And some not so nice stuff.
I was around the corner from the Yaskuni Shrine and with 30 minutes or so to kill I went there.
I'm sure you have a vague recollection of it from newscasts gone by and rioting Chinese people as a result.
Check out the link.
I was pretty smacked in the head by the subtle and not so subtle reminders of an Imperial Japan and all the crazies that accompany both.
The saving grace is the visible shock of my 30 something Japanese colleague.
He was embarrassed by it all.
A decent enough guy.
We live in a world where history is rewritten to suit the here and now by people who figure it will serve their purposes and are permitted to do so by folks who figure it has no impact.
Low key fascism is scarier than the in your face variety.
Evil made palatable.
I am brought back to the memory of looking at the grave of a 16 year old from Saskatoon beheaded by a Japanese Captain in Hong Kong at the commonwealth cemetery there and it all doesn't seem so benign......
Very dramatic Terry...........................
That's it for today.
Check back and see more T

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jesus you look tired, get some sleep.

The grandfather of one of my best friends (oddly enough I'm seeing her tomorrow) was a Japanese POW in Burma (death railway), despite the odds, he survived. He had nightmares about the experience until he died; in his sleep he used to try to strangle his wife thinking she was a Japanese guard (or at least that was his story).

I like the Japanese folk that I've met, but it's a strange race that tortures trees.

Oyasumi nasei from me, ohayo gozaimas to you.

TR-HW

Anonymous said...

such a sweet pic - terry and the cherry blossoms... i hope that's not a cigarette hidden out of shot in your right hand?

I'm sure there are busy business loons across a hundred different time zones kicking their habits - question is, are you?

J

Anonymous said...

Nice Early spring time photo's :) of the cherry blossom and your self ,the sun did shine the other weekend here too ,planted some tubs and cut the grass ,hence it has not stopped raining since :( good old British weather !! likes seeing me stuggle with my old push mower beat a work out at the gym any day :) glad you are still around :) penny xx