jof27 said (27 minutes ago):
Just wanted to thank you for putting this photo on creative commons. It has a very unique point of view. I have put it on my site www.tokyo-top-guide.com/Harajuku_Fashion.html
and people are telling me it adds a lot to the subject.
If you hover your mouse over the photo you will see your credit.
Good luck with your photography.
Best wishes

Cheers!

jof27 said (30 minutes ago):
Hi,
Just wanted to thank you for putting this photo on creative commons. It is very special, with a very unique point of view. I have put it on my site www.tokyo-top-guide.com/Best_Time.html and people are telling me it contributes a lot to the subject.
Good luck with your photography.
Best wishes
Tokyo-Top-Guide.com

It is one of my favourite photos! Thank you jof27, I wish you and your readers the best.

I couldn’t be happier that people are using my photos.

“Air Guitar” has been used on the blog of UNTERNEUNTUPFING News, self described as a satirical magazine for a good cause. Nice! 

The image published is shown below:

Even though one of my photos was recently published in  If…Journal (The Angkor Temple Complex) I had pre-warning, I knew it was coming and that was exciting enough; but when the Los Angeles Times publish one of your photos, you kinda go “wow”.

The photo was published as part of the Jacket Copy blog by Carolyn Kellogg, the entry is called Flying the readerly skies. The photo has been credited as sourced from flickr.

The image published was “Out My Window”, shown below:

 
I have also created a PDF of the article in case it ever disappears.

I have not blogged much lately. I have been busy, between work and a few other exciting personal developments I have been completely overwhelmed with activity.

It’s time to start again, so here is something about a trip to Tokyo I just returned from.

I stayed at the Hotel Ibis in Roppongi, and even though I spent time unwell and only some time getting around the city I did manage to checkout the following Tokyo highlights:

• Ginza – a world that I do not understand; where too many brand names are not enough.
• Harajuku – Between the Shrine and the Girls on the Bridge I found this area very engaging.
• Shibuya – Without doubt my favourite zone of Tokyo. Alleys, lights, shopping and Mandrake (an amazing Manga shop).
• Tokyo Central – Including a visit to the Imperial Palace.
• Roppongi – Cheap food, lots of bars, Tokyo Tower and the Roppongi Hills shopping arcades.

Tokyo is amazing, though I was a little disappointed I could not spend more time there and even more disappointed I could not get out into the countryside a bit. I would love to have seen Mt Fuji up close, gone to see Osaka and of course toured the Sapporo brewery

Enough of these meanderings, here are some pictures.

A while ago I was trying to find out what the Japanese on my shirt said. Well…

Scarily I have found out:

left-top 包茎手術 : phimosis surgery
middle-top 性病治療 : cure for sexually transmitted desease
left-bottom 精力アップ : improvement of sexial vitality
left-middle レーザー脱毛 : laser depilation
right-bottom 薄毛・植毛 : alopecia and hair transplant

All these are probably taken from ads of a plastic surgery.
For example there is a commercial propaganda like that phimosis is really shame since many years in Japan.
It is sort of a blackmail for young and ignorant boys.

Yikes!! No wonder that Japanese girl was too embarassed to tell me what it meant.

A while ago I bought myself a shirt, it has Japanese characters on it and to this day I have no idea what it says. After wearing it once, I rediscovered it in my wardrobe the other day and decided to dare it in public again.

The last time I wore it, a Japanese girl in Sydney covered her mouth ever so delicately and laughed at me. I asked her what it said and she quickly responded that she could not tell me as it was “too rude”. Well, not wanting to insult anyone it went to the back of my closet until now…

But the content of the message has baffled me all of this time. WHAT DOES IT SAY? Is it really as rude as she said? Probably not, as I am sure her meaning was probably lost in translation.

So I have decided to act. Below is a photograph of the shirt. Can you translate?