First Snow in Gifu

This morning I woke up to snow! It's not much, but it is enough to make me feel like a little kid, filled with the anticipation of sledding and making snowmen. I'm not sure that much will fall here - I'll properly enjoy it if it does - for now I'm just watching giant snowflakes plop onto buildings and mountains.

We haven't seen snow since moving away from Colorado in 2009, so it feels like a special treat. It's a bit surreal to be excited about such a little bit of snow, especially when I know our families are experiencing a very heavy winter in America right now.

Tonight is the last of 2010, and somehow the snow marks that distinctively for me. It's a year I'll be glad to see go, one of many hardships and incredible change. I'm looking forward to 2011 being a more lucrative and more enjoyable year. Happy New Year, may it bring only good things!

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To Live in the Moment Without Fear

To Live in the Moment Without Fear is a work by Yuko Shinoda from Gifu, Japan. Danced by six women, the dance investigates what it means to be a part of a community threatened by a disaster that takes a life. Premiered June 5th 2011 in Nagoya, Japan, the dance features a strong movement aesthetic that draws from traditional Japanese dance as well as contemporary styles and contact improvisation. Shinoda's use of space and timing, as her dancers flow in-and-out of solos, duets, trios, and unison, creates a sense that the dancers are unified and alone at the same time. In the end, Shinoda's view of life is clear: we must tend to the fallen, but we must never surrender ourselves to fear while we are still alive.

Yokohama, Day Four: Roppongi Hills and Shibuya

We met Nik's girlfriend, Megumi, for an amazing lunch on the way to Roppongi Hills, where we met up with her friend Misa. Roppongi Hills is an incredibly upscale shopping district in Tokyo, even more upscale than the Ginza. I couldn't afford to look at the stores. We passed by a German-influenced illumination display, honoring 150 years of German-Japanese friendship. It was really beautiful and seemed traditional (I'm going to run it by my German friend to test its authenticity). In the first two pictures you can see Japanese people chowing down on dark lager and brats, as well as a lovely carved statue with figurines and candles that constantly turned on a podium. Misa was hungry so we got her a lunch snack, and when Matt saw a bagel place he succumbed to his Jewishness. Pictured is his bagel with cream cheese and lox, which he ate in the face of Christmas with Nik. Roppongi Hills also has many beautiful sculptures, including a giant spider of which I didn'...

Gamagori Fireworks Festival

Takeshima, at low tide. Every year, on the last day of July, a big fireworks festival is held in Gamagori, Japan. Fireworks are very big in Japan, with each major city priding itself on its particular display, and swearing up and down to anyone who will listen that their fireworks are the best in the nation. Gifu's displays were canceled this year because of the earthquake, so we took the opportunity to travel a little more than an hour by express train to Gamagori. It's a cute little town, not far from Okazaki, with a famous island that is entirely shrine space (seen in the picture to the right). It was a wonderful, if long, day. Four of us set out from Gifu and picked two more friends up on the way to the island. We arrived early, perhaps too early, but we did miss the worst of the afternoon sun as we wandered around the island. Even though I was very diligent about my SPF 50 sunblock, I still managed to get burned on both shoulders before the...

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