Blinded By the White: Winter in Japan

I was going to post about Cambodia this week, but as I looked around today, I noticed that the once white fields were turning their varying shades of yellow and green, while the last of the cherry blossoms scattered to the floor. In short, I noticed that Winter was really over. After nearly four months of watching mounds of snow build up outside my door, being pelted in the face by little things that looked all too like the snowflakes I used to make out of paper in elementary school, and sitting in front of my kerosene heater for a few minutes as part of my morning ritual - it was over. Coming from California, the only Winter I'd ever really experienced was slight winds and light sweatshirts. Snow was certainly unheard of except during those rare trips to somewhere more "exotic" than my SoCal headquarters. When I arrived in my prefecture/state in Japan, I was told that we have some of the most snow...in the world. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but most of the people I knew who came from snowy places agreed that this was a bit unreal. For me, it just felt like the winter wonderland I'd never had back home - since I didn't know what to expect, it felt normal to me (and I loved it). Anyways, instead of posting about Cambodia today, I thought it'd be better to share some of my winter pictures, since they'll soon be replaced by the coming of spring.

I also just finished my first Haruki Murakami book, Norwegian Wood. I didn't know what it was about before starting it, but I'd really recommend it. It's a love story in the way 500 Days of Summer is a love story - sad and twisted, but honest. I think its central focus is more on the relationships we have with people, not necessarily in a romantic way, but moreso the way that we interact and understand (or don't) the people around us. It also examines death, tragedy, and a certain philosophical level of emotions. I included some of my favorite quotes from this book on a few of the photographs and in the body of this post as well.

Lastly, I made a playlist of the fifteen songs I listened to most during winter. Just as certain songs can bring us back to specific moments, people, or places, these songs will probably always bring me back to winter in Akita.
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?inzd14inthii4

Hope you enjoy. Stay warm and I'll talk to you next Sunday.
-M

Cameras: Nikon FM2, Nikon FM10
Film: Fujifilm Superia, Ilford Delta 3200, 





This lake, Tazawa, is one of the deepest in Japan and never freezes over in the Winter. There's a legend that a dragon lives below it and is constantly getting down with the woman in that statue. The heat they create keeps the lake warm. 



My city, Yokote, has an annual igloo festival. There are large igloos built around the city, with kids serving rice drinks and mochi inside, as well as tinier igloos built by students at elementary schools.

I stared back at her, but her eyes told me nothing. Strangely transparent, they seemed like windows to a world beyond, but however long I peered into their depths, there was nothing I could see. Our faces were no more than ten inches apart, but she was light-years away from me.” 

An incredibly snowy day where the horizon was hardly visible. It was like living in a giant marshmallow. If you try hard enough, you can see a little house in the distance.

“Everything was too sharp and clear, so that I could never tell where to start- the way a map that shows too much can sometimes be useless.” 

One of the junior high schools I teach at.

Construction signs are ridiculously cute in Japan. Besides elephants, there are also penguins, turtles, cats, and other small animals politely reminding you where you can't drive.

In this festival, all participants (mostly men) wield 25-30 foot bamboo sticks and then...beat the crap out of each other with them while the large crowd watches. There are three rounds to this beating - in the last round, two huge mounds of garbage (taller and wider than the length of a human) are lit on fire and the participants have to battle around these pits of fire. It looks so unsafe that it didn't quite feel real...but it was pretty cool. 

One of my best friends came to visit for a day at the end of our trip down South. He's an Instagram extraordinaire. 

I found this dog in the snow around midnight a couple months ago. I took her back to my apartment to sleep and tried to find her owner the next day. Eventually, her owner was found, but admitted that he dumped the dog because he didn't want her anymore. After some difficulties, we found her a no-kill sanctuary to stay at, hoping someone would adopt her. I got an e-mail yesterday saying she was adopted. They named her Momo. 

In this festival, you pay a few dollars and are given a wicker/wooden basket...thing...tied to a rope. Then they light it on fire and you get to swing it around your head until it burns out. Yes. Really. Japan is full of ridiculous and awesome festivals. 

And then, as usual, they lit some big thing in the middle on fire. 

This was from a Tug of War festival. Basically, there was an extremely long rope and people who lived in the Northern part of my prefecture were on one side, while the Southern people (me) were on the other side. I'm pretty sure we pulled that sucker about a football field's length. It took 20-30 minutes. In the end, the winners got to cut off a piece of the rope and keep it.

“But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives.”

Coachella 2011: Shall we get into it again?

In 2005, I went to Coachella for one day with my mom -- back when they still sold one day tickets and I couldn't drive a car without my mom sitting shotty.  I remember the heat, miscellaneous artists and the hotel swimming pool above all else.  Fast forward to 2010 when I get to experience Coachella for the second time.  Despite the consistent heat half a decade later and the excellent line up once again, the mindset that I gained after 2010 was completely different.  Instead of laying by the hotel swimming pool, I was cleaning the dirt off my body with baby wipes and hand sanitizer.  The experience was mind altering, but it was hard to imagine that it would leave such an imprint on me.  Now, fast forward once again to 2011.  I was extremely excited to experience those three days of musical beauty again, but nervous that it wouldn't live up to the newness I experienced last year.  But now that Coachella 2011 has come and gone, I can certainly say that each year of Coachella isn't worth comparing.  In fact, it's not even really possible.  Each festival is so different from the next that I can't really place a label on any of them.
I camped again -- this time with about 30 friends.  I also got to focus more energy on craft-making, dancing, rolling around in the grass, meaningful conversations, picture taking, observing, solitary enjoyment, group connectedness, and exploration to the highest degree.  Why am I so quick to shell out $300 for something that other people regard as "too expensive"?  Because I know the society that Coachella offers and reminds us of.  I go in as a man made creature, existing out of the context of modern society.  I leave with a more holistic perspective -- understanding the beauty in simplicity, in nature, in music, in art, in humanity.








One of our friends made shirts for our group again this year.  If you want to buy one or check out his other great merch/art, visit 12fv here.




This woman's job was to hold one of those long, connected strands of balloons you see in the distance as they flailed through the sky.  She told me that she loved doing it.

Calculated movements.

Nature and music...perhaps we're not that different.

The campsite.

A couple of our friends, the Groove Monsters, played at the Energy Factory stage on the first night.  It was right in between two of the main stages and they completely rocked their set and the crowd.
Check out their music here.

Purity and bliss.


Love the lights.


All smiles.







Rock on, friends.

-MG