A late spring in Ishikawa
28 Apr 2010 3 Comments
Well, it’s officially the coldest and least sunny spring in 23 years here in Ishikawa. Because of El Niño and arctic oscillation the warm air from down south has been pushed around by immense cold fronts coming from Siberia and other areas in Russia which give us our winter weather! That means that it’s April and we still have March temperatures – it’s been catapulting up to 22-23°C down to 5-6°C. Makes it hard to dress for work, especially since the schools have turned off the heat for the year!! There’s one lucky side effect though, the cherry blossoms have stayed for a lot longer than usual. Here’s a few views of springtime Japan.
Weeping cherries nod over the river in Daishoji City.
In death, immortality
27 Apr 2010 4 Comments
in Art, Life, News, Thoughts Tags: taxidermy
A recent post at Mapping the Marvelous entitled Arrested Anthropomorphism deals with a photography exhibition (nanoq: flat out and bluesome) consisting of images of 33 stuffed polar bears, animals whose bodies were stuffed and mounted, fruits of the art of taxidermy.
Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue. Georgia O'Keeffe. 1931. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1952. www.metmuseum.org
Since I was a teenager I was intrigued by the beauty of natural form and built a collection of natural objects: a deer skull, deer jaw, cow tooth, turtle vertebra, the preserved wings of various birds, a rodent skeleton extracted from an owl pellet, and other once-living objects. The beauty of these objects has been recognized by many artists, most familiarly in the skull paintings of American Artist Georgia O’Keefe. The majority of my collection, and O’Keefe’s painting, deal with the residue of living things, their bony heritage. My interest in nature lead me to study taxidermic displays at nature centers and museums of natural history. In biology class we studied the preserved bodies of birds and mammals.
I was never quite comfortable when viewing the mounted bodies of animals. After all, an animal had given up its life so its body, or more appropriately its bodily covering, could be preserved for scientific study, displayed for the edification of the public, or viewed as an object d’art. Frequently the museum displays were dusty and dirty, the mounted body tattered and dull, offering a miserable memorial to a creature once gloriously alive.
And yet an expertly mounted body, displayed in a faux natural setting, can indeed be an object of beauty. Take a look at this Visions Of Taxidermy photo gallery of images from the National Taxidermy Association’s annual convention where taxidermists from across the country show off their work. These amazing works speak to the artistry of their creators.
Victorian culture’s interest in natural history informed their decorative arts:
During the Victorian Era, taxidermy reached what may have been its greatest level of popularity, as travelers to distant lands sought to preserve mementos of their visits, and as museums around the world undertook to display specimens for study. Using taxidermy as a factor in interior design also came into fashion during this time. Several taxidermists branched into bizarre niche markets such as anthropomorphic taxidermy, in which the subjects were posed as if partaking in human activities. Walter Potter’s “Kittens’ Tea & Croquet Party,” in which thirty-seven ginger kittens were shown enjoying tea and mouse tarts at a garden party, is one of the more famous –or infamous!– examples of this alternative style of taxidermy.
Interestingly, taxidermy has experienced a recent revival in the decorative arts, both for residential and commercial use. According to one collector: “Your imagination can run wild with the taxidermy…” [she] said. It can be challenging, though, to get it home, she admitted, particularly when that means carting it through the streets of New York. Recently, she said, she had an eBay purchase — an entire taxidermied sheep — shipped to her Midtown office, terrifying her co-workers. “ An entire taxidermied sheep?
Pet taxidermy or freeze-drying is one way to memorialize a beloved pet.
I’m not sure if Huma Mulji’s camel was a pet:
Pakistani artist Huma Mulji created a work of art by stuffing a taxidermy camel into an oversized suitcase ("Arabian Delight").
Do you “revere and admire” this shoe sculpture?
Intriguing and somewhat disturbing these shoes aptly titled, “Gun Hoofs” by artist/ designer, Iris Schieferstein are something to be revered and admired.
UK-based artist Shauna Richardson may have resolved how to apply taxidermy in a non-life threatening fashion. She develops life-size animals through the process of crocheting. She uses the term ‘crochetdermy’ to better explain her work which makes strong references to taxidermy. Her pieces are made with materials like coarse wools such as mohair mixes, glass eyes, reproduction claws etc. The free-style crochet technique she applies is executed with a 3mm hook, using one color and one stitch, the direction of the stitches highlighting anatomical features. It usually takes her several months to complete one piece.
For more info:
Smithsonian Stories from the Vaults: Taxidermy video
Bill Geist at National Taxidermy Championship-CBS Sunday Morning: video
~MadSilence to&w
nanoq: flat out and bluesome
Catch and release
24 Apr 2010 3 Comments
in Books, Japan, Life, Reading, Thoughts, Travel Tags: BookCrossing, BookMooch, Kanazawa visit, Read the printed word
Do you like to share a good book? Sharing is part of the fun of reading. I’ve randomly mailed books to friends & family members, even a number to Japan. I gather books from used book sales & public libraries and donate them to the poor and needy. I’ve even left books in public places (C’mon, let it go, un-curl those rigid fingers) with the hope that another reader would find it, enjoy it, and pass it on. I’ve been doing this on & off for years.
I had to travel to Japan to learn about BookCrossing.com. The concept is simple yet engaging:
BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. Through our own unique method of recycling reads, BookCrossers give life to books. A book registered on BookCrossing is ready for adventure.
Leave it on a park bench, a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym — anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel. Track the book’s journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person.
If only I’d known there were two books running wild within the confines of Tokyo’s Narita airport I could have tracked ‘em down, hog-tied them, read them in captivity, and released them again. If you love a book, you have to let it go.
A "book forest," where people can leave or find old volume. Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times. Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times writes of the popularity of bookstores in Germany:
“Shortly after I moved to Berlin from New York, for example, I noticed there were bookstores all over town. [...] Berliners looked nonplussed when I asked them to account for all the bookshops. Along with currywurst and nude saunas, bookstores have long been such a banal fact of life here, as they are across Germany, that only an outsider might bother to think their number was remarkable. The proliferation turned out to derive from a very conscious decision after the war to restore civilization in West Germany by supporting a kind of ecosystem of small publishers and small bookstores to which, in certain small towns, trucks that delivered books to the bookstores overnight also delivered drugs to the drugstores: drugs for the body, books for the mind, a metaphor of recovery.”
I like how Kimmelman puts it: Drugs for the body, books for the mind, a metaphor of recovery
So why do we do it? How to explain the allure of the printed word?
Charity Guide provides ideas on how to Recirculate Old Books.
BookMooch helps you to Give Books Away. Get books you want.
Related links:
Japanese Mirror (Japanese BookCrossing site)
~MadSilence to&w
Recycled plastic bag animals
23 Apr 2010 2 Comments
in Art Tags: plastic bags, Recycled plastic bag animals, recycling
More Recycled plastic bag animals from Wow! Imports
There’s the snake…
The lady bug…
And the familiar chicken…
Cute!
Terrible beauty
21 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in Art, Life, Thoughts Tags: Eyjafjallajökull Art Project, Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, Iceland, volcano
Have you seen the images of the terrible beauty of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano?
A column of steam and ash rises out of an erupting volcano near Eyjafjallajokull April 19, 2010
As reported by Resource Shelf, NASA continues to release some amazing satellite imagery of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano.
The Eyjafjallajökull Art Project displays works of art inspired by the ash-spewing glacier:
"Brushes" Rob Partington XVIII April MMX via the Eyjafjallajökull Art Project
The Globe and Mail provides insights into the anatomy of an eruption:
~MadSilence
A life of solitude
16 Apr 2010 6 Comments
If a blog falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Douglas Quenqua writes about the future of blogging for The New York Times:
…many people start blogs with lofty aspirations — to build an audience and leave their day job, to land a book deal, or simply to share their genius with the world. Getting started is easy, since all it takes to maintain a blog is a little time and inspiration. So why do blogs have a higher failure rate than restaurants?
According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.
Richard Jalichandra, chief executive of Technorati, said that at any given time there are 7 million to 10 million active blogs on the Internet, but “it’s probably between 50,000 and 100,000 blogs that are generating most of the page views.” He added, “There’s a joke within the blogging community that most blogs have an audience of one.”
All I ever wanted was “…to be anonymous [...] to write, like, long entries, and no one wants to read that stuff.”
Fellow bloggers, is it time for Embracing a Life of Solitude ?
Related MadSilence post: Bloggers: A portrait of the internet’s new storytellers
~MadSilence
Yaki madness
15 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in Food, Japan, Japanese Culture, Life, Travel Tags: Kanazawa visit, modanyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba
I’ve returned from Japan with a gnawing hunger for noodle pancakes, an appetite I believed would remain unfulfilled until I returned to the Land of the Rising Sun…until I read Mark Bittman’s post in the Diner’s Journal. Apparently I’m not the only American with a passion for modanyaki and okonomiyaki. Here’s the story of how I was introduced to “modern yaki.”
It’s early afternoon, we’re tired & ready for lunch, so after pictures & goodbyes we walk to a favorite restaurant for modanyaki (noodle pancakes). The small, informal, family run restaurant has three or four booths on the right in Japanese-style: tatami mats, low tables, cushions for sitting. On the left is an L-shaped bar with stools. Set into the bar’s surface are hot griddles; the griddle on the small side of the “L” is used for cooking. I’m glad to sit on a stool with a back, more so to hover over the heated grill, warming hands & upper body. The chef is a middle-aged man assisted by an older woman (his mother?), the four of us in an intimate setting. The woman brings glasses of water and small salads, greens with a single cherry tomato sliced in half, a soy sauce-based dressing. We order the house special: modanyaki with egg, octopus, chicken & vegetables. First noodles are placed on the grill, then a pile of cabbage & vegetables. The vegetables are finely chopped, the other ingredients added, finally everything is mixed with the noodles. The omelet or pancake is then browned on either side until brown & crisp. As he finishes my pancake the chef looks at me & gestures: Spicy mayo? Soy? Ketchup? Hai, give me the works. The pancake is served on the hot griddle in front of us, cut into small pieces with a metal spatula. We have about 8 inches between the griddle & bar edge, enough room for a small plate & chopsticks. A miniature metal spatula is used to scoop up pieces of pancake onto small plates, add regular mayo, spicy mayo (mayo & wasabi) and ketchup, and chow down with chopsticks. It’s hot & tasty, perfect for this unseasonably cool Ishikawa spring day. Hot green tea is the perfect accompaniment. Delicious.
Mark Bittman provides a recipe for making yakisoba at home. Judging by the comments, yaki is a popular dish.
- Looks absolutely delicious! I love yakisoba
Definitely bookmarked your column. — DailyChef - Oh I love yakisoba! — Sook @ My Fabulous Recipes
Easy Japanese Cooking – Okonomiyaki from the Ishikawa JET blog
Keep the rules and have a good time
08 Apr 2010 1 Comment
in Japan, Japanese Culture, Life, Thoughts, Travel Tags: Kanazawa visit
Two Friday’s ago was our day for the movies and so we headed out around 11:00am to catch the bus. Weather has been rainy on & off, typical Ishikawa climate, but not heavy enough to wash away the film of dust on cars & window screens. At this time of the year the weather comes from China bringing with it dust from the Gobi desert, irritating to those with allergies. Some cherry trees have already opened their flowers; the plum trees are blooming.
The Yayoi neighborhood around our home is a mix of residential & commercial buildings, a number of temples & hospitals, dominated by the school district’s sports stadium. Larger business such as the supermarket, 100 Yen store, and restaurants line the main street. For the most part, houses are small by American standards, and crowded; our four room apartment would typically house a family of four. Parking is at a premium. Houses are narrow on small plots of land, older homes constructed of lathe & plaster with wooden siding, newer homes of prefab concrete and stucco. Walking around the neighborhood always brings surprises: rice fields, hidden shrines & temples, a tiny shop selling dango in the traditional cherry-blossom colors of pink, green & white.
Japanese garden design captures the attention. Trees & bushes are common, in the tiny plots only a few feet square, in tubs and planters, and in larger gardens. I recognize hemlock, cedar, yew, willow, Japanese maple, plum, cherry, rose, azalea & pine. Bulbs are starting to sprout: tulips, hyacinths & daffodils. Trees are heavily pruned, kept sharply under control to match the size of the garden, and layout carefully designed. Bamboo, moss & carefully sculpted pine trees are popular.
The Japanese romance with things cutesy is evident in the number of plaster dog figurines displayed in front of many homes. One house boasts a collection of Labrador retrievers, another a stone bench supported at either end by grinning cocker spaniels. Pets are fairly common, both cats and dogs. We witnessed a big bruiser of a cat, Garfield-like, squatting in the middle of a narrow lane, stubbornly refusing to move, as its sheepishly-grinning owner tugged on its leash. The Akita is the most common dog breed; poodles, dachshunds, Labrador retrievers, Pomeranians, and bulldogs can also be found.
We arrive for the 12:50pm showing of the new Sherlock Holmes movie. The multiplex is located on the 7th floor of the Kanazawa Forus department store. Similar in design to theaters at home, there’s a large shop selling movie memorabilia including post cards and posters. Caramel popcorn & melon soda serve as a snack. Thin blankets are available for our use, unnecessary as the theater is gloriously warm. What a pleasure to sit in the warm theater for a few hours, a refuge from the outside cold & wet. About two dozen movie goers join us. The show starts with the requisite advertisements and then the admonishment to turn off all cell phones & cease talking. The final message in Japanese: Keep the rules and have a fun time watching the movie.
After the movie we wander the mall, window shopping, observing the Japanese customers. Kanazawa is a wealthy city, imbued with “old money”, and we’re in the middle of the shopping district. Gold was discovered here centuries ago, 99% of Japanese gold comes from Ishikawa, there’s a thriving gold leaf craft industry. In Kenroku-en there’s a fountain where it’s said gold was first discovered.
Many of the youth we see downtown are dressed in the latest fashions. Mousey brown hair is in for both boys & girls. One boy displays his long hair, died brown, arranged in artful disarray, with blue jeans hanging way below his narrow hips. Girls wear short-shorts over stockinged legs, not sure how they keep warm. Eye makeup and nails down just so, nails with rhinestone decorations. There are Goths as well as princesses in frilly dresses & straw hats (I’ve got pictures), youth dressed all in denim, hair in a variety of fashions. Hair care is expensive here: a haircut costs around $50.
That night the crowded bus brings us home again through the now familiar streets of Kanazawa.
Fresh fish everyday
06 Apr 2010 1 Comment
in Japanese Culture, Life, Thoughts, Travel Tags: Kanazawa visit, mini trucks, trucks
As a former traffic manager, I’m always interested in how passengers & freight are transported to their destinations. While passenger traffic is highly dependent upon Japan’s passenger rail & bus systems, 90% of Japan’s goods are transported by truck. And not just any trucks: Japan’s often narrow & congested roads mean that mini trucks play an important role in getting goods to the public.
According to The Japan Times:
“People don’t realize how dependent this country is on trucking,” he complained. “Trucks handle about 90 percent of domestic freight, which means that if trucks ever stopped rolling there’d be nothing on the shelves at convenience stores, no medicine in hospitals and no fish at the Tsukiji fish market. Even so, consumers and businesses take trucking for granted.”
What’s more, Japanese truckers have a tough job, Nagashima asserted. “Our roads are generally narrow and congested, and there are few places trucks can stop or wait. Yet customers expect deliveries on precise schedules, often granting a window of as little as 15 minutes during which delivery must be made.”
These pictures of Japanese trucks were taken over the past two weeks on the streets of Kanazawa. They illustrate how narrow & short the trucks are. Only on the major highways can you find the 40-foot trailers so common at home.
The Japan Trucking Association launched a video campaign to illustrate the important role trucks serve in the country’s transportation infrastructure. Check out this video:
If Trucks Stop Running ~Fish Market Version~
Quite a catchy tune!
Links:
Progress in Transportation in Japan from the Modern Transportation Museum
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
~MadSilence
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