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This is a picture of my brother. It was taken last year in Japan when the family came to visit for my wedding. It was timed so that it coincided with the danjiri festival in Kishiwada.

I really like this photo. I like the contrast between the signs in the back and the figure in the foreground.

Spring has finally come to Osaka and as an early herald of its arrival the plum trees are in full blossom. I like the plum blossom. It comes in stunning red, pink and white and means the main event of the cherry blossom is only weeks away.

This is from the winter vacation down to Kyushu.

This photo taught me that if it`s cloudy outside and you`re near a window, take a portrait and it usually comes out well.

(photo by will hybrid

Found a group on Flickr doing only HDR photography of Japan. It’s worth a look.

Via Del.icio.us popular

The newest building on the block in Osaka is Namba Hips. This is an amusement arcade centre with restaurants and pachinko. What makes it stand out apart from its unique shape is the freefall ride starting at 74 metres above ground level.

One ride costs 1000 yen or about 5 dollars. Below is a TV excerpt about it.

Hello and a Happy 2008 to you all. I’m back from an extended holiday in Oita in Kyushu. We were supposed to stay in a cottage in the middle of nowhere but got caught in a snowstorm with balding city tyres on our car and called out JAF (the Japanese Automobile Federation) to put chains on our tyres to save us.

Instead of that, we stayed at an onsen hotel. The hot spring water was excellent and we had a great time in the snow.

On New Years Eve we went to a local shrine at midnight where we ate zenzai which is a kind of Japanese sweet dish. After that I helped make mochi by pounding rice with a large hammer. The speed kept on increasing and as I was a little drunk by then it got very difficult to do. Here is a video of people making mochi. Wait until the end where it gets really dangerous.

It was great to do all of that. I had wanted to go to a shrine on New Year’s Eve every year I’ve been here but was never able to until now. I’m happy I could do it on my last chance.

This is one of my favourite ever Isabelle photos. She`s really progressing. She is 17 months old and is walking confidently． She can say some words like Mama, Dada and Hai.

She can also say Deta which means it came out. She says this when she does a poo. It`s a really good early warning system and has stopped our wails of despair when we discover　little brown surprises in her nappy.

I’ve recently been taking photography more seriously and going on photowalks to find and take pictures. It’s something I really enjoy doing. It’s inspired by the stunning photography and his photowalks over at thomashawk.com

This is of an abandoned motorbike front part next to a rice field.