Home-made jam from Tokyo backyard fruit

お母さんのおかげで、自家製のジャムが食べられます。ユスラ梅です。英語では「南京サクラ」と呼ばれます。

Thanks to my mother-in-law for sharing the “Nanking cherries” from her back yard. These tiny, sour red plums are called “yusura” plums in Japanese.

 

Tokyo street gardens, new article and photographs published by Ikebana International

東京の路上の庭についての記事と写真が『Ikebana International』（国際生け花）という雑誌に載りました。英語だけで申し訳ありませんが、是非、記事のコピーをご覧になってください (PDF, 1.4 MB)。

Ikebana International asked me to write about Tokyo street gardens and share my photos for their member-supported publication that dates back to 1956. Thanks to the editor Kim Schuefftan for allowing me to reach a very different garden audience. I am curious what Ikebana International and Tokyo Green Space readers think about the article, Tokyo Street Gardens: Unrecognized Beauty (7 page PDF, 1.4 MB). Volume 58, Issue 2, pp 24-30. 2014.

The gate outside the small shrine near our apartment. I went to offer thanks today for visa renewal.

新しいビザをもらったので、今日、地元の神社に参って、お礼をしました。鳥居とイチョウの葉がとても秋っぽいですね。

I stopped at the local shrine today to offer thanks for my visa renewal. The gate and the ginkgo leaves made me stop.

Rough Guide to Tokyo travel book cites Tokyo Green Space

.@skidgel が、新しい英語の東京の旅行ガイドに Tokyo Green Space がのせられたことがわかりました。観光客も東京で、自然を体験してもらえるかもしれないので、うれしいです。

Thanks to @skidgel, I saw that the current edition of The Rough Guide to Tokyo travel book features Tokyo Green Space on the second page of “what to do” under the heading of “towards a greener Tokyo.” It’s great to see that visitors are interested in experiencing nature in Tokyo.

Pecha Kucha presentation

Wednesday I presented Tokyo Green Space at Pecha Kucha in Tokyo in front of almost 300 designers, artists and creative types. The biggest crowd pleaser was the photo of the still life of salary man in a flower bed.

I presented half in Japanese and half in English; it was good practice but a little nerve-testing to talk about my research in Japanese.

I was overwhelmed that so many friends came to the presentation, including Shu, Matthew, Katy, Izumi, Shinobu, Shige, Takako, Hagiwara, Mike (TM), Taka, Alban, Claudia, Umeki, Ben, Jesper, and Hannah. Many thanks to Mark Dytham, Astrid Klein and Tomoko for inviting me to participate!