If you like super fine, you'll love

Yow!

The land of the milk and

Tailored

It's fitting right now, where you are, isn't it? Or it could be.

How wise...

Ah, that's clever medicine; a solution which only resolves the overly-
simplified problem.

People in the world, not the other way around.

-気p it up;
Ryan

No more places to go. Now only the world to be in.

-気p it up;
Ryan

Gimme!

Someday...

Someday she'll float

No guts no...

Someday she'll ride the sea again

The greatest concentration of intelligence I have found; my own body.

My interest lies now in things which, once torn, cannot be mended.
-RPH

The larger my person, the more I appreciate being an animal.

マキノ Lifestyle Connection
-ライアン

Have no fear...

Steam Penguin is here!

Weird

Expect to know, and you cancel the flow.

マキノ Lifestyle Connection
-ライアン

Do the Macho!

Morning banana

Apt building

We built this city,
We built this city on hu-man brain

Yum yum

With the right boundaries, there are no limits.

マキノ Lifestyle,
Ryan

Elementary school here 2

Unicycles!

Elementary school here

Accordions!

How to...

Creepy

APB

Suntiger Cordreel must be stopped!

100 yen store

Disposable! For your softgay lifestyle.

this is how it happens

The masses know through frequency.  The masters know through the single and sure conviction.    

--
"Everything is like the rivers: the work of the slopes." -Antonio Porchia

http://biwakoblog.blogspot.com/
www.rphofer.com

Rice is growing

Makino challenge walk

The world will never become your predictions. The world is becoming
new.

マキノ Lifestyle,
Ryan

Epistemology

As far as I know, it is possible to know.

マキノ Lifestyle,
Ryan

Worship: being one with God.
Blasphemy: God being one with you.

マキノ Lifestyle,
Ryan

Nice hotel lobby

Odaiba Gundam

Odaiba is by the ocean and has many cool buildings, as well as a giant
Gundam, only for this summer!

Quote from Terry Hofer

"Cameron, you can't always have what you want in life right when you
want it and this might be one of those times. Now I'm going to get
some Chifon cake with ice cream. "

マキノ Lifestyle,
Ryan

Hotel lobby bathroom

Prince Hotel in Shinagawa outside Tokyo

Pocari Sweat

This ad is kind of confusing. But I like Pocari Sweat.

From the roof

Mad hatter bowling alley

A very happy unbirthday to me...

Pool cleaning

Cheer your child with this Fanky Malloon.

Pedagogy

I didn't start lying until I tried to teach the truth.

Answers require; they are endovitalic, over and over. Grace confers and gives; an exovitalic process.

Assurance

You want your answer, and you will have blood for it.

Desires

Do I want it, or is it wantable?

マキノ Lifestyle,
Ryan

Extensively

I am not an extension of the words you use to describe me. I am something completely different. Am I an extension of the words I use to describe myself? Are these the same words?

Now that you've got nothing, you can give everything.

Love is not at the top of the ladder of social interaction, anymore than Heaven is the highest rung of morality.

Can't give everything until you've got nothing.

The Emerald Lizard

Another story to be read in our speech competition. A story from Latin America.

Long ago a priest lived in Guatemala. He gave everything to poor people. So he was also very poor. One day he met a man on the street. The man was crying." Why are you crying, my friend?" the priest asked. "My wife is sick and my children are hungry. But I have no money. What can I do?" the man said. The priest wanted to help the man, but he was poor, too. He prayed, "Oh God, please help me." Then he saw something at his feet. It was a bright green lizard. He caught it and put it in the man's hands. The man was surprised. The lizard turned hard and heavy. It was now an emerald lizard. "Go and sell it," the priest said. The man took it to a store and got a lot of money. He bought medicine for his wife and food for his children. Then they were all happy. They worked hard for many years and made a fortune. But they lived a simple life and shared their fortune with poor people. One day the man remembered the priest. He bought the emerald back from the store and went to find him. "Do you remember me?" asked the man. "You gave me this emerald." "Oh, yes. How is your wife? How are your children?" the priest said. "They're fine. And I'm here to give this back to you. For many years you worked hard for poor people. Please sell this and get some rest. "The man put the emerald in the priest's hands. The priest smiled and gently put it on the ground. Then it turned back into a green lizard and ran away.

The Spider's Thread

Here is a story a student will read for an English speech competition. It is based upon a parable in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and a Buddhist story. It was originally published in 1918 in a magazine for children called Akai Tori (Red Bird).

The Spider's Thread
Story by Akutagawa Ryunosuke
translation by Timothy Kelly


It so happens that one day the Lord Buddha is strolling alone on the shore of the lotus pond in Paradise. All the lotus blossoms blooming in the pond are globes of the whitest white and from the golden stamen in the center of each an indescribably pleasant fragrance issues forth abidingly over the adjacent area. Day is just dawning in Paradise.
In due course, the Lord Buddha pauses at the edge of the pond and beholds an unexpected sight between the lotus petals veiling the water's surface. Since the depths of Hell lay directly below the lotus pond on Paradise, the scenery of Sanzu-no-kawa3 and Hari-no-yama4 can be clearly seen through the crystal-clear water just as if looking through a stereopticon.
Then, the single figure of a man, Kandata by name, squirming there in the depths of Hell along with other sinners, comes into the Lord Buddha's gaze. This man Kandata is a murderer, an arsonist, and a master thief with numerous robberies to his credit. Yet, the Lord Buddha recalls that he had performed a single good deed. That is to say, once when Kandata was traveling through the middle of a dense forest he came upon a spider crawling along the roadside. Thereupon, he immediately raised his foot and was about to trample it to death. But, he suddenly reconsidered, saying, "Nay, nay, small though this spider be, there is no doubt that it too is a living being. Somehow or other it seems a shame to take its life for no reason." In the end he spared the spider rather than killing it.
While observing the situation in Hell, the Lord Buddha remembers that this Kandata had spared the spider. And he decides that in return for having done just that one good deed he would, if he could, try to rescue this man from Hell. Luckily, he sees nearby a spider of Paradise spinning a beautiful silver web on a jade colored lotus petal. The Lord Buddha takes the spider's thread gently into his hand and lowers it between the pure white lotus blossoms straight into the distant depths of Hell.

II This is Chi-no-ike5 in the depths of Hell and along with other sinners Kandata is floating up to the surface and sinking back down over and over. No matter what direction one looks it is completely dark. And when one notices out there in that darkness the glow from the needles of the dreaded Hari-no-yama floating up vaguely into view, the feeling of helplessness is beyond description. Moreover, the surroundings are perfectly still, like the inside of a tomb. If a sound is to be heard, it is merely the faint sigh of some sinner. The sighs are faint because anyone who has fallen to this level of Hell is already so exhausted by the tortures of the other Hells that he or she no longer has even enough strength to cry out. Therefore, as one might expect, the master thief Kandata himself is unable to do anything but writhe, exactly like a frog caught in the throes of death, as he chokes on the blood of Chi-no-ike.
One day, however, something happens. Kandata happens to raise his head and spies in the sky above Chi-no-ike a silvery spider's thread, a thin line shimmering in the silent darkness, gently descending toward him from the distant, distant firmament as though it were afraid to be seen by the eyes of men. Upon seeing it Kandata involuntarily claps his hands for joy. If he were to cling to this thread and climb it to its end, he would surely be able to escape from Hell. No, if all went well, he would even be able to enter Paradise. And were this to come to pass, he would never ever be driven up Hari-no-yama again, nor would he ever have to sink again in Chi-no-ike.
Having thought thusly, Kandata quickly takes firm hold of that spider's thread with both hands and using all his might begins climbing up and up hand-over-hand. From long ago Kandata has been completely used to doing this sort of thing since he is a former master thief.
But because the distance between Hell and Paradise is some tens of thousands of ri,6 try though he might, he is not able to ascend to the top easily. After climbing for a while, even Kandata finally tires; he is unable to continue for even one more pull on the thread. Having no other choice, he intends first to take a short rest. While hanging onto the thread he looks down on the distance below.
He sees that thanks to the efforts he spent climbing, Chi-no-ike, where he had just recently been, is now already hidden at the bottom of the darkness. He also sees that the faint glow of the terrifying Hari-no-yama is below him. If he were to continue at this pace, the escape from Hell just might not be as difficult as he had expected. Wrapping his hand around the spider's thread, Kandata laughs in a voice unused during his years in Hell, "I'm saved! I'm saved at last!" Then he suddenly notices that below him on the spider's thread, just like a line of ants, a countless number of sinners are following him, climbing up and up for all they are worth. When Kandata sees this, he momentarily freezes from shock and fear, his mouth agape and his eyes rolling in his head like an idiot. How could it be that this slender spider's thread, seemingly strained even under the weight of just him alone, is able to support the weight of that many? By some chance were the thread to break, he, the egotistical Kandata who at great pains had climbed this far, and everyone else would plummet headlong back into Hell. For that to happen would be a disaster. But, even as he says this, sinners, not by the hundreds, nor even by the thousands, but in swarms, continue to crawl up from the bottom of the pitch dark Chi-no-ike and climb up the thin luminous spider's thread in single file. If he doesn't do something right away, the thread will break in two at the center and he will surely fall.
At this point, Kandata yells in a loud voice, "Hey you sinners. This spider's thread is mine. Who the hell asked you to climb it? Get down! Get off it!" Just as he screams at the other sinners the spider's thread, which till then had had nothing wrong with it, suddenly breaks with a snap right where Kandata is hanging. So, Kandata, too, is doomed. Without even time to cry out he goes flying through the air spinning like a top and in the wink of an eye plunges headfirst into the dark depths of Hell.
Afterwards, only the shortened spider's thread from Paradise dangles there, glittering dimly in a sky void of both moon and stars.

III The Lord Buddha stands on the shore of the lotus pond in Paradise having taken in everything from start to finish. When Kandata finally sinks like a rock to the bottom of Chi-no-ike he resumes strolling, his countenance seemingly creased with sadness. Seen through divine eyes, the Lord Buddha thought it wretched that Kandata's compassionless heart led him to attempt to escape by himself and for such a heart falling back into Hell was just punishment.
The lotus blossoms in the lotus pond of Paradise, however, are not concerned in the least about what has happened. Those blossoms of the whitest white wave their cups around the divine feet of the Lord Buddha and from the golden stamen in the center of each an indescribably pleasant fragrance issues forth abidingly over the adjacent area. Noon draws near in Paradise.
The End

If you can't even fool yourself, what makes you think you're fooling them?

I gots

No answers left, only knowledge.

And now you are strong. What did you think all that pain was for?

Not within the ideas, but rather in the space between them; find
intelligence here.

Ratio

Living by the ratio will put you always on the lesser side.

before heading to school

I like being myself.

I also like doings things myself likes to do.

Wild Health!

Aph

What is good in life?

Depends on the life.

Osaka

Robert Frost Quote

"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."

tooling around

Today I was able to take the 250cc Xelvis out in the surrounding country. This little machine really opens up the area for me. It is strange how venturing outside of my local home has really helped me appreciate it more, and even though I had ridden this route on the bus, riding it on the motorbike was so much different. I went to a little town where I had seen a golden statue towering over small houses. The statue faces away from the hwy., and I really wanted to check it out. I'm glad I did. There were so many cool things to see in this little piece of Makino. Yeah, even though this was about 10km from the middle school, it was still part of Makino. I even saw one of my former students who lives right next to this temple. Then on my way home I saw some current students riding their bikes in this pack, hoofing it up the hwy. This area is really spread out, and it is cool to realize where all my students live and how far they travel for school each day. Here are some pics:

I love this statue. Four arms for relaxing.

awesome

The giant statue I saw from the hwy

Overview of Makino

often-photographed road leading to the highlands

unity

The world can be difficult to deal with until you accept that it's just one world.

Aph

Many people in America want to see God. Begin next to "seeing" and
"America".

マキノ Lifestyle,
Ryan

Kanji of the Day : Apricot

this is the kanji for tree: 木

if you combine it with the kanji for mouth (口)

you can get this : 杏 . It's a mouth open, waiting under a tree. This kanji means apricot.

So I'll never forget the kanji for apricot because I just think of open mouths catching falling apricots. Yum.

Kanji Study

Living in Japan can be tough, can be alienating, because there is so much kanji all around that my foreigner-self cannot decode. I just started reading Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig, and this book has really made learning about kanji a lot of fun. His strategy is to assign meanings to elements, pieces, of kanji, and then build stories to remember the meanings of the increasingly complex figures. You don't learn the pronunciation of the kanji, but only the meaning of the kanji. Anyway, the same kanji can have different pronunciations depending on what it is combined with, and this is what makes memorizing them so frustrating. However, if you know the basic meaning of the kanji you can start to understand what all the signs around you are saying. Then life in Japan becomes a lot more fun and interesting. I've actually started really liking kanji because, with their little story, they kind of come to life. It's weird too because sometimes they almost start dancing around, like animated emoticons, and I understand why Japanese people love to use emoji in their emails. So as I study I will try to post some of my favorite kanji.

First few:

口 : this is the kanji for mouth. It looks like an open mouth.

日: this is the kanji for sun and for day, it's pretty basic so I just remember it, and it can also be associated with a tongue in a mouth.

now check this out

晶 : this is the kanji for sparkle. See how it is three suns, like all the little suns in a diamond.

唱 : this is the kanji for chant or chorus. See how it is one mouth leading and then the other mouths with their tongues moving and singing.

I like these because they are so simple to remember; most of the stories are a little more elaborate. But anyway, learning the meanings of kanji can be fun with this method. There are about 2000 basic daily use kanji that the book covers and I am through about 100, in about two weeks casual study. It's a great goal to have to learn all these meanings, and since I will be here for one more year, it's achievable. And the nice thing is that I live in a learning lab where I am seeing these little guys all over the place.

Never stops

Really a trip to the local Heiwado (like Walmart) is all one needs for
entertainment.

Friendly staff

Always on hard to assist you.