jules' pics

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Oginohama

Oginohama, originally uploaded by julesberry2001.

A couple of volunteers wandering in Oginohama

Hase Dera

Hase Dera, originally uploaded by julesberry2001.

Couples wandering in Hase Dera, Kamakura

Sunday, September 11, 2011

As well as being a decade since "911", today is also the half-year anniversary of the Great Tohoku Earthquake. They even call it "311"! We got back from Ishinomaki yesterday. While there, and before my iPod broke, I read this blog post by Steve McCurry and, apart from the 311-911 thing, I was struck by a few other similarities and differences between the Al Quaeda attack on the USA and the tsunami attack on Ishinomaki.

Some similarities:
About 3000 people were killed in the attacks on the US, and about the same number in Ishinomaki.
Both events produced a huge amount of wreckage.
In terms of rebuilding, both events produce dithering among bureaucrats, and take many years to recover from.

Some differences:
According to the Japan Times, Ishinomaki lost 44,000 houses with another 34,000 damaged beyond repair, which is obviously far more than the USA.
The total number of casualties of the tsunami (~20,000) is possibly about 5 times less than those from the war on terror. Hopefully there won't be a war on tsunamis.
Steve McCurry's photos are infinitely better than mine.

Anyway, here are some 6 months later photos from Ishinomaki and nearby villages:

Ishinomaki

Nagatsura used to be some way from the coast but is now dramatically under water. It is going back to nature - there were a lot of egrets and herons around. It would have made for great photography but we only drove through.

Onosaki - near Nagatsura

Oginohama - where the shrine we deep cleaned is located.

House boat in Oginohama

Ishinomaki Warhol art? Is that whale or tuna on the tin?

The rise of the machines

Sunset over Ishinomaki

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Tea break

Tea break, originally uploaded by julesberry2001.

James taking a short break from digging.

The tsunami turned many people's lives upside down. That must be why, no matter which way I turn my iPod, this photo stays this way up.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Personal Width

Actually I think this is wrong. Your seat should be = max(width of bottom, width of shoulders). A related issue is that, in trains people often fall asleep on the shoulder of their neighbour. In a way this is cute as it seems so trusting, but after a while it gets annoying. If the sleeper is elbowed hard enough they will sometimes start leaning the other way, and then it become a competition between the people on either side as to who is prepared to be the most violent. Only rarely does this cause the sleeper to actually wake up.

Big business

Big business, originally uploaded by julesberry2001.

The digger companies must be doing very well. It feels a bit like some post apocalyptic movie in which the machines have taken over the ghost towns...

Monday, September 5, 2011

Shrine polishers

Shrine polishers, originally uploaded by julesberry2001.

The two at the front are quite cute, although they have fewer teeth than one might hope for.

Deep Cleaning

Deep Cleaning, originally uploaded by julesberry2001.

By the end of the day it looked very clean to my coarse foreign eyes, but apparently there are several more days of deep cleaning required before it is fit for the annual festival on Friday. Being up a huge flight of stairs the damage here is a bit of earthquake plus six months of vegetative neglect, rather than tsunami. The village below is obliterated, of course.