I am in the final week of my 3 1/2 week Niigata trip and although I still have some pretty important and interesting things lined up this week to photograph, I can’t say that I don’t feel like I am sliding down the backside of this trip, looking forward to returning home, seeing my family and friends and finally seeing some photographs. 3 weeks seems to be about the longest I can go on working non-stop without finally seeing some images. I feel like I am loosing track of what I have done and not done and so many of the places, people and ideas are all melting together. 

When I flew over, I ended up having to leave a bunch of gear with my buddy Ben at the airport as I was surprized to hear I could only take 20 kilos with me, so I havn’t been buying books which means I haven’t the interesting discoveries to bring to the BUFFET. I am planning on one more sweep through a few corners of Tokyo on my last day, so maybe I will find some things. I suppose I could put on ALL of my clothes for the flight to lighten my suitcase.

Speaking of clothes, I don’t get it, but today 9 people pegged me as a photographer.

Now I’m not usually one to stand out in a crowd when working, so I was then shocked that 8 of those 9 new I wasn’t from “around here” and even 7 of those guessed I was American. How did they know? Are the Japanese so sensitive at reading people or did something about my looks give me away?

I am guessing it is my size 11 feet. As much as I love the custom of taking shoes off indoors (even practice it in Austria) I just havn’t been able to find a pair of slippers which fit.

Here a few more random bits of randomness, thanks for putting up with the “late night, feel like I should do something on the blog while I have internet” phase.

I promise more substance again someday.