June 13th, 2007 ideru
Last sunday the Osaka sister city network hosted a calligraphy class in Osaka International House.
It costs me 1000 en for a 2.5 hours lesson. It also included some calligraphy papers, and a basic calligraphy book written by the same teacher who taught us that day, Keisho Fukumitsu.
Below is the list materials used during the class.
a. brush - fude 筆
b. ink stone - suzuri 硯
c. mat - shitajiki 下敷き
d. practice model - tehon 手本
e. brush rest - fudeoki 筆置き
f. ink stick - sumi 墨
g. hanshi paper - hanshi 半紙
h. paperweight - bunchin 文鎮
i. water jug - water jug 水滴
the ink and brushes. We have to mix are own ink.
for about 2 hours, we practiced with different types of strokes. This are my practice sheet for horizontal strokes.
this is my table, where everybody is seriously practicing and having lots of fun.
at about 3:30 pm we have to write our own masterpiece on 2 boards that were provided. We have to select a single character and practice for it about 2o-30minutes then wrote it on the board. The sensei and the artist ( me ) have to decide which was done best and have it stamp with different saying, i choose “follow your destiny” or Rakuten Chiemi( I think ).
here we are with our masterpieces.
The sensei is teaching at Nara University and she brought with her some of her student to assist the participants. This is one of the student-assistant and she is from Russia.
It was really a whole new experience. Writing kanji with a pen or pencil is really different with using a real brush.
Notes:
1. Brushes are usually made from sheep or horse hair ( big ones ), and the weasel for smaller ones.
2. The ink stick is made from soot mix with jello for it to harden.
Posted in Fun Stuff, Hobbies, Life In Japan | 2 Comments »
June 5th, 2007 ideru
I’ve always been interested in photography, specially macro photography but in order to do that I have to have a powerful camera. Unfortunately, my resources is limited as of the moment. 
My very first digital camera was the Sony DSC-P2 which I got around 2002. I had fun using that camera, trying anything from landscape to macro photography. Unfortunately, my beloved sister broke it, but was able to have it fixed. She is the one using it till a couple of months back, when it finally rest in peace.
I have been aiming at Nikon or Cannon SLR or any Professional Digital camera but for the meantime, I settled with FujiFilm A800 since it was the only camera that could fit my budget and have most of the functionality that I needed. Now Ive been taking pictures of things that I could come across with. My photo collection can be found in my sidebar and were all taken by my A800.
Expect more pictures to come
Posted in Hobbies | 3 Comments »
February 5th, 2007 ideru
today was one of those days when you just feel like staying at home at do things without necessarily thinking your doing it.. yeah i feel so lazy going out today, except to buy my grocery for a week, I stayed coped up in my room watching wentworth miller and making paper boxes :D, yes paper boxes.. just making a small contribution to the enivronemt. how? well i recycled all the magazine accumulated here and turn them into paper boxes. this paper boxes are going to be my garbage cans, instead of using plastics bags.. so right now i have a whole paper bag full of paper boxes ..
Posted in Hobbies | 2 Comments »
November 9th, 2006 ideru
In Japan, badminton is not that popular so its hard to look for a facility that cater to this sport. Fortunately we have a very good Japanese friend who helped us search for a place to play. Thank you to Kakuta-san and Ono-san for showing the place to us.
For badminton enthusiast, the yodogawa sport center offers badminton every saturday, and its only for 200yen(adult), 100yen(children). Rackets and shuttle cock is also available for free. Just bring your own
inside shoes. For 200yen you can play for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Also every first and second saturday of the month, there are 3 sked available, 10:00 - 11:45, 12:00-1:45, 2:00-3:45.
For the other saturday there is only one schedule in the morning. Table Tennis is also available every first and second saturday of the month, same charge.
my friends and I are planning another badminton event this 11/18.. care to join?
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October 14th, 2006 ideru
Biking at on the streets at home was dangerous, so i only use our famous public transportation which is the jeepney..but in Japan, everybody is doing it. The first time i came here last 2000 i wanted to ride on it, but since it was against company policy, well i did not do it and the office was just 5 minutes away from the dorm, so there really was no need.
Now that i am working here full time , I have own 3 bikes and lost them all. I bought my first bike a month after i arrived and lost it 4 months later. The second one came from a friend, when he moved out to Tokyo, and kind as he is, he gave me his bike , I lost it after a year. The third one was an old one given by a friend since his friend who went home already gave him another cool bike, so he gave his old one to me. It was really an old bike , lots of rust actually but I oiled it so it really was very functional. It lasted for bout 4 or 5 months.
Now i don’t have any bike :(, I could no longer do my weekly biking spree. I don’t know if i’ll buy a new one, i’m still mourning for the last one …
how many bike have you lost?
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October 13th, 2006 ideru
have you ever tried riding a train without knowing where you are headed? i have a couple of times, one time i ended up in takarazuka and was able to see the takarazuka revue artist as they come out from the theater. it was really both fun and interesting watching the fans line out at the gate waiting for their fave artist to come out and yeah i get also to see the artist though at i don’t know any of them as I have not watched any takarazuka show yet.. soon very soon
another time was i ended up in minoo, i walked all the way to falls. it was summer at that time, so the refreshing coolness of the mountain was a delight..
i also ended up in arashiyama and fell in love with the place, ive been there a couple of times, summer , spring and autumn.. so im looking forward to winter
as you might have noticed, this are mostly hankyu line destinations.. but ive also use jr a couple of times actually..
my friend and I reached himeji , but did not get out of the train we just saw the castle from the station. though i went back there, twice already, summer and autumn so i am looking forward to spring and winter
most of the time i don’t get out of the train station, i just transfer to another destination and then get back to osaka. i have not ventured out of kansai area, well not outside kobe, kyoto, takarazuka areas anyways.. but who knows i might reach kyushuu one of this days…
where have been out to?
Posted in Hobbies | No Comments »
the ink and brushes. We have to mix are own ink.
for about 2 hours, we practiced with different types of strokes. This are my practice sheet for horizontal strokes.
this is my table, where everybody is seriously practicing and having lots of fun.
at about 3:30 pm we have to write our own masterpiece on 2 boards that were provided. We have to select a single character and practice for it about 2o-30minutes then wrote it on the board. The sensei and the artist ( me ) have to decide which was done best and have it stamp with different saying, i choose “follow your destiny” or Rakuten Chiemi( I think ).
here we are with our masterpieces.
The sensei is teaching at Nara University and she brought with her some of her student to assist the participants. This is one of the student-assistant and she is from Russia.
