Of Momentary Interest

February 23, 2006

Shintaro Sato's "Twilight" Series

February 17, 2006

All you need to keep up with Japan's pro baseball leagues (a better designed website would be nice, tho)

January 30, 2006

Japan's heated toilet seats a Japan-only novelty no more

January 29, 2006

My del.icio.us links for Japanese artist Hasui Kawase

January 08, 2006

Broader take on the Geisha Memoirs fiasco

December 24, 2005

Blog about Japanese soccer (er, football), in English

December 13, 2005

Japanese typography on the web

December 12, 2005

Mozilla's kanji-reading extension for Firefox

November 25, 2005

A Hawaii(an)-food focused blog

November 22, 2005

Wonderful panorama from the air of San Francisco post 1906 earthquake

November 17, 2005

The beaches of Northern England, from 1973 - 1988
Some nice textured stuff here

November 13, 2005

Answers to all those questions Japanese respond "wakannai" to
Fair enough profile of controversial Tokyo governor Ishihara

November 12, 2005

The ins and outs of Matsui's contract with Yankees

November 11, 2005

Disturbing Fallujah photos via Italian Rai (NOT for the squeamish)

November 07, 2005

Travel photos from Myanmar (and elsewhere)

November 03, 2005

Subway maps for your PSP

October 13, 2005

Sumo in Vegas via the Times

September 06, 2005

360 degree panoramas of Katrina's wake

September 04, 2005

A nice surfing portfolio

August 16, 2005

Japan's troubled move back to the right

August 14, 2005

One of only two extant FLW works in Japan (other here)

August 09, 2005

Hirohito biographer Bix on parallels between the Emperor and Bush, among other things

August 07, 2005

The astonishingly impressive country that is my mother's homeland, Finland

August 05, 2005

What happens to high schools in Japan? complains Nicol

July 25, 2005

Washington Post profiles Shomei Tomatsu

July 16, 2005

Hawaii's froggy problems
Finland as a model of how to get Europe out of its malaise
Story of Vietnamese-American killed in London terror attack

July 15, 2005

A grim look back at lobotomies

July 04, 2005

Publisher bring contemporary Japanese fiction to English readers
Banana Yoshimoto's diary (in JP)

June 28, 2005

A good overview of Japan's population crisis

June 20, 2005

30 Great Hollywood Westerns
The Tate Modern, circa 2000
Ruin photos a bit tired, but these are quite nice
Photographs: Cities in China, coming down or going up

June 13, 2005

Disparity between Japanese and Latin baseball players, vis a vis interpreters

June 12, 2005

Miyasaki profile in NYT

June 09, 2005

This one from David Sedaris had me in stitches
Fascinating account by Bob Woodward on his relationship with 'Deep Throat'

May 15, 2005

A very comprehensive guide to cutting down comment spam

May 07, 2005

Spreading basketball to Turkey and the Middle East

April 24, 2005

Moriyama: Shinjuku Drifter

April 07, 2005

Deanne Fitzmaurice's Pulitzer-winning feature photography work
Yoshitomi Nara in Hawaii

January 25, 2005

Just one teacher's experience, but depressing nonetheless
Must-see short by Claude Lelouch (9 min .mov file)

January 12, 2005

A Tokyo version of Craigslist. Hallelujah!

January 09, 2005

Torrent site update list

January 08, 2005

This gesture deserves to be applauded

January 07, 2005

Sendai in the '50's from an Army brat's perspective
Links and info about shimenawas
Paean to Japanese black and white film
one woman's love of kudzu

January 06, 2005

All about Leica's Focomat line of englargers

January 05, 2005

Stinging op-ed on Gonzales and Guantanamo

January 04, 2005

Video torrents of Asian Tsunami disaster
Before and after of tsunami-damaged areas in Indonesia and Sri Lanka
Up-to-date photos of US Navy assisting in wake of Tsunami
Some nice sumo photography by Makoto Kubota
Interesting work this (see panoramics esp.)

January 03, 2005

Video highlights of 2004 Fukuoka basho

January 01, 2005

An anti anti-Ikea/Starbucks rant. Hear, hear!

December 30, 2004

Decent Sontag obit from Guardian

December 29, 2004

Lots of good (and sobering) information about Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami

December 22, 2004

Fascinating bio of recently deceased Chiang Fang Liang, with photos
Compelling overview of the Yakuza, Japan's organized crime group

December 18, 2004

Recent genealogy of Japan's Imperial Family
The Yokohama International Port Terminal by FOA

December 06, 2004

One resident's 20 things to love about Japan

November 30, 2004

7MP camera phones on the way

November 25, 2004

Surely the Karma Police will be taking note
Blaming the messenger and not the murderer

November 21, 2004

Japanese does his own Supersize Me experiment (JP)
There's always the chicken factory job (vid)

November 07, 2004

Images of US soldiers' funerals you'll never see on your nightly news

November 05, 2004

Eat a sour grape, and then get to work
Harper's' guide to expatriating from U.S.
Guardian profiles the "epic loneliness" of Robert Frank
6 folks talk about Robert Frank photographs

October 30, 2004

New study: Iraqi civilian deaths could top 100,000 (pdf)

October 28, 2004

How free is your country's press?

October 25, 2004

Works by my first photography teacher

October 16, 2004

The brief photographic flame of Tony Ray-Jones

October 13, 2004

This is worrying to say the least
Elliott Erwitt's Leica, cousin to Jim Marshall's no doubt

October 12, 2004

Soros: Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush

October 11, 2004

Photos of Saddam's capture, taken by soldier

October 10, 2004

How non-Japanese mapped Japan

October 09, 2004

How young is too young to send email?

October 08, 2004

The future of jazz imperiled by digital downloads?
My new desktop wallpaper

September 30, 2004

Ich bin ein Film Dinosaur
For older fans at least, Oh's achievement still greater

September 29, 2004

James Nachtwey covering Darfur
The falling man in all of us
Zeiss brings back the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder

September 28, 2004

America early 70's by Peter Turnley

September 20, 2004

Images from the most photographed war in history

September 17, 2004

Testimony of a Korean "comfort woman"
Jack Smith performance circa 1983

September 12, 2004

The land of the free, I suppose

September 10, 2004

25 Top censored stories of 2003-04

September 09, 2004

25 greatest Punk albums of all time

September 06, 2004

360 degree panoramas from Tokyo
The photojournalism of Yoshi Shimizu
Some mildly interesting stuff from Hidenori Kojima of Osaka

September 03, 2004

Decent profile of young Japanese photographer Jun Akiyama

August 31, 2004

For blacks, Japan and US suburbia not too dissimilar
ESPN's Athens' winners

August 27, 2004

Cameras from all participating countries :)

August 24, 2004

Illuminating the dispersion of haves and have-nots

August 21, 2004

An overview of Mydans' work, in images and words
War photographer Carl Mydans passes away

August 11, 2004

Interesting photograms from Yoichiro Nishimura

August 10, 2004

Baghdad's once thriving Al Juhmuriya Avenue, before and after
"Japon" from 1992 - 95 from Bernard Descamps
Road accidents in Bangkok
Catalan gypsies in Perpignan
Just makes one want to say "f*ck you too"

August 09, 2004

New Orleans via Holga from Jennifer Shaw
Some theoretical musings re: Japan in English

August 06, 2004

Naomi Harris' series from last Miami Beach residence hotel for seniors

August 05, 2004

HCB passes away

August 04, 2004

Enoshima by Erika Yoshino
When will this kind of hysteria stop?
The southern dandy William Eggleston

August 03, 2004

Magnum photographers in Greece

July 30, 2004

Some of Bruce Davidson's Subway series

July 26, 2004

The housing landscapes of the Bay Area

July 22, 2004

An evening out on Alcatraz

July 21, 2004

Yomiuri's Edo Now and Then series
Wim Wenders' photography

July 15, 2004

Dog Days of Bogota by Alec Soth
Is Japan ignoring a growing AIDS problem?
A stranger a day, with 8 x 10 Deardorff

July 01, 2004

A sampling of Canadian Ian MacEachern's outstanding work

June 29, 2004

B/W pinhole photos of Japan and beyond

June 28, 2004

It's all relative -- comparing Tokyo and Dakar newspapers
Some 1998 street work from Bill Mattick
Trying to revive sport in Iraq
Iraq before the invasion from Lahcene Abib
More photos from an imagined Tokyo
Cape Verde photo series by Italian Filippo Romano

June 27, 2004

The exquisite studio work of Seydou Keita
Color photos of Auschwitz-Birkenau
Michael Kenna's recent Hokkaido work

June 24, 2004

50 Reasons to say no to flouride, via Naoko

June 16, 2004

Post-war Iraq by Spanish photog Sergi Reboredo

June 15, 2004

The 1984 UK niners strike, from 20 years on

June 10, 2004

Wonderful b/w photography by Tokyo-based tv journalist

June 07, 2004

A short photo series of Afghanistan by Japanese photog

June 01, 2004

A wonderful raft of photography from Iranians

May 18, 2004

Over 160,000 photos of US from 1935-45

May 16, 2004

The various mutations of Churchill's prepositional statement

May 14, 2004

Fascniating story of the Rainbow wig John 3:16 superfan

May 06, 2004

The secret art and writings of Henry Darger, and the psychoanalyst who studied his career

April 27, 2004

Pocketable medium format cameras

April 25, 2004

Rephotographing Atget's Paris

April 19, 2004

Photos of women's literary salons circa '75 to '85

April 18, 2004

Children's songs and rhymes from all over the world

April 15, 2004

Street photos from Atlanta and about

April 11, 2004

Boy how I'd love to jettison Yahoo Mail for this
The Memespread Project (ps. I hate the word 'meme')

April 10, 2004

Interviews with 9 street photographers
Photos of children in the Waifs and Strays' Society of late Victorian Britain
Interview with a taciturn Helen Levitt

April 05, 2004

A journey to the dead zone of Chernobyl

April 04, 2004

The gradual effects of LSD on one artist

March 31, 2004

Various Sumo sketches by Japanese artist

March 30, 2004

One professor's list of read books with short summaries
All the UNESCO World Heritage Sites

March 23, 2004

The spacial color work of Christian Patterson

March 22, 2004

Great read of an interview with truculent photographer Garry Winogrand (albeit by daft interviewer)
A good breakdown of Japan's National Holidays

March 15, 2004

B/W photography from Japanese photog K-Funk
The exquisite landscape work of Ichiro Koide
One soldier's b/w negs from Viet Nam in 1968
The B/W photography of French photog Dominique Lebreton
B/W pinhole landscapes of Japan and elsewhere
One photographer's contact sheets
The ethereal photography of Masato Okazaki

March 08, 2004

What to do with a decaying Japanese-American internment camp

March 03, 2004

Ansel Adams and the chord he struck with Gerald Ford

February 27, 2004

Getting to the bottom of how digital cameras work

February 20, 2004

How to make a panorama bracket for your digital camera
All you wanted to know about potatoes, if you can read Japanese

February 16, 2004

The fetishisation of Japanese women in Western fiction
The text accompanying a Japanese Cultural History course at Penn State

February 15, 2004

A massive Hiroshige print site to keep one clicking for days
This photo really knocks my socks off
The oft-viewed but never tiring 53 Stations of the Tokaido by Hiroshige
A quilt of photography from Fernand Domange
Photos inspired by the movie star mags of old
The photography of Yoko Yamamoto
Longish academic paper on Japanese manga (comics) for women
Old postcards from Japan (page two here)

February 14, 2004

If you happen to have a layover at Narita
In case you had a yen for Japanese jigsaw puzzles
French director Rohmer in frail health
A digital version of my Bessa rangefinder, perhaps?

February 11, 2004

8 films distilled into one image

February 09, 2004

Some press photogs using analog on the campaign trail
Large format landscapes from Ontario

January 24, 2004

Do you this object pictured is a UFO?

January 23, 2004

The in-your-face street photography of Noll Luma

January 17, 2004

10 most dangerous intersections in the U.S., circa 2001
Who thought pigs could look so adorable?
Over a 1000 images from the Mars Exploration Rover Mission
The echoes of the Soviet state in modern Russian
The confusing conundrum that is romanized Japanese

January 15, 2004

The growing suicide problem among U.S. soldiers in Iraq
One person's love of Sumo, and yet another encounter with Chiyonofuji
Consumptive's delectable photos of his trad. Japanese New Years cooking
2003's 20 best photo books, according to the Village Voice

January 14, 2004

The winning anti-Bush TV spots

January 13, 2004

A raft of nice surfing photos

January 11, 2004

A bunch of translated Japanese proverbs involving women

January 08, 2004

Operational review of Nikon's D2H digital SLR

January 07, 2004

Great new sumo magazine (.pdf's) in French
A few photos of Japan in '53-'55 from U.S. naval officer
Australian travel posters from the 30's to the 50's
One U.S. soldier's photos from Iraq

January 06, 2004

First images from Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
Photos of the world in 1934-5 by Chairman of Japanese department store chain

January 05, 2004

Royalty-free Ansel Adams' photos for US Dept. of Interior
Photographing the AD's of record labels

January 04, 2004

Old photos of Dr. J and other ABA/NBA stars of the 70's

January 03, 2004

Photographing the demimonde denizens of Mexico City at night

January 02, 2004

Pre-cameraphone technology -- photos with Handspring Visor
Childrens books of the early Soviet Union
A blog about Sophia Loren's supposed illegitimate daughter, penned by her boyfriend

January 01, 2004

Pictures of some really old cameras
One person's photo recap of 2003

December 22, 2003

Photos of Mexico, from Japanese photographer
Portraits of Cubans from Japanese photographer Uga

December 21, 2003

234 stereocards from turn of 20th century
A long list of artists -- contemporary and historical -- who have created photograms
The haunting pictorialism of Russian great N.P. Andreev
Jazz and Blues greats rendered in clay and b/w film
A stark but amazing collection of flower photographs

December 19, 2003

Ripping rant against eBay bidders, in the form of an ad! Classic.

December 18, 2003

Digital a boon to traditional high-street photo finishers?

December 17, 2003

The female porters of Lomé (Togo)
Photos from Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon (text in French)
Sumo portrait photographer tries to keep studio going
A bunch of twins-lens reflex cameras, many obscure

December 16, 2003

Nice Philippines-based B/W photography-related blog/resource

December 15, 2003

Anti Soka Gakkai site

December 13, 2003

Sorry, but no store is worth this kind of line
Contemporary ukiyo-e prints made via computer
Now camera phones, but where will it end?
Another set of photos of Aung San Suu Kyi from before May detainment
Video captures of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi before May 2003 junta arrest

December 12, 2003

Rare but unsatisfying interview with my favorite filmmaker
Some folks in Italy are turning off and tuning out this weekend
Selections from Glen E. Friedman's Fuck You All exhibit
Nice ongoing travel(b)logue of New Zealand (cont. in archives)
Photographer James Natchwey wounded in Iraq
Something to chear about in the battle against spam
Lee Underwood on Tim Buckley

December 11, 2003

Donald Richie on Yasujiro Ozu

December 08, 2003

Cuban captured in b/w photos from Pablo Cabado
B/W photos from picturesque Greek islands
Chicago's Maxwell Street, circa 1975 - 1984

December 07, 2003

(Donning naive hat) Why has no major US media outlet reported on this?

December 06, 2003

'Dances With Wolves...in Kimono' -- scathing review of The Last Samurai
34 photos w/commentary from the squatters nation-state Frestonia
Meeting Chiyonofuji face to face, but no autograph
14 to 42: New York City Signs
Was Bushido an invention of late-19th century bureaucrats?
One person's predictions for 2004, photo wise

December 05, 2003

Noh masks
Not ordinary photos of ordinary days

December 04, 2003

The last American of Sumo retires
A 1 Gigapixel image of Bryce Canyon
A bunch of pictures of water tanks in Tokyo and elsewhere

December 03, 2003

Now this makes me jealous of Mac users
A false history of the Iraq war, using real words
Photos from the Holy City

December 02, 2003

The further Disneyfication of Burma's Bagan
One man's incredible Leica collection

November 30, 2003

Attack of the near-killer DVD shoppers

November 29, 2003

Music from Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter
Opus composed of field recordings by a Quiet American
Real Audio and MP3's of Iranian protest singer Fereydoun Foroughi
Golf ranges from Japan's Kansai region (via gmtPlus9)
For some reason a disturbing photo blog (from Russia)

November 28, 2003

Extensive photo-related bookmarks
The changing face of Germany's Ruhr region, in b/w

November 27, 2003

A baby as chick magnet -- this could have been my story
I want to hate these, but they fascinate me instead
Compelling diptyches and triptyches of "people in general" (see 'past essays' for more!)
The intriguing "photo-respirations" of Tokihiro Sato
Lush Kenna-esque landscapes of Japan by Rolfe Horn
Moody landscapes from San Francisco and beyond (see rest of site too)
Powerful documentary photography from Bangladeshi G.M.B. Akash
Two photo essays from the Indian subcontinent
A few nice b/w images from Hong Kong Race Course

November 26, 2003

Women in Japan, and the men who just don't get it
Nice b/w photography from Houston, St. Paul, and elsewhere

November 24, 2003

Projections of fascism in 1920's Japan

November 23, 2003

9 compelling stories told with converging media

November 09, 2003

Classic photographers with examples of work
A history of photography until 1920
A German guy who's been riding horseback from Patagonia to Alaska since 1994

November 01, 2003

Some nice street photo stuff from Boston + environs

October 29, 2003

Recent B/W photos of Madagascar

October 27, 2003

...and if the previous link wasn't enough, here's ASCII Art Salon from 2ch BBS
Japanese ASCII art

October 25, 2003

The digital predilection for photographing things, not people

October 20, 2003

Small gallery of b/w historical photos from Oosawa Camera (Tokyo)
A nice series of b/w images of Japan

October 08, 2003

Fascinating look at John Holmes

October 05, 2003

A whole lotta photos of (and from) Mt. Fuji

October 01, 2003

A lot of nice images of Japan here

September 18, 2003

Beautiful old French movie posters (and here)

September 16, 2003

Nice overview of Arbus' career, w/ previously unpublished photos

September 15, 2003

A nice portfolio of b/w images of Cabo Verde
Yet another nail in that "I don't want to go back to the US" coffin

September 14, 2003

Nice tribute to the original punk rocker Cash

September 12, 2003

A good how-to on street shooting

August 28, 2003

Nice b/w work, from "sometime in the 60's"

August 23, 2003

Classic film program covers from Denmark

August 21, 2003

150 images of Japanese food packaging
60 b/w photos of Tokyo from 1966

August 19, 2003

An "accounting" of a landscape photo trip
Brooding hi-con b/w images from Japan photog
Nice moody shots of a bar

August 18, 2003

Street photography in style of Bresson or Doisneau
Restored cameras with sample pics

August 16, 2003

QTVR panoramic photos from Denmark
A first look at Sony's new 8 megapixel digital cam

August 13, 2003

How to photograph on the subway (NY)

August 12, 2003

Some wonderful 360 degree images

August 09, 2003

Jonathon Delacour is back writing again

August 06, 2003

2-megapixel camera cellphones by end of year in Japan

August 03, 2003

Burmese restaurants in the Kanto area

August 01, 2003

Why no B/W digital cameras?

July 31, 2003

An overview of renown Japanese novelists and some of their works

July 30, 2003

A vocabulary builder for myself
A list of sacred sites in Japan
150 iPIX 360° views of China
Beautiful color phots from freelancer based in China
What I sleep on, and love
A Japanese photographer's love of American trains
This item certainly won't make Japanese predisposed to sending the SDF to Iraq

July 29, 2003

Nike missile sites in the SF Bay Area
Beautiful "tourist Japan" photos from the 70's
Abandoned Third Reich autobahns in Poland
Where famous folks in Japan are buried

July 28, 2003

Konishiki's massive new house in Hawaii
Junk store cameras

July 27, 2003

A new English blog by Japanese woman to watch

July 26, 2003

Someone's developing a "keitai paper" and collecting notes
How to use Times New Roman and not have it look so 1994

July 23, 2003

Butuki remembers the lost Tokyo of his youth

July 22, 2003

Nice read tracing history of Hawaiian music
Engaging overview of dying Idi Amin's reign of terror
Dean's 16 questions for Prez Bush

July 21, 2003

A 30-mile continuous photograph of San Francisco, in the works
Lovely b/w panoramics of UK landscapes
Will we open the browser door IE has opened?

July 20, 2003

Reporter seeks reality of Burmese life through ruse of postcards and golf
Interesting but disturbing photo of 3 children and dead dog
Panoramic daguerreotype of San Francisco, circa 1853
Photo album documenting start of an Israeli kibbutz
"I wanna be anarchy" in Baghdad
6 degrees of Jack Nicholson

July 18, 2003

What my apartment might have looked like had I not met Naoko

July 17, 2003

US 'meddling' I can get behind
Hanshin Tigers "support" going to far?

July 15, 2003

90 photos of a pet hamster
An inspiring solo film project
"And then, four hours ago, my mother died...."

July 14, 2003

Yoko Ono's defining moment
Recent child killing turning Japan medieval?
Can Hanshin shake the curse of Colonel Sanders?
100 Japanese laws translated into English

July 12, 2003

Bizarre Tokyo neighborhood guides (bonus machine-translated English)
Inline skating routes in Tokyo
Nice watercolors of Tokyo and elsewhere
The audio verite of mic in tracks
A list of walks in Tokyo

July 04, 2003

The blogosphere just got a whole lot bigger
26 things to collect for July
Panaromic view of telescops atop Mauna Kea (Hawaii)

July 02, 2003

R.E.M. has no problems giving it away, within reason
CNET Asia's ideas for cameraphone etiquette

June 30, 2003

Finding moments of reprieve among the hordes at Oze

June 18, 2003

Personal look into Japan's bewildering university admission process

June 17, 2003

I hope Naoko doesn't get any ideas from this

June 16, 2003

Trends of women and higher education in Japan

June 13, 2003

Be careful where you park your car in Japan, if you're a foreigner

June 12, 2003

Another good RSS tutorial

June 11, 2003

Sad and poignant story of the Japanese woman who went to North Dakota and committed suicide

June 08, 2003

Yet another toy, er I mean camera to salivate over
The Bonds' ball squabble finally nears the end

June 07, 2003

So-so piece about acceptance of foreigners in Sumo
Dachshunds outnumber Chihuahuas 3:1 among new Japan pet registrations
What really happened in Burma, according to eyewitness

June 06, 2003

Will cell-phone photos replace 'purikura'?

June 03, 2003

A listing of specialists willing to talk to the media about Japan

June 02, 2003

Honey, scratch Amsterdam off the itinerary
Recent Iraq "travelogue," with lots of pictures