• Daily Life

    Enoura Observatory: Putting the WOW! Into OdaWOW!ra

    Enoura Observatory, a short trip from the center of Odawara and which I had never heard of before Mrs. Kangaeroo dragged me up to earlier today, is simply sublime and a breathtakingly beautiful gallery well work the trek to get there. The installation created by New York-based, Japanese-born architect Hiroshi Sugimoto is stunning from the point of entry through to departure and filled with stunning designs along the way. And the mountaintop location with spectacular vistas, which blend with some of the works on display, creates a complementary effect that truly makes this a must-see for those with the time…

  • Daily Life

    Castle In The Air

    From Atami, we backtracked only the old Tokaido route to the castle town of Odawara. We were delighted to be presented by a garden full of flowers again, this time the hydrangea and shobu, both plants that bloom around now when the rainy season hits. Mrs. Kanageroo had never climbed the keep of the castle, so we headed upstairs through the concrete recreation of the once crucial fortress in feudal times and enjoyed the glorious view it gave of the once strategic city. Greater things awaited, though, so we didn’t linger for long, but were there for just enough time…

  • Daily Life

    Go Fly a Kite!

    Our delightful time in the seaside city of Atami drew to a close as we overcome a huge buffet breakfast and watched a black kite circle the skies for prey in the early hours of the morning. The bird of prey was majestic and graceful as it glided through the air. I could have watched it for hours (and actually did just that, to the chagrin of Mrs. Kangaeroo as I was supposed to have been packing!) Related posts: Jacaranda Journey Provides Purple Haze Gay Time With a Geisha A Second Bite of Biwaichi A Pheasant Start to the Morning…

  • Daily Life

    Gay Time With a Geisha

    Gay, in this context, meaning enjoying ourselves, and it was for a fleeting instant that the joy came through a geisha, but the headline was hard to resist. Still in Atami, we moved on from the Jacaranda Festival to the very surprising Kiunkaku. Japan’s Meiji era is an amazing time in history as Japan moved from a feudal country to industrialized nation and world powerhouse in decades, becoming the only non-Western country to do so. It was an absolutely scintillating transformation and the Meiji-Taisho eras from which Kinukaku, a former ryokan inn, draws its influence. Many swoon at the influence…

  • やばいリンガル

    Jacaranda Journey Provides Purple Haze

    Mrs. Kangaeroo and I woke up early, let the dinosaur roam free for a while to stretch her wings, then headed off to Atami for one of Japan’s few jacaranda festivals. We’ve got a jacaranda in our garden and it has proven to be pretty fickle, so I was very interested to see how more experienced, more skillful gardeners such as those good enough to hold a festival centered on the trees would handle the South American natives. And it was interesting, indeed, because the 100-odd trees the city has grown in the 34 years since being presented with a…

  • Daily Life

    Doxing Paradoxes

    OK, the title is a bit of a lie, because I confused doxing with poxing, but the wordplay was better, so that’s what I went with. The paradoxes I’m dealing with are trying to make a living while blessed with innumerable talents that are all useless and a track record in life where the two most consistent results have been mediocrity and failure, yet still believing I am a highly competent member of the workforce. And, of course, the enormous self-hate. Anyway, it was a great start to the day, especially considering I had feared waking up feeling bleak because…

  • Daily Life

    Bloomin’ Bewdy!

    It was the D-Day anniversary today and it sure felt like I was storming enemy territory for most of the day, but the fantastic flowers blooming in the garden warmed my soul. And the magnificent Mrs. Kangaeroo took the ugliest flowers in the garden, the Australian native hops, chucked in a few snow in the summer blossoms and created a stunning bouquet! Words cannot describe her brilliance! I hope her terrible taste in men remains eternal. Related posts: Arrows of Outrageous Fortune Strine Dictionary Strine (オージー英語)Dictionary Where’s the Whist Amid the Wisteria? Savorin’ Straya Beating Jobsworths with Luck Barking Mad…

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    Kangaroo Pause

    So much is going on at the moment, it’s been hard to take the time to stop and smell the roses, or at least some kind of flower, but I’ve been able to take a bit of a pause this morning. It seems almost certain that my current career path is over, but where it leads to remains a mystery. Prospects are not exactly hot, but who knows what fate has in store? There’s plenty to love about life at the moment as the glorious weather continues in the ominous lead-up to the rainy season. This morning’s ride was clockwise…

  • Strine - Strine Sports

    Pushbike Paradise

    The few weeks leading up to the start of the rainy season in Tokyo are, for me, idyllic, and for the past few years I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to get an early morning bike ride in on most days, and today was a ripper. The sun rises at about 4 a.m. at this time of the year, and so do I! I get up, pour myself into cycling gear, have a quick brekkie and then get out on the treadly before I can convince myself there’s something better to do than ride a bike. And Mother Nature…

  • Daily Life - Strine - Strine Tucker - Strine Why Atorkin/Australian Methods of Speech/豪語の話し方

    Snot Block Odyssey

    Something was amiss with the start of the weekend when I was barely able to sleep, spending a restless night ahead of plans to head into central Tokyo to pick up some parts, but little did I know that a vanilla slice “snot block” was on the way to rescuing me. Using the restlessness to advantage, I got stuck into the garden, weeding and then being able to cut the lawn courtesy of a quiet push mower and getting down on my hands and knees to manually trim the edges. A quick clean of the Brommie, which has been squeaking…