Time

Can you believe it's the last month of this year already?

Well, as usual, the first day of each month is CDP community's Theme Day. The theme for December is "Time."

I was at Koku Park again and I noticed a lot of runners on the track. The 21st Tokorozawa City Marathon is coming up in a few days and I guess everyone is in running mode. A lot of the runners had a fancy wrist watch, which I'm sure they use to time themselves, and kept on glancing at it while they ran.

The marathon starts from 6:45am on Sunday, December 5th. There is the 2km, 3km, 5km, and half marathon race. I will be on the sidelines (if I can get up that early) and rooting the runners on!

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Crossing the Rails

It's already November? Cannot for the life of me figure out how that happened so fast.

Well, it's theme day again at CDP. This month the theme is "Public Transportation." Here in Tokorozawa we don't really use anything unusual. Mostly trains, cars, and buses.

There are two train lines that go through Tokorozawa Station. As these train lines are on the ground, we have many railroad crossings like this one. During the rush hour we can be left standing there for almost 10 minutes.

But I don't really mind because I like watching the trains go by as all sorts of lights and sounds warn people of the passing train. It's quite a show.

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Bright Colors

The theme for this month is 'Bright Colors' so I got a photo of these colorful covers.

Every year, since 1976, Shincho Bunko, a Japanese publishing company, chooses 100 books at the start of summer as a special campaign. I guess it's one way to recommend books to the readers.

From the 100, 10 books were chosen for the Special Cover Edition. Apparently 'Special' means 'unbelievably colorful.'

Here is the list of books for this year:
'Kokoro' by Soseki Natsume (white)
'Natsu No Niwa' by Kazumi Yumoto (green)
'Kinkakuji' by Yukio Mishima (gold)
'Edogawa Rampo Kessaku Sen' by Ranpo Edogawa (black)
'Rashomon - Hana' by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (orange)
'Roujin To Umi (The Old Man and the Sea)' by Ernest Hemingway (yellow)
'Ningen Shikkaku' by Osamu Dazai (pink)
'Kitchen' by Banana Yoshimoto (red)
'Yukiguni' by Yasunari Kawabata (white)
'Hashi Monogatari' by Shuhei Fujisawa (blue)


I've actually only read the two books in the photo above, 'The Old Man and the Sea' and 'Ningen Shikkaku.' Of these two, I'd have to say I like Hemingway much better than Dazai, who I think is a 'triple D' writer...deep, dark, and depressing.

Have you read any of them?

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Reflections

This is the acquarium outside of the restaurant, Tora-fugu Tei, which specializes in Tiger Pufferfish dishes. You can see the buildings on the other side of the street reflecting off the glass!

Although the pufferfish is known to be poisonous, it can be edible when prepared properly, and is a very popular cuisine here in Japan. I don't eat fish so I just watch them swim around from the street.

Have you ever seen a pufferfish before? They actually have a very cute face!


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Look Above

Today is theme day and this month is 'Statues.'

There are quite a lot of statues at Koku Park. This one is of three young men holding a wing and looking up.


It was made by Kozo Naganuma in 1943. The statue was given to the Tokorozawa Army Aviation Maintenance School the following year, which was then located here. It represents the many young men soldiers who studied aviation and aircraft mechanics at the school.

This statue, which holds the dreams and hopes of the sky, is placed here for the citizens of Tokorozawa as a statue that prays for the comfort and peace of the city.

And if you're wondering what those three young men see when they look up. Here's the view!


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Red

My computer refused to upload photo's for a few days, but it was in a good mood today and I was able to post a photo for Theme Day. Today's theme is 'Red.'

I don't know if you can call this red, but there seemed to be a lot of red in the Katsuo-bushi corner at the Seiyu, the supermarket next to Tokorozawa Station. Katsuo-bushi is made from dried and shaved Bonito, a type of fish we call Katsuo. But I've heard some people just call it 'Fish Flakes.'

Katsuo-shi can be used in just about any Japanese dish. It can be used as a topping for dishes like tofu, a ingredient in making broth, or used as a filling for rice balls.



My grandmother used to buy a dried Bonito and shave it at home. But since I don't have a shaver, I just buy the already shaved packets at the supermarket. I think Seiyu has a pretty large selection.

My friend and I used Katsuo-bushi as a topping for Takoyaki. Have you ever tried it? It was really delicious. And my friend's Takoyaki maker is red, too!




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Passageway

This is the passageway that connects two buildings that belong to the Seibu Group. Many people walk under it to get to Tokorozawa Station.

It all depends on the weather, but in a few more weeks the cherry blossoms will start to bloom! One of the reasons I like this spot so much is because there are cherry trees all along this path, so when they start blooming it's a really pretty path. Can't wait!

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Theme Day: Wood

Today is theme day and this month the theme is 'wood.'

This is a photo of a house surrounded by this wooden fence. You can tell from the wood that it's been standing there for a long time.

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Waiting

Today is theme day! As the theme is 'Waiting' I think we were suppose to take photos of people...but I didn't get a chance to do that. So instead I've snapped a shot of a fruit waiting to be picked.

A lot of the houses here have citrus trees in their yard. I think this is a citrus called 'Buntan.' Must be great having fruits ripe for the picking right outside the house!

Be sure to check out all the other wonderful 'Waiting' photos!
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Contrast

It was one of those gloomy rainy mornings...but I found a small bush already starting to change color along the way to the station. The rosy color was a lovely contrast to the miserable weather.

This month's theme is 'Contrast.' I kept on forgetting about the theme days but finally remembered about this month's, thanks to Hilda from My Manila!
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Taxi Anyone???

Before you know it, it's Theme Day again! Where do the days go??? This month the theme is 'Night.'

This is the West Exit at night. The taxi's are waiting in line for customers because after the last train goes, everyone has to take a taxi. I think it's about 710yen for the first 2km, then 90yen every 300m after that.

Anyways, I just want to know if the taxi door's open and close automatically anywhere else in the world? Or is that just a Japanese thing?

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Hellooooo???

Another new month, another new theme. This month is 'Empty.'

I was actually going to try getting a photo of an empty parking lot. But then yesterday, I got back from work and suddenly realized that the station was empty. Well, at least where I was. It was actually a bit creepy because it wasn't as if it was really late at night. So where did everyone go?


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Where Is Our Blogger?

To be honest, I'm not very political.

But you can't help but have an opinion when you see so many people being hurt when they should be happy, or at the very least, safe. Everyone has been seeing bits and pieces of what's been happening in Iran, and one of our CDP bloggers, who is located there, seems to be missing. And so this post is dedicated to him and everyone else who is raising awareness of what is going on in Iran. They deserve freedom. The freedom of speech, the freedom of choice, the freedom to dream...freedom period.

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Walking Blur

I was looking through some pictures I took the other day and for some reason decided that this blurry unfocused picture was my favorite.

So I thought I'd use it today because it is Theme Day again! This time the theme is 'Feet' which is great because I love feet. I love taking pictures of feet. I may actually have a foot fetish.

But since I'm sure no one is interested in what my feet look like or that my pointy toe is longer than my big toe...I'm posting this instead. A half asleep half awake guy walking towards the station. It's monday today...I know how he feels.

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The Entrance

Going out. Coming back in.

Today is the first day of May. Also my first time participating in the Theme Day! The theme for today is 'Shadow.'
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