Victoria: June 2007

My photographer finally got her act together and got up early to take some photos of me.

We were staying at the Empress Hotel in downtown Victoria. Nice place, lots of history. We decided to do most of our shoot in front of the British Columbia Legislative Building.

I got tossed back in the bag because she had to go to her great aunt's ninetieth birthday party and it takes her absolutely forever to get ready. If she has to put on makeup, forget it!

Sadly, that meant that we didn't have enough time for high tea at the Empress. Sad because I know she was looking forward to it. I was jealous later because it turned out that the people throwing the party have a connection with the chef at the Empress so even if we couldn't do high tea, she at least got some cake worthy of it! Jealous.

Sicamous, B.C., June 2007

I enjoyed my stint as an intrepid rock climber but the big photo ops were planned for a trip through the Rocky Mountains! Hello, road trip!

This time we were going to go in a car and I wouldn't have to walk like my photographer made me do on Tokaido. The bad news was that I was supposed to share the photos with a little gnome that my photographer's brother had. I wasn't really interested in sharing my time with a gnome, but eventually I agreed to do some collaboration. In fact, I became quite excited about it. Then the brother forgot the gnome in the rush to get out of Calgary and on to the road and the first part of the trip happened at night. Hmph!

The second day was MUCH better. We made it to Sicamous, B.C. the previous night and stayed at my photographer's aunt's place. I couldn't see much at night, but in the morning I discovered we were staying beside a lake! I spent the morning before our departure lounging by the pool and boating!

I wanted to go water skiing but my photographer refused to take her digital camera out on the water and her brother said that we had to leave in order to catch the 4 p.m. ferry in Tsawassen, B.C.

When we got to the coast, we stopped at my photographer's cousin's house in North Delta. I met some family, but no one wanted to take a picture with me. One of her cousins was quite shocked at my appearance. I was also a little piqued at my photographer because she got all obsessed with doing macro photography of a bee collecting pollen from a rose. I thought she was scared of bugs! The things that girl will do for a photo.

No photos of me on the ferry. I think it was because my photographer wasn't being creative enough in choosing locations to shoot from. She claims it's because she didn't want me to fall off the ferry and into the Georgia Straight. Looking back on it, I can think of lots of safe places she could have shot from.

Estello and Cows (June, 2007)

So the day my photographer and her brother took me to the Okotoks Erratic we also drove around the country side southwest of Calgary. Big Sky country. I hear they say that about Montana but it is true here, too.

One place I absolutely insisted we stop was along the road so I could look at some cows.

I ran over and climbed up a fence pole so that I could have my picture taken with the cows. At first the cows looked very interested in me and suddenly, they ran away. Was it me? Did I stink? Did my yellow brightness scare them away? I was really perplexed and quite honestly, a bit insulted. My photographer had no idea what happened. She was concerned that maybe the camera scared the cows away.

Her brother started laughing when we got back to the car and we confessed to somehow scaring the cows. He said, "couldn't you hear them?" My photographer and I looked at each other. Hear the cows? Seeing our confusion, Mike told us that the dogs were growling at the cows through the windows and that is what scared them.

Those cows must have good ears. We didn't hear a thing.

This Actually Happened in June, 2007

My first chance for a photo op were with my photographer's brother's dogs. I like dogs and was pretty excited at first. Then I saw them eat. They actually inhale their dog food without a single chew! And I noticed that they seemed to put everything in their mouths. A trip down a dog's long intestine is a bit more adventure than I wanted, so I went back to the bag. My photographer's brother drove her and the two dogs to our shoot.

When I came out of the bag I was in the countryside! Outside of a small town called Okotoks which is southish of Calgary are a couple of large rocks as large as a two-storey house. These rocks are leftovers from a glacier that crawled through the area during the ice age. They are called erratics. They are pretty cool. These huge rocks sit in the middle of flat fields and the Rocky Mountains can be seen off in the distance around 100 km away (maybe a bit less, but around that).

People often use these rocks to practice rock climbing. In fact, my photographer went on a school trip to do that when she was in junior highschool. She said that she really liked rappelling but that a free climb freaked her out enough that she decided never to do that sport again. I guess she got over it enough to do the shoot, but I notice she did avoid the same straight ascent from her youth.

One of the good things about climbing was that I was high enough to be safe from the dogs. I also enjoyed the view. It was quite interesting to see so much open space after the short part of my Tokaido walk. Another lucky thing was that two climbers were practicing rope ascents and they let me try climbing on the rope!

Here is a slide show of me at the Okotoks Erratic. The person with me is my photographer's brother Michael.

Summer Adventure: Intro

Well, it's already mid-October and my photographer is just starting to get back to updating my blog. I tell you, if I only had fingers instead of just being able to peck at the keys! She says she was busy moving to new house with all the packing and unpacking. Hmph! She even lost one of her compact flash cards with some of my photos! Fortunately, she found it eventually. I suppose that's enough complaining. I really want to tell you about my summer adventure.

I went to Canada and the U.S.!

I wasn't so keen on the first part of the trip. I wanted to sit on the Narita Express and look out the window and sit by the window on the airplane. My photographer wouldn't have it. She said that it was too much hassle to take care of a clay guy when she was carrying so many bags and that a clay guy wouldn't make it through security if a bottle of water wasn't allowed. I don't know. I guess she's right. But then she didn't unpack me for about a week!

Fom Hodogaya to Eternity!

This was another beautiful sunny day. Jamie joined my photographer and I for what turned out to be the final leg of our tour for a while. The road didn't run along the highway for a long while so it was quite pretty.


We found a small Inari shrine that looked quite mystical with all the flowers and wild grass growing. My photographer had an incident with a praying mantiss so she and Jamie were involved in that drama for a while. Here is a link to that event.


Eventually, the Tokaido did blend back with a highway but now we were moving on to a more rural area so there were more trees and it was more variety from the endless run of shops.

I have to say, my photographer didn't do as many photos of me as I would have liked. I suppose I understand. They had quite a distance to cover and it was quite hot. In fact, I melted everytime I had a photo done. Little bits of me are all over the old Tokaido. Jamie even mentioned that I was getting shorter!

We had some fun when we stopped for breaks. I really enjoyed the coffee shops.




The sento (Japanese bath house) was great after a long day walking in the hot sun. Jamie and my photographer decided to wait outside so I didn't get any photos in there. I found I wasn't able to get that ground in dirt out of myself.

Well, this was our last day on the old Tokaido before heading off to Canada to visit my photographer's family and a short trip to Dallas. We will be back on the road once the weather cools off a bit. I am still determined to walk the whole length of the road. My photographer insists that she is not walking thirteen kilometers uphill to get to Hakone until the temperature dips below twenty-eight degrees. I reminded her that we still have several stations to go before we get to Odawara and start climbing up to Hakone. She reminded me that I am quite a bit smaller than when I started due to melting. Her eyes also have a flinty glare that indicate the next time she perches me precariously a fall might not be quite so accidental. Yikes!

Well, see ya soon!

Kanagawa to Hodogaya: Back on Track

My big battle to get my stick back.



This time my photographer got it right and she had all her stuff packed up the night before. Still, her husband was laughing and teasing her about having all her stuff before she left in the morning. What that girl puts up with! Makes me glad I'm a single clay fella.

It turns out that the girls had found the right trail yesterday so spent some time walking over ground they'd covered the day before. Jamie was with us again and the three of us had some fun chatting and shooting.

Someone had the brilliant idea of shooting a picture with me in a tree. Nice idea, but what did I say about safety lines? Does anyone listen to me? Nooooo. Of course I ended up falling on my head and getting bent out of shape. Literally as well as figuratively. I also noticed that my hachimaki (that red and white headband I wear) got really warped. Grrr. And as for dirt! Let's just say that I will always carry a little bit of Kanagawa inside me. In this picture, I'm on a railing under the tree but STILL no safety lines!

Ha ha! I had fun trying to get my picture taken with this salary man.
There are several pics in this slide show.


This part of the walk was nice. And it was short! The afternoon ended up being cloudy so it wasn't blindingly hot. It was nice not to leave little bits of myself behind as I melted into my surroundings.

The parting shot for the day. The blurry sign in the background reads, "Hodogaya Station." It was too dark to use a smaller f-stop and get better depth of field.

The Day That Wasn't on Schedule

I'm pretty steamed at my photographer and I still can't really think about it without melting some of my clay off my head.

My photographer forgot the guidebook this day. She met Jamie and they went to a bookstore to try and find a replacement book or a map that had the old Tokaido route but no luck. They tried wandering around a bit but weren't sure of where they were going. Instead, they decided to hang around Yokohama and chill out and check out the amusement park at Minato Mirai.

Did they take pictures of me? No. Humph!

Anyway, you can check out my photographer's take on the day by reading her blog at this link:

Kawasaki to Kanagawa

Not many pictures here. No real stories to tell. Jamie joined us for another day's adventure. Here's a picture of me at Kawasaki Sation just before we set off.

The first part of the road was in a residential area and there were a few plaques here and there giving a nod to the historical nature of the area. One section was tree-lined and a beautiful little neighborhood.

This is the day we stopped by the river to eat some lunch. My onigiri was kind of tasteless, but it's the only kind good for my tummy.

We stopped at a shrine and watched so young boys exclaim over a huge spider that escaped into a crack in a wall. Overcome with curiosity we checked out this little hole in the wall but no spider.


This part of the guidebook map wasn't so clear so the girls had a bit of a wander before finding a nice couple who were curious about their photography. The couple gave them good directions to the station.

Later, when it got back to the Number Seven highway, it was almost only factories or car shops.

Jamie and my photographer ended up being really hungry. With the road being so unfriendly to wandering pedestrians and no parks in sight they decided to eat in a restaurant. Sadly, most of the places were closed so they walked for an hour longer than they wanted to before getting to a ramen shop. They spent quite a bit of time there because it was air conditioned and they could drink a lot of water. They appeased me by taking my picture.

I had my obligatory picture taken at the end of the day's journey. That's me in front of Kanagawa station. It is a small station on the Keihin line withing walking distance of Yokohama station. The poster I am sitting on describes the historical elements of the area and Old Tokaido

Shinagawa to Kawasaki: the Ota-Ku Section.

There was almost a distinct change once we crossed over into Ota-ku. This part of Tokaido ran along the Number Seven Highway (not to be confused with the highspeed expressway one has to pay a toll for). The shops tended to be more along the lines of bulk products or cheaper goods, with a large share of factories and warehouses. This was definitely much less picturesque.


Jamie had to leave early so got on a train and headed off to a dinner party and my intrepid photographer and I continued on our journey to Kawasaki. This leg was longer and I had to laugh when my photographer groaned at seeing a road sign indicating five more kilometers to Kawasaki.

It was getting dark so we hustled the last bit and didn't stop to take any pictures until we got to the bridge spanning the river that separates Tokyo-To from Kanagawa Prefecture. My photographer groused that she could cover a lot more ground if she didn't have to stop and take my picture all the time. I pretended not to hear her.

By the time we crossed the bridge it was full-on dark. We stopped for another picture and a foreigner on a bicycle stopped to talk to us. He mentioned that he hadn't seen many foreigners in this part of town.

We finally got to Kawasaki and we met up with my photographer's husband for dinner. Apparantly they had some plans to see a movie but he took one look at her and laughed at how tired she was. He fed her and we all went home.

Shinagawa to Kawasaki: the first part

This day my photographer and I had company. Jamie Green is a friend of my photographer and walked with us for three stations. It was fun to have company. Actually, I met her last night at Dean and Deluca in Shinagawa Station after my photographer and I finished shooting.

We started off being a bit disoriented as we left the station. Fortunately, my photographer was well fortified with iced latte from Dean and Deluca.

At the entrance to the Shinagawa section of the Tokaido we stopped and took a picture. The most interesting thing is that the residents of this area have done quite a bit to promote the historical aspect of Tokaido. This part of Tokaido has lots of historical buildings and most of the old architecture can be seen in the woodshops. There is even a neighborhood society that promotes the Tokaido and one of the members came over as we were taking a picture and gave us a paper with information and a list of the intersting points of this leg of the journey. Now this is what my photographer could have used the day before!

People were also very friendly and gave lots of suggestions of things to take pictures of. Hello! What am I? Chopped clay?

Anyhow, it was a very pleasant walk until we got to Ota-ku.

Finishing up to Shinagawa

After Tamakiya it was starting to get late in the afternoon. One area we passed through was a collection of small streets filled with izakaya (Japanese pubs).
I found a bike to rest on where I thought I'd be safe from getting stepped on. I'm telling ya, that pole and my bag were really starting to get heavy.

Not much to see, we took a photo in front of Daimon and my photographer got a silhouette shot of Tokyo Tower. Daimon has been a landmark since the days of the old Tokaido but Tokyo Tower, based on the Eiffel Tower, is a modern day landmark.

I had to sneak past a cat. This one didn't look too hungry, thank goodness!





My photographer stopped to ask two police officers how much further to Shinagawa and they told her to take a train as it was fifteen kilometers to Shinagawa. Since she had a map with the distance calculated out and it had 8 kilometers written on it she decided to just thank the police officers and just keep going. Eventually I found a sign indicating the distance to Nihonbashi was seven kilometers. That meant only one more kilometer to go!
I decided to stop off at a shrine and pay my respects. It was kind of nice but my photographer was getting worried about the time. This section of the journey wasn't too much fun. No cool shops to look at. This was mainly office buildings with some places to eat dotting the landscape. Pretty sterile.

I have to admit to getting nervous that people would step on me as it got darker and people were heading to the train station for the commute after a hard day's work. I got pretty lucky. No injuries.

Here I am at last at my destination for the day--Shinagawa Station.I do have to wonder what my photographer was thinking when she posed me for this picture. Granted, being able to read Shinagawa Station (that is what the glowing letters say) is kind of cool, but what if I fell over the railing? I would have been squashed! Not to mention that we were over top a busy road! Humph... their should be a union for this kind of thing. I should at least have had a safety line attached!

Nihon Bashi to Shinagawa: Tamakiya

One of the things my photographer really had her heart set on was to stop at the places the famous shops still around today and try some of the local specialties in each place and buy a souvenier special to each leg of the trip. She also wanted to document most of the main points of interest along the way.

Well, I say if she wanted to do that she should have paid more attention while she was walking along. She completely missed some dessert shop and some places famous for paper. She missed most of the nori (the seaweed used for sushi)shops as well. Suddenly she looked up and we were on the outskirts of Ginza shopping!

One place she did manage to hit was Tamakiya. That was more coincidence than anything else. She would have missed it if it weren't for the fact she had to stop for a light at the intersection. As it was, she turned around to take a look at her surroundings. She liked the sign and was curious about the date the shop was established.

A shop lady noticed her interest in the store and came out to say hello and give her a paper with the history of the shop written in English. Curious about the shop wares and to take a break in some air conditioning, she decided to go in. Tamakiya specializes in preserved foods called tsukemono. To simply say it's a pickle store would be to miss the essence of the shop and the variety of ways the foods are preserved. The shop keeper offered her a cup of cold tea, a tiny onigiri to eat along with some pickled fish and some shiitake preserved in a soy sauce. I declined because I have a delicate tummy but it certainly looked tasty.

The shop keeper was really friendly and asked my photographer if she was a tourist and the two got to talking about how long my photographer has been in Japan and about our Tokaido Project. The shopkeeper also demonstrated great taste because she said I was very cute! Hee hee.
The wonderful staff at Tamakiya!

Nihon Bashi to Shinagawa

When my photographer finally got to Otemachi station she spent a bit of time trying to figure out how, exactly, to get to Nihonbashi. After consulting a few maps she finally made it to our first location. It was really hot out but I was pretty comfortable in the bag.

Once we started shooting I was pretty excited. This is me at the starting point--Nihonbashi. There is a bronze plaque embedded into the bridge. It is a bit blurry to make out but it reads "Nihonbashi"!

A lot of people were pretty curious about what we were doing. Since I'm a star, I'm pretty sure they were looking at me. Then again, maybe they were looking at my photographer. She ended up lying down on the sidewalk in order to get some of those shots. Sometimes it's a bit hard being vertically challenged as I am. Still, she looked kind of silly, and lying down on your belly to take a picture in a chi chi part of Tokyo isn't something one usually sees. I have to admit I was pretty impressed that no one stepped on me. Now that's courtesy!


I got my pictures done in front of some pretty famous Tokyo landmarks in Ginza.
In front of Mikimoto Pearls
In front of the Wako Building, Ginza Yon Chome
Me and my good buddy the Mitsukoshi Lion in front of Mitsukoshi Department Store. You can't really see too much of my buddy, but when my photographer pulled out enough to see him, you couldn't see me!

Leaving the Apartment and Getting to Nihonbashi

Well, this is me standing in front of the apartment of my official photographer. It takes her forever to get ready.



Another picture of me just because I needed something to do while she had to go back upstairs about a gazillion times.

Once we
finally got underway things were okay. The ashphalt was pretty hot and as I looked behind me I could see I was leaving tracks behind me. I have a feeling this trip is going to be pretty hard on me. I bet I will lose a ton of weight.


I stopped for a bit beside my favorite hydrangea bush and watched a few trains go by. It's one of my favorite spots in Tokyo. My official photographer was a bit annoyed, but hey, who's the star here?



I finally made it to Senzoku Ike station. As you can see, buying a ticket provides a few challenges. First, I'm sure you are all asking, "Where does he keep his money?"

Well, since I'm made of clay, I tried stuffing the money inside me and pulling it out of my side when I need it, but people didn't seem to like getting money that was covered with yellow chunks of clay. Now I just make my official photographer carry my cash. See how useful she is? Now if she would just lift me up onto these things instead of making me climb up, we'd really be cooking with gas.

Okay, here's my official photographer.

She's not made of clay or anything interesting, but I guess that she is okay. She tried to get my picture with this really cool older Japanese gent but he said,"No, I'll take a picture of you!" So here she is.

Now the photos on the platform were pretty difficult and I must say, I completely blame the photographer. It was windy on the platform and I kept falling over. I ask you, so what if people are staring? Why didn't she just lie down her tummy on the platform the first time and get it over with? Sheesh! Hello! Made of clay here! Things stick to me.


Here is my last photo for this entry. It's me taking a well earned rest before I get on the train.