I'm ringing in 2011 in Niseko, a ski resort town in Hokkaido, Japan. The "Aspen of the East". Definitely not as awesome as my sister's 3-week trip to India and the Maldives, but way, way better than last year, when Tokyo became a ghost town for 5 days, and I hung around working on my thesis. I'm staying at a nice little "pension", with a tiny onsen in the basement. The owners are going out of their way to make me veggie-friendly breakfasts.
I don't have any deep thoughts for the new year. I'm thankful for all the good things that have happened this past year. Took a few good trips. The new year is looking promising, too.
I've knocked a couple of things off my list, since my last post. I moved into a new apartment a few days ago, just before leaving for Hokkaido (more on this later, when I think of something to say).
I also got a new iPhone, which makes me hate myself a little. But it really is a better device than anything of the alternatives (my carrier, SoftBank, has no Android phones). What put me over the top was the no-longer-unusable camera on the new iPhone 4. It really is possible now to take decent quality pictures even though I've left my camera at home. In other news, I also just got a MacBook Air, and I'm loving it. Which, I guess, means I've suddenly gone from PC guy to Apple fanboy in just over a month. Sigh.
Here is a selection of pictures I've taken on my iPhone over the last couple of months.
(wrote this post in Hokkaido, uploading it from Tokyo)
I pass through this garden every day on my walk to work.
The nighttime view from Mori tower, with reflections of somebody's flash and the Christmas tree behind me.
Ronen wants a piece of my hair.
We have the exact same hairstyle, which is to say, none at all.
Chilling out poolside during the Christmas party at the Swedish embassy.
Aco at WWW in Shibuya.
Dakai and Yuko.
The bartender at Onpoo, in Azabu Juban.
Winter wonderland, Hokkaido.
The nighttime view from Mori tower, with reflections of somebody's flash and the Christmas tree behind me.
Ronen wants a piece of my hair.
We have the exact same hairstyle, which is to say, none at all.
Daytime view of Tokyo, with Mount Fuji in the distance. If only the iPhone camera had an optical zoom.
Chilling out poolside during the Christmas party at the Swedish embassy.
Aco at WWW in Shibuya.
Dakai and Yuko.
The bartender at Onpoo, in Azabu Juban.
Winter wonderland, Hokkaido.