Author Archives: spikekalashnikov

Back to the garden where I optimistically planted potatoes some weeks ago. I must have put in 30 or more seed potatoes and this what has come up. I am disheartened by this feeble showing. Ah well, I suppose I … Continue reading →

I love to polish things. I think black leather shoes give the most pleasure but silver and brass come very close seconds. It is very rewarding as you get an instant payback for your efforts. What was dull is now … Continue reading →

I use this title as I am visiting a world famous particle physics lab, KEK in Tsukuba. Being in an experimental facility I want to carry out my own little experiment. I used the title “Hiroshima” in a previous blog … Continue reading →

As you will have seen from my previous posts, there is something wrong with my camera. To be more specific, something wrong with my Nikkor 18- 105mm lens. I cannot get it to focus properly. Saturday at the Temple was … Continue reading →

So time to have lunch. I am a complete beginner with Japanese cuisine  and because I cannot read I have no idea what the myriad of restaurants around Asakusa are offering. It is true that some display photos and even … Continue reading →

One of the shops is a brush shop. It sells exclusively brushes. Hair brushes,nail brushes, coat brushes, wire brushes, shoe brushes, shaving brushes, floor brushes, paint brushes, dog brushes, rush brushes, raccoon-hair brushes, horsehair brushes, boar bristle brushes, ritual brushes, … Continue reading →

I am a little jaded with tourism. In fact I think there are few countries I can go to. The main reason is that I am made very uncomfortable by people trying to sell me things or services. I say … Continue reading →

As I loiter on the subway platform in Tokyo I notice that my fellow travelers are forming well ordered lines, the position thereof being marked by yellow lines  on the platform. When the train arrives, exactly on time, the door … Continue reading →

So I go to an English Bookshop to try to buy a coy of the Economist. I somehow believed that the newspaper has a secret network of delivery gnomes who drop off copies in every bookstore in the world on … Continue reading →

I have always admired the Economist. The people who work there, when our paths have crossed,  have always  been very bright, funny and  fast at writing stories. I lost sympathy somewhat during their backing of the Iraq war version 2, … Continue reading →