14 December 2008 @ 05:47 pm
HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/60 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 400 · 1/12/08
The term "Jūnzǐ" (Chinese: 君子; literally "nobleman") is crucial to classical Confucianism. Confucianism exhorts all people to strive for the ideal of a "gentleman" or "perfect man". A succinct description of the "perfect man" is one who "combines the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman." In modern times the masculine translation in English is also traditional and is still frequently used. Elitism was bound up with the concept, and gentlemen were expected to act as moral guides to the rest of society.
They were to:
- cultivate themselves morally;
- show filial piety and loyalty where these are due;
- cultivate humanity, or benevolence.
14 December 2008 @ 05:26 pm
GOTEMBA TRAIL, MOUNT FUJI, TOKYO, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/200 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 100 · 1/12/08
YOU'RE LEAVING ME HERE DEAR ALONE WITH ALL YOUR LETTERS YOU'RE LETTING IT GO NO LIKE INNOCENCE AND FEATHERS YOU'RE PUTTING IT DOWN SOUNDS SLIPPING INTO SONGS YOU'RE LEAVING ME HERE DEAR ALONE WITH ALL MY WRONGS YOU'RE PULLING AWAY PRAY YOU'RE MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE YOU'RE PULLING AWAY STAY AND LISTEN TO MY VOICE SOONER OR LATER YOU WILL LONG WHEN YOU WAKE YOU WILL SEE SOONER OR LATER ALL THE SONGS THAT MAKE YOU SHAKE WILL BE BY ME SOONER OR LATER ALL THE THRONGS OF FEELINGS WE USED TO APPRECIATE WILL COME RUSHING BACK WHEN YOU WAKE YOU WILL SEE, DON'T WAKE ME IF YOU LEAVE YOU'LL COME RUSHING BACK TO ME.
09 December 2008 @ 10:29 am
SAPPORO UNDERGROUND SHOPPING MALL, AURORA TOWN, SAPPORO, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/8 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 400 · 27/11/08
hopefully one day everybody (but you) will forget me & someday i will know where to go
08 December 2008 @ 07:19 am
TOKYO DISNEYLAND (東京ディズニーランド), URAYASU, CHIBA, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/250 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 400 · 2/12/08
i had to bend down a lot to get a glimpse of tokyo disneyland's haunted mansion (rather awkwardly in a hefty horde-ful 35 minute queue); it's actually obfuscated by drawling, awning shelters that slant down to your shoulder level, and heavy-wrought gates. i couldn't move closer towards the gates because that was the 'fast-pass' line which is alike reservations at a restaurant - if they needed queue-lines. sometimes i have to settle for the best of my limits, it's better than not bending at all. it's a beautiful ornate, opulent victorian castle.
08 December 2008 @ 06:05 am
HELL VALLEY "JIGOKU DANI" (地獄谷), NOBORIBETSU, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/125 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 400 · 28/11/08
'In the Analects, Confucius explains de: "He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it."' * 'Despite Confucianism losing popularity to Taoism and Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism combined those ideas into a more metaphysical framework. Its concepts include li (principle, akin to Plato's forms), qi (vital or material force), taiji (the Great Ultimate), and xin (mind).'
06 December 2008 @ 05:53 pm
NIJO MARKET, CENTRAL SAPPORO, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/125 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 400 · 28/11/08
that strangers ignite however fleeting
06 December 2008 @ 11:25 am
TOKYO DISNEYLAND (東京ディズニーランド), URAYASU, CHIBA, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/125 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 400 · 2/12/08
all i can attempt to bank on is on the capturing of a moment; which are magical? i am quite certainly, galaxies away from being a good photographer; my transient life would never endure the required light-years of traveling towards the brightest star. but i suppose it's better to have a direction, however humble; some people encircle other giants. some people streak like meteors. & all the billions of stars still have a name.
06 December 2008 @ 02:39 am
TOKYO DISNEYLAND (東京ディズニーランド), URAYASU, CHIBA, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/800 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 400 · 2/12/08
how do you think they muster up these smiles three times a day?
06 December 2008 @ 12:48 am
TANUKI-KOJI SHOPPING ARCADE, SAPPORO CITY, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/1250 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 200 · 30/11/08
i was late when i snapped. i composed the frame hurriedly as my glove-clad chilled finger scrabbled for the trigger button, but the lady on the left had already shut her umbrella, quickly ducking into the recesses of the arcade. i had wanted to capture that plastic flare gleaming with coalesced snow, not quite so beautiful for the too-acquainted.
05 December 2008 @ 09:53 pm
HOKKAIDO FRESH SEAFOOD MARKET, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/2000 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 100 · 29/11/08
"oh!", i had cried. "look at that seagull perched on the crab statue so proudly!" "there's actually another one on the other pincer!", my brother yelled back, as the waves behind us rolled, roared, blooming into passionate pearl-plumes of sea-spray just like ariel the mermaid; and the sea swallows.
04 December 2008 @ 05:27 am
ASAHI BREWERIES, LTD. (アサヒビール株式会社), HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
f/2.8 · 1/1600 · 60mm · +1/3 EV · ISO 200 · 30/11/08
the weather forecast had broadcasted it would snow from 9.30am to 12.00pm. when we finally got off the tour-bus, the teenagers rambunctiously rollicked and shrieked in the throes of serenading snowflakes, so alike shiroi koibito that the famous ishiya chocolates were named after. the snow did not drift, it did not fall, not so lifelessly as these words connotate. they were whisked gracefully with the caressing zephyr, jubilant swoops on little weightless air-slides, enraptured in brevity.
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