Contrast of object and shadow

I feel sooo happy when I accidentaly encounter those stuff.

I just could not stop taking photos of shadows.....

Shapes tells beauty...

Graffiti art is an art or just an insane!?

Graffiti arts are sometimes interesting to see.... of course it is against social morality....

I like this one.

Yeah, it must be Bono! A bit scarly!!!

Look! How creative it is!!!!

Wild life in Australia

Zen-chan gave me a oppotunity to see wild life in Australia. Kangaroo!!!!!

And then Koara!!!! This one was soooooo lovely!

Nice lunch at Yarra valley

It was one of my aims to visit Merboune, Yarra valley!!!

Sparkling Rose wine!!!

This plate was sooooo delicious!!!

This one was too!!!

Mingary

One sunny day in Melbourne, I visited St. Michael's church on Collins street which looked like a Gothic church, but with some tastes of Rmanesque. Most of old buildings in Melbourne were built in 19c, and so is the church.

The history of Australia is very short compared with the ones in European countries, and even with ours in Japan. Their history lasts only 200 years so far.... Well, it may be wrong. The 200 year history is a history of Anglo-saxon's, not Aborigines' who have inhibited the land of Australia from acient times, aproximitry 50,000 years ago.

Anyway, a lady who guieded me inside the church proudly mentiotioning the date of its foundation, she led me to a place called, "Mingary" which I liked very much. The word "Mingary " is a Gaelic word meaning " the quiet place".

It is open to any races, any religions, and any cultures. Everyone can get in for a peaceful silence. Several seats are placed insiede Mingary, and we just take a seat and close our eyes for silence. It was really a wonderful place. I never expected such a place in the centre of Mebourne.

The lady left me here alone and asked me to take a seat for a while. I took a seat and closed my eyes for silence. After a while, a young lady joined, and then a middle-aged gentle man joined. They must've been in luch break or something, but they dare cave over to this place for silence.

Silence gives us a break from this hectic life and some energy to get back to the reality.

=Today's tweet=

I'm sure that I could someday put down the flames of obsessions and regrets from my life.....

The cost of living in Australia

I went out to Umeda today to find these two in photo I had missed to buy while in Melbourne. Well I acctually didn't miss the chance, but I dare didn't buy them there because the prices were surprisingly high and unacceptable.

The left one is just replacement rubber pieces for a ear phone that I use which cost me only 480JPY today. Can you guess how much it was in Mel.? Almost 4 times more than the price in Japan!!!

And the right one is just a paper book, but the price was higher. It was almost 2000JPY(20AUS$)here, but the local price in Mel was almost 30AUS$. Why does it happen? I also checked the prices of other books in shops, but some reached even 50AUS$! Wow!!!

I never pictured of Australia such a high cost of living country. What about others, food, clothing and so on? They were also higher than what I was expecting, but one thing I noticed which I thought reasonable was the price of leather business shoes. Maybe that's because of tons of Aussie beef skins slaughtered for consumption in Australia and the world.

I usually buy bottles of mineral water to drink. I'm avoiding tap water for health. Anyway the prices were also not acceptable. For example, a bottle of 2L mineral water costs here in the cheapest around 100JPY(a bit more than 1AUS$), but 4-5AUS$ in shops I tried in Mel. In the case of mineral water, I should be more understanding because Australia doesn't have much rain and is facing difficulties in water supply.

I hear that Australia is still now in a good economy beacuse of the surplus in trading with China especially for mineral resourses. Is it a kind of bubble economy which may seem to burst in future? I don't know, but one thing I'm sure about is I'm never willing to live there.

There was a fad period some years ago that Japanese were moving to Australia to buy houses for thier retirement life. I wonder if they are still surviving there or already back in Japan with disapointment.

=Today's tweet=

Why don't you keep smiling?

Ha!? Why would I have to? Smiling is not only way for us human being to express emotion....

Long way to Melbourne

After a 8.5 hour flight from Bangkok, I fainally landed at the Merbourne Int'l Airport. The night view of the city from the aircraft was so beautiful.

It's been a longing to visit here for years, but I never thought that it had taken me such a long time. I believe that there must be a right moment for us about meeting people, changing jobs, traveling, or whatever actions we take in life. Maybe the God now allowed me to visit there.

To be honest, I'm not interested in Australia at all, but I've been feeling some level of connection and obsession with this country for years, and especially with the city of Melbourne. I'm sure that it all started when I met a guy from Melbourne almost a decade ago, Zen-chan, my buddy also from Melbourne and more. It was strangely enough to have met all of them in Japan, and couldn't stop feeling a connection with the land of Australia. Why do these consequences of encounters with Aussies occure in my life? which has been a question to me.

Anyway, my searching started with a happy reunion with my buddy, Zen-chan at the Airport.

=Today's tweet=

Don't misunderstand me! I don't dare try to be alone, and never get used to it. Do I look like that??? You never know what I really am....

Catching up with thoughts

I'm now back at a hotel not far from Southern cross station in Melbourne. Just walking, walking, and walking in the city.

While walking, many thoughts came across in my mind. and I could hardly catch up with them because they were so fast.

"The stream of thoughts"

I finally made it come over to this place, which I guess, has to be NOW, not BEFORE.

I may not visit here again, but am satisfied with this visit.

Very short, but really thoughts provoking. It also gave me confidence in the path of life I took so far and courage to keep it going.

I'll try update my blog later back from Japan. I've still got a half day left to catch up with a Thai Air flight tomorrow's afternoon, but...

time to say Good-bye to Melbourne.

P.S.

To:Zen-chan

Thank you so much for your time to attend me! See you soon in Osaka.

Let's inspire life!

I managed to get back to Osaka from Viena to take a flight to Melbourne via Bangkok.

I arraived at Tokyo Narita AP this morning, and then visited my company's branch office. I was exhausted enough after a long flight from Viena, but I forced myself to take another flight from Tokyo Haneda AP to Osaka AP.

"Fuuuuuuuuu-----, Not yet!"

I packed my baggage for a 5 day trip to Melbourne right after I'd arrived home, and took a bus ride to Kansai AP. And I'm writing this now. The time is 23:30 19/AUG.

I do hope that this short trip will really inspire me something for a better life.

I took a photo in front of Thai class lounge.

Can you believe that I'm flying all the way to Melbourne in Bussines class? I had worked hard enough to save enough miles for it!!!

So I'm proudly to say that it is a gift from the God for me.

To AUSTRIA,and then to AUSTRALIA

I'm at the Tokyo Narita Int'l Airport to flight to Vienna, Austria with my clients for a 8-day tour.

As soon as I return from the assignment, I'm flying to Melbourne, Australia!

What a ryme in the name of destination!

Anyway, it's gonna be my first holiday ever in 7 years to abroad. Of course, I'm flying to anywhere as a tour leader, but always in duty!

Ooops Boading time!

Ciao

Ba---chan, come on!!!

I really like when Ray calls his grand mother...

"Ba---chan, come on!"

The movie "Toilet" is starting soon. I'm really looking forward to it.

It is a Japanese movie, but all scenes were shot in Canada. 3 Canadian actors seem to act well with Ms. Motai, a Japanese actress who is one of my favorites.

The story is about a family bond of siblings rebuild with their possibly Japanese grand mother. Since I haven't seen it yet, I don't know the whole story yet, but it seems worth seeing it.

Sach Parker, a daughter of Shirley Maclaine also takes a bit role of a mysterious woman in the movie. She is really connected with Japan. I wonder if she has ever a thought of coming back to Japan and build her acting career. She really did a good job using her fluent Japanese in the moive, "The witch of the West is Dead".

Anyway, "Ba-chan, come on!" sounds really lovely and cute!!!

Great Summer Purification

"Susanoo Shrine" near my flat. It is well decorated for the festival of Great Summer Purification.

This is "Hitogata". By blowing by one's breath 3 times, it becomes a paper clone of the person for a Shinto ritual ceremony. I wrote my name and address, and then blew it 3 times by my breath.

This is Chinowa. By passing this circle 3 times, left-right-left, evil energy of us piled up from the New year is said to be purified.