Tadaima

Nanzenji Waterfall
Originally uploaded by Greg Gladman.

Back home again now after ten days in Japan. Even after living in a foreign country and traveling to places where I'm clearly a foreigner (such as Egypt or Alabama), Japan was the clear winner so far for giving that "otherworldly" feeling. In many ways it's very similar to the US (24-hour convenience marts, everything moving at high speed, a heavily marketing-driven culture), but all of this is set against the backdrop of a very ancient society. It's a very jarring combination, and one that's hard to get a handle on, especially in such a short time.

At the moment it's still a bit of a blur, especially given the jet lag and looming work deadlines, but over the next few days I'll compose some coherent thoughts about the trip, along with some of the 6GB of photos, and post them here and at Flickr.

Notes from Spain: Photo of the Month

Street Lamps, Plaça Real
Originally uploaded by Greg Gladman.

It's been a busy few weeks, and this month looks to be even more eventful (more on that later). But I did manage to get out on a couple of Saturdays and take some photos around town, and one of them was selected for the Photo of the Month on the Notes from Spain forum.

By the way, if you're interested in Spain and haven't already visited Notes from Spain, check it out. There are regular podcasts on all kinds of subjects, from food to books to the 80-year old man who's been building a cathedral by himself over the past 40 years.