No, it certainly ain't Japan! With sand like that, that's for sure. You're looking at Sydney, Australia. Home sweet home. I went back for a week in June - the timing was so that I could see my mate Eggins tie the knot/cut the cake/get hitched (pictures below). I'm sure the beaches in Okinawa are comparable, but otherwise, the sands of Japan seem more like grit or gravel. The muggy air and typhoon-slowing concrete break-water things also tend to kill any scenic quality Japanese beaches have.

More specifically, you're looking at Watson's Bay. If you're not from Sydney, it's a harbour city with many bays, coves and waterways. I'm a little biased, but it's an awesome place. I love it... now more than ever.

This is my sister Penny, brother-in-law Mark, and my niece Sarah. They took me for a drive to Doyle's to have fish and chips. It was really great to see them and for them to cater for what I've been missing. But stuff like food and nice places aside, seeing my family was tops. I think you will know what my parents look like by now, so I don't have another photo of them here, but it was especially great to see them.

This is me saying hello to my nephew, Aled, for the first time! With us are not-so-little, but oh-so-cute Reuben and my brother Steve, and my sister-in-law Jo. It would seem that Reuben (tear-away knievel) and Aled (placid) couldn't be more different, but both great little kids.

Here's Penny and Sarah again and the fairly-new-to-school, Rachel. She's growing up so fast, I feel like a real old-timer saying that... but it's true. My nephew Joel wasn't too comfortable about being in photos, but needless to say he's a little champ, too! They're bright kids.

Here's another family of mine - the Chatswood Presbyterians. You'd think with all those Asians making peace signs that we were in Japan, but no... Bravo's of Crows Nest! Good for a gelato. Fish-lips in dead centre is my old flatty, Janey. Gee I miss your vege lasagne! Oh, and you too!

Here we are after church in Chatswood, post-crepe-eating.

Catching up with dear friends Andy, Cass and Mike after the wedding. Oh... the wedding!

And now the feature presentation!

Eggins and his bride, Sharon.

I love this photo of my old friends, Nick and Emma. The reception was at Church Point in Pittwater and just across the water, behind them is their house on Scotland Island.

Next in line - my old housemate, Souter ("turn down the music!") and his soon-to-be-bride Lou. All the best guys!

3 of the best smiles in rock... Kim Deal, Nick Ives and Matty Cohen. It was so good to see old favourites. (Sorry if you're reading, Nick... that's the 2nd time I've used the word "old" in reference to you... don't get a complex... you know what I mean!)

Nice work. It was fantastic to see such a happy man in my friend Eggins, and to see such a great woman at his side on his wedding day.

What a different world it is back home. Looking at these photos again and telling you about them has reminded me of that. Sometimes life here feels like reality and my notions of home seem surreal... but when I was visiting it was the other way around. I came back to Japan feeling pretty disoriented and out of the "groove". All points of reference were spinning around me. I'm not one for the jet-set life I think - that's a different breed... I like being home. But now I can almost say I have 2.

You know the song... "I still call Australia home" ...that's true. But if I may, I'll follow quoting Peter Allen with quoting Arnold Schwarzenegger... Japan, "I'll be back".

(Oh, yeah. I gotta leave it first.)

Sorry... rambling fingers. Good night.

Hi, thanks for dropping in. I have been writing a lot and posting a lot of pictures from events long gone. Time for some more current affairs. It is now Autumn in Japan. In the space of a few short weeks the temperature has dropped - most noticeably at night. I've gone from coming home in a sweat to going home wearing a woollen vest. During the day though it still feels summery at times. The massive insects of this land seem to be slowly retreating along with the crabs, frogs and snakes around here. I only managed to see one snake - almost ran over it on my bike! It was only small. I was visited by my first typhoon, but I can hardly say I experienced one. We were on the very outskirts of it and the hill next to my building protected us from the wind, but in the distance I could see some bamboo getting a pretty thorough wind-whipping. Way south in Kyushu and further in Okinawa it wrought serious havoc and some loss of life. They tend to fritter themselves away into "tropical depressions", but when that happens seems to be a guessing game... and what direction they take. There was an earlier one that was making a bee-line for where I live but it then hived off towards Tokyo (I think we are up to number 15. The season for typhoons is ending). Anyway, I'm a little disappointed I can't say I lived through one, but I would most likely regret wishing for it if it did come.
Japan has a new prime minister as of yesterday. Koizumi handed over the reins to Abe, the first PM to have been born after the war (something he himself pointed out in his inauguration speech).
There have been some horrible crimes and accidents involving children. That seems to be a pattern in Japan. I guess the accidents are indiscriminate, but the crimes... ? I think there is a cult of youth - well, you could argue that the world over I guess - the celebration of youth, the disdain for the old, the excessive marketing geared towards the young, cashed-up generation. But here cute, or kawaii, is a real commodity. Children are often doted on, adored and idolised. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but it seems a bit overboard oftentimes. I guess the flipside of that veneration is that kids can become targets for dark minds. I'm sad to say that my musings about the makeshift shrine on the bridge that I ride across most days were pretty accurate. Apparently someone had struck down a child in their car a few suburbs away and then decided to dispose of the body from the bridge. How horribly sad. Kazuya, my friend next door told me about it. "Kowaii. Kowaii", he said. Kowaii, as opposed to kawaii, means dreadful, horrible, frightening. He said that in the past things like that didn't happen here. But now he says there are many twisted people in Japan. I'm happy to say I've met some of the best, nicest people ever here... and Kazuya and his family are top of the list.
Well, on a much lighter side, but not totally unrelated (speaking of youth-worship), is the rise and rise of Hankachi. I wrote before about the national high school baseball championship and about its star pitcher, Saito Yuki. Saito-kun is now referred to as Hankachi, in reference to his habit of wiping away sweat from his face with a light blue handkerchief. Well, the mania surrounding him has gone ballistic. A press conference was called for this 18 year-old to announce what his plans were for after finishing high school! Amazingly, he said that he is immature as a baseball player and immature as a person and so he'd like to go to uni before taking on the challenge of pro-baseball. You can believe he would have had some pretty lucrative offers already. So, with such modesty, talent, poise and youth-appeal, females from those in school uniforms to post-middle-aged housewives are swooning over him. When he arrived victorious from a tour of the US there were legions of girls and women snapping away with digi-cams at the airport. Kind of like when I arrived here. I saw on the news tonight that at the baseball you can get a packed lunch complete with his trademark blue hanky! Out of control! I'm not sure what you'd get in a lunchbox dedicated to me... maybe some mouldy cheese?

No, there hasn't been another earthquake in Kobe. This is a part of the foreshore that the city has kept in its upheaved state, following the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995, to give a sense of the devastation. Kobe is a port city and very attractive at that - leaves Osaka looking pretty gross in comparison. There is a video display near the water that explains what happened that fateful day. The area that receives all the shipping was shaken to bits as some of the huge cranes that lift containers from ships toppled over, and semi-trailers fell into huge ditches that appeared as expanses of tarmac dropped metres. Elevated sections of the Hanshin Expressway fell over, as did some buildings. It seems strange, considering I've been here almost a year and never felt a quake (well one, but it was in Tokyo). There have been times when I thought I've felt something, but so slight I could have imagined it. This isn't such a good thing, as no movement means that the stress is only building more and more as time goes on 'til the next big one. But that is supossed to be years away.... hmmm.

Kobe Port Tower is a symbol of the city - it's basically a tourist observatory and radio transmitter. It looks good at night as its orangey-red frame is lit-up. Meriken Park in general is a really nice area.

No, the martians haven't invaded. This is a high-speed concept ship on display outside the maritime museum. I haven't been inside the museum, but this thing is pretty groovy. I want to know if it works! It looks like it's been used. The metal thing on the edge of the picture is an example of the type of engine used - looks more like a jet than a boat engine.

What's big, metal and looks like a fish? A big metal fish. Sorry, that's about as enlightening as I get.

An old building surrounded by new ones. See what I mean? I guess I should write something pithy about the relentless march of progress or old Japan/new Japan but I'd be talking out of somewhere that's not my mouth. I think I might be already... I should go to bed.

This guy makes me feel a lot more comfortable about my collection of toys.

Now we go west of Kobe to Suma for the All Kansai Combined Churches Beach Party. There was a whole lotta hulain' going on.

Little Minori, my pastor's daughter, is a great little dancer.

Next to me is my friend Eriko and the little boy is Ryoya, her son - I've mentioned them before when I talked about going to Sanda matsuri (festival). What 5 year old poses like that!? Can you see his face? He cracks me up.

Speaking of crack-ups, here's another culprit, Eric. I've mentioned Eric before too - he's a writer, actor, father, English teacher and encourager, among other things.

Ogi is a friend who was at my church until about May, when he had to move to Kanagawa. So, it was great to see him again at the party. All up there about 250 people there! And about 25 of them took the plunge...

Now you've probably seen Asian people sitting on the beach before, fully clothed - at least, I have in Australia. No, they don't swim fully clothed! There's a baptism going on here. Taketo decided it was time to express his commitment to Christ.

To the left is my friend Masa and to the right is our pastor, Fumi. Another guy at our church got baptised on Sunday, after coming to church for only a couple of months! That is a really short time for someone to become a Christian anywhere, let alone Japan. People here seem to think about things like that for years before taking a position on it.

Anyway, I'm going to bed! See ya