Charlie's Tokyo West Blog

Endeavor -- 26-06-09

Work on Endeavor continues a little bit at a time. She had a laminated tiller that had definitely seen better times, so I spent about $40 on a 35mm thick plank of teak, marked off the tiller's shape on it, used my age-old jigsaw to cut it out and then the power planer to slim the handle down. The power spoke shave (edge grinder) rounded everything off and the old vibrating sander with 80 grit paper smoothed out the bumps and hollows. 200 grit paper made everything smooth, and six coats of exterior varnish gave Endeavor a new tiller. I even lashed the end of the extension to make it look shipshape and Bristol fashion.

While building the tiller, I also glued two sheets of 9mm marine ply together to make a new washboard for the main hatch. The one that came with the boat must have been original as it had shed at least two laminations of its outer skin and the entire washboard threatened to come apart. I used it as a pattern, removed the vent and the padlock hasp, thinned down the edges so they'd fit the grooves, added a block of teak for the hasp, gave the washboard two coats of System Three resin (first coat thinned with lacquer thinner by 10% per ST instructions for penetration) and then painted the outer surface with yellow exterior enamel and the inner surface with exterior varnish 

The next door boat was out today so I was able to take a side-on shot of Endeavor in her berth.

Correction -- 12-06-09

Actually, moonflower is just my name for the night-blooming blossom. It's real name is Queen of the Night.

Moonflower -- 12-06-09

The week's nearly gone. Thought I'd get a chapter done this week, then a sudden job came in from Yokohama Tire. Spent the day on it.

I'll do some other things tomorrow. Check on Endeavor. Go in to Tokyo for some consultations on Seeing Kanazawa. Write some fiction. 

Tonight our moonflower is in bloom. It only blooms at night and only a couple of nights a year. Thought maybe you all would like to see it.

Food and Flowers -- 10-06-09

Japan's two saving graces, in my opinion, are the delicious food and the fantastic flowers. New Zealand had lots of flowers, too, but not the simple good taste of the food in Japan. Saying that, I must admit that I didn't eat in every restaurant in NZ. And there were many I liked. The fish and chips at Broadway in MataMata are the best I've found in New Zealand. Yorkshire Roast Dinners at Centre Place were excellent for their price. But almost every sushi shop was run by ethnic Koreans and the product was not the same as the excellent sushi at say Choshimaru here in Chiba. At about the same price, I may add. Indian food in NZ was on a par with the fast-food type here in Japan, but nowhere near Moti or Ashoka.

Enough. Here's the beauty. At this time of the year in Japan, the hydrangeas bloom. They are beautiful here. They are beautiful in NZ. Here are three pics from my front yard.

Seeing Kanazawa -- 07-06-09

After writing Seeing Japan and watching the publisher do Seeing Tokyo and Seeing Kyoto, I thought it would be a good idea to do a book called Seeing Kanazawa, as I am very familiar with that part of Japan and think Kanazawa and Ishikawa Prefectures should be prime destinations for anyone who wants another look at Japan that is different from Tokyo or Kyoto. 

Kodansha International, my Seeing Japan publisher, did not turn me down, nor did they jump at the idea. They gave me some homework to do, and I've been doing it. Part is to look for support in Ishikawa.

I turned to a long-time acquaintance, Kazuko Ito, for help. Kazu's company, Pastel Labo, is a promotions outfit that's deep into promotion of sports for the disabled. Look for some of her work here.

http://www.i-project.jp/stand/

She's running interference between me and the Ishikawa Tourism Board to see if we can get some cooperation there. You can see some of what Kanazawa/Ishikawa offers here.

http://www.hot-ishikawa.jp/www/index.html

Thanks to Kazu and Pastel Labo, I think we are making some progress. Hope I can announce the official start of the Seeing Kanazawa book project before long.