ihatov

Ihatov (written in katakana on the roof at center) is the Esperanto name for Iwate prefecture. The card is of a painting by Takita Tsuneo, one in a series of places in Iwate associated with Miyazawa Kenji (see below). It shows the Hanamaki Agricultural School, where Miyazawa studied.

mountain and sun

Another postcard from Iwate, showing a painting called Mountain and Sun by poet Miyazawa Kenji.

tatsumaki

This Kenji illustration of a tornado, or tatsumaki, seems tragically apropos. I have few postcards of Japan as I was always sending them. Among the few I have are a handful from Tono and some series from the Miyazawa Kenji Museum in Hanamaki, which is where I bought these many years ago.

denshinbashira

Miyazawa Kenji also liked to draw and paint. This is an illustration he made for an amusing story by him about utility poles on the run. Phone and power service now needed.

miyazawa kenji

Yesterday afternoon I started watching Fuji TV, streaming live with non-stop coverage of the unfolding disasters. Watching the coverage by reporters embedded in what used to be towns up and down the Pacific coast, I had to think of Miyazawa Kenji, a poet, writer (of children's books), agronomist, astronomer, and vegetarian Buddhist. Kenji was born in Hanamaki, in Iwate prefecture, and died there in 1933 at age 37. He devoted the last ten years of his life to trying to better the lives of impoverished peasants in his home prefecture. I love Kenji's writings and admire his life. It was a thrill to live in his 'homeland' of Ihatov for my last 10 or so years in Japan. Kenji also studied Esperanto. Ihatov is the Esperanto version of the prefecture's name.

ayaori, iwate prefecture, japan

Two old ladies from my old neighborhood in the Ayaori district of Tono chat on a snowy road. Since Friday, Iwate has been totally on my mind. There is still no way to get in touch with friends there, but they are in the mountains and I trust they are coping. Many of course have family and friends up and down the coast that was devastated by tsunami.

spring in qingdao

Peach blossoms light up a street in Qingdao, the hometown of the postcrosser who sent this reminder that spring is on the way.

navitrolla

An Estonian postcrosser sent this card and introduced me to the work of Navitrolla, a talented, droll young artist beloved in his home country. http://art.net/~navitrolla/Pages/m.html

dream harp

Motoko, a friend in Tokyo, sent this bewitching card. The original is a papercut called 'Yume harpu', or Dream Harp. A musical cat tickles my fancy, particularly on a gloomy day.

turkiye

A Turkish chemistry student sent this evocative card of her richly-textured country. The timing was felicitous as I've recently been reading the Turkish novelist Elif Shafak. The day before the card arrived a friend had sent a link to an excellent talk Shafak gave last year on the politics of fiction. Definitely worth a listen: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elif_shafak_the_politics_of_fiction.html

rabbits multiplied

The British postcrosser who sent these bunny silhouettes says she likes cats better than rabbits. So do I but I like these rabbits, too.

fly and enjoy

A Slovenian vegan anthropologist sent this card with the message: Fly and enjoy, life is a journey.

pussy willow pink

I've got to send a card to an old friend in Tono and hope she will enjoy the latest in the pussy willow series. Years ago I took a train along the Sanriku Coast to visit an amber museum in the northeastern corner of Iwate prefecture. The tracks were lined at points with wild pussy willow trees and we chugged slowly along with a great view of masses of silky catkins on display. Chinese like to use pussy willows at the Lunar New Year and many Christians use them on Palm Sunday in place of palms. I've got three trees here, all started by Mrpotani, who has a tree in her garden in San Francisco. One tree here has shot up straight and tall to roof level; one is a spreading bush; the third has never made it past two feet, thanks to the deer who bedevil it yearly.

canterbury downs

Dubai reminds me of horse racing and that reminded me of this card from a track in Minnesota.

dubai by way of italy

An Italian postcrosser who likes to travel sent this postcard from Dubai, along with some interesting stamps. He was in Dubai last November.

daughter of the regiment

I sent this Civil War photo of a 'daughter of the regiment', who served with a regiment from Rhode Island, to a postcrosser in Lithuania. Until I saw this postcard, all I knew about such women was based on Donizetti's frothy comedic opera La Fille du Regiment, which I saw some years ago with Valerie Dessay in the title role and Juan Carlos Diego in the tenor role. In Donizetti's opera, the young woman is the adopted mascot of her regiment. Most such women, who were usually married to soldiers, sold tobacco, wine, etc. to their regiments. They were in effect a traveling canteen.

malfunction junction

I sent this postcard months ago to a friend but don't think I ever got around to posting it. This particular 'malfunction junction' is, I think, in North Carolina. The card came to mind on Monday. First the power went out around 6:30 am, then the phone lines, then Internet service. The power came back around 11 am, but it took till after 6 pm for the rest again to be working. I won't say anything about Verizon except that a rep called yesterday and listened to my pointed criticism. The gesture, for what it was worth, was appreciated.

pussy willow green

A variation on the pussy willow theme, again using pieces from a German pressed cardboard creation and a New Year's card that I had to repaint.

coals to newcastle

I sent this card to a Dutch postcrosser who said she liked flowers. Too late I recalled that the painting itself is my Mondrian, who was of course Dutch. I apologized but the recipient did not sound thrilled. Oops. The first time I recall seeing this painting was when a Japanese friend sent the same card to me.

red umbrella

I was thinking about The Red Balloon, and other things, while making this card, then a couple of weeks later the classic French film was on TV. Though a bit hard to make out, there are umbrellas in both of the Japanese stamps I used on the card.