Lost In Translation

Odawara Castle

While returning from Daiyuzan Saijo-ji via Odawara, we stopped by to have a look at Odawara castle.

Daiyuzan Saijo-ji

I decided to go on another Golden Week excursion to Kanagawa to visit Daiyuzan Saijo-ji, a temple nestled in a cedar forest near Odawara.

Mensaibo

There is a tsukemen ramen shop near my apartment, Mensiabo, which seems fairly popular among the locals. For my first visit I ordered spicy tsukemen for ¥900. I see they do curry and Napolitan pasta, so I'll be back for lunch again to try those dishes.

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

The trail on the way to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, which is a palce I've been meaning to visit for awhile. Now it is only 12 minutes from Asagaya, where I live.

The entrance.

Bastards

Claire Denis is one of my favorite contemporary film makers, I think it has something to do with the overall atmosphere or "mood" that she creates in her films. Her latest film, Bastards (2013) has that atmosphere, which is a collaboration between editing, Cinematography, and music-it is an essential aspect of her films and she always uses the Australian band The Tindersticks to score her films and in this film in particular I though the music was really appropriate. This film is somewhat hard to follow as Denis used ellipses to avoid telling details and keeps information from the viewers-which is something that I find refreshing as traditional films treat the viewers as idiots inmost mainstream productions. There are several actors who starred in previous productions in this films. I wan to avoid saying too much about the plot for fear of giving it away, but I enjoyed the film and want to reiterate that Denis is one of my favorite contemporary film makers. I wish she had the backing to make more films than she has.