Mount Yoshino (吉野山) in Nara Prefecture is yet another UNESCO heritage site I wasn't aware of until my friends took me there for a sakura watching hike despite terrible weather. I would never go hiking in the rain alone, but since we already decided on the date in advance I couldn't bail out. Which was good, because the trip was unexpectedly enjoyable — the light was great for photos and low clouds adorned the hills just like in traditional ink paintings.

Off-topic but I needed to share this. While I was busy moving into my new dorm (more about it later) my eyes laid upon a bulletin board in the main campus right in front of one of the lecture halls. It is usually full of ads promoting various student activities such as clubs. There are hundreds of clubs (they actually call them “circles”) officially recognized and therefore subsidized by Kyoto University, ranging from quite normie (calligraphy, horseriding, sailing, moviemaking, language learning etc.) to borderline weird (RPG lovers, mushroom study group???), but this one really caught my attention. Behold everyone — yuri manga research club! For those unfamiliar with Japanese manga genres, yuri mainly focuses on intimate relationships between girls, both spiritual and physical, though the posters suggest preference for the latter. I don’t think Kyoto University has acknowledged this club yet but I guess they’re trying hard to get some exposure. The guys already have twitter and a discord server..

Time to share some photos from my trip to the least populated prefecture in Japan — Tottori. One of my Japanese teachers was born and raised in the biggest city in Tottori (named Tottori… with population of 190,000), and when trying to present his hometown he said: “We are famous for several things — the Sand Dunes, the Sand Museum… That’s it. And yeah, the manga artist who drew Detective Conan was born there, too.” His description turned out very, very accurate. Tottori city is not much to look at, your average Japanese suburbia with a hint of economic recession and maybe two or three hipsterish low-budget cafes. But the sand dunes are definitely worth the long trip through the mountains. Since 100,000 years ago a combination of sea currents and strong wind have been pushing large amounts of sand up the shore, forming the only dune system in Japan. Didn't bother going to the Sand Museum though, there was enough sand outside already.

Conferences in 2019 vs conferences in 2021. Presenting my danchi research at Optimistic Suburbia II tonight: note my zoom-style shirt + yoga pants combination, a yoga block as a microphone stand and a Japanese-style umbrella acting as a reflector. I was very happy to see three other Russian scholars in two other sessions, wasn't expecting such a big coverage of soviet mass housing. Wish me luck!

Fourth year in Japan but school kids in uniform still get me excited. Not in a nostalgic kind of way, because I suspect they must have a pretty difficult time surviving in Japanese society, not having enough knowledge about how life works and already being stressed out about succeeding and pressured into making difficult choices. Maybe that's why looking at them makes me feel that my problems are not all that bad?