The passing of things...

On the weekend the storm clouds rolled in and with a burst of wind and rain the summer ended. One day it was still hot, steamy and breathless, and two days later it was dry, cool and poignant. The evenings are closing in now, and before we have even had time to take more than a few breaths it will be winter again. I am told that October in Matsue is very wet, but I remember from last year the cool, dry days stretching one after another all the way into early December. This is my favourite time of year in Japan. The weather is comfortable, and the sky is suddenly so clear that you can see for miles and miles, and everything is in crisp relief even on the very horizon. The evenings are cool but the sun is bright and cheerful, and everywhere you go you can smell the smoke of woodfires. It is like the year has decided to pause and have a party, because it knows that soon everything has to slip away, into shadows and icy winds.

With the autumn breeze comes the second semester of university, and a two week period where, with the Delightful Miss E as my ever present companion, I have done literally nothing - we too have been breathlessly waiting the change in our little house by the river. To this end I have until today completely failed to get permission from the students in my laboratory to post pictures of them on my blog. Having finally done this, here are a few pictures of them at the summer beach party. From left to right: Dr. Naito (our teacher); Takuma; Gosuke; Masaru; and Yashiki. The second picture has Yashiki in funereal splendour. There is also here a single picture of Gosuke being cooool in our Kobe retreat. Interestingly he was completely confused by the idea that he should not do the two -finger salute in this pose, and merely act naturally. Apparently, two fingers in the peace symbol is natural for a young Japanese chap-about-town.