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| Yakitori Restaurant in Hakata, Fukuoka Dec 2010 |
It looks like I've settled back in Japan for the (reasonably) long haul. The plan now is to spend the next year or so working hard, saving as much as I can, and getting in shape. The plan is to start researching the Indian subcontinent and the African continent for photo-reportage and socio-documentary ideas.
I'm dangerously close to losing the window for eventually starting an actual "career" according the widely-accepted definition per se, but I'm focusing on a plan to spending 2012-2013 documenting ethnic minorities, and reasonably undocumented areas around either Africa or India over that period.
I still don't know how much I'll need to save up, but I've got most of the photography equipment I'll need, and being fitter will allow me to endure a larger hiking set-up, and a more grueling route.
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| Hazara children of the Bamiyan region in Afghanistan, August 2010 |
I have to apologize again for not having added more entries on the Gaza protests, or any on Afghanistan so far. Those experiences certainly left a deep impression on me, and I plan to revisit them soon, now that I've resettled in Tokyo comfortably.
As mentioned earlier, this is the year that I will get properly fit, and I don't mean that in the "soon-to-be-broken New Year's Resolution" way.
In Afghanistan, I gained a considerable amount of weight due the security risks, and the carb-rich local food. Despite the haunting beauty of the Afghan mountain ranges, many of the hills are still littered with Soviet-war era landmines, so that ruled out hiking. Jogging wasn't really an option due to the kidnapping risk.
Part of my kickboxing training is to learn how to do intensive self-training with shadow-boxing, crunches, push-ups, jumprope routines, and hopefully chin-ups (within the next 4 months - my weight/strength ratio won't allow that yet.)
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| My Kickboxing Instructor T-98 competing Nov 2010 |
Last night at kickboxing at the Scramble Gym in Shibuya marked my 4th bloody nose in as many months. So - blocking techniques are something I definitely need to learn quickly.
Since sparring partners are usually determined by weight-class, I'm put up against some pretty-intimidating Japanese opponents.
Anyways, the other resolution is to get my on-line presence back up to speed. That includes re-instating my Photo-Shelter account for potential photo sales, winnowing-down my messy Flickr account, and getting this blog back up with weekly entries on Tuesdays.
See you next Tuesday!
