My random wallpaper of the day, Immortal’s main man Abbath Doom Occulta, from last summer’s Getaway Rock Festival in Gavle, Sweden.

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Ever taken a photo without flash at 1 a.m.? Usually the photos aren’t very successful unless you leave the shutter open for a long time. However, for this photo the shutter was open for just 1/2 second. The secret? I took it in early July in northern Sweden, a time of year and place in which things never get completely dark.

If you are ever zipping around in your boat on the Baltic Sea and need a place to rest for the evening, the Port of Gävle is a nice little place to moor your transportation.

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This isn’t your typical view of Enoshima (江ノ島). This is the backside, facing the eastern side of Sagami Bay (相模湾). In the far distance to the right is the Miura (三浦)/Jogashima (城ヶ島) area. Iwayabashi is the nearby bridge on Enoshima to the left.

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Even though I have loads of hiking opportunities now that I’m back home in Oregon, I miss hikes like this one near Tokyo. There is something special about leaving the center of the ultimate metropolis of Tokyo by train in the morning and arriving at scenery like this on the trail up Mt. Mitake just a short time later.

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There are three places in the world where you can find both the Eiffel Tower (or something similar) and the Statue of Liberty (or something similar). Can you name them?

The first one is easy–Paris. There you can find the original Eiffel Tower and one of the original Statue of Liberties.

The second place is today’s photo. In Tokyo you can find Tokyo Tower, modelled after the Eiffel Tower, and a recent Statue of Liberty–separated by the Rainbow Bridge across Tokyo Bay.

The third place features the newest copies–Las Vegas.

In less than five months I’ll be checking out the Statue of Liberty in New York for the first time.

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From central Oslo you can catch a ferry over to Bygdøy to check out the Viking Ship Museum (Vikingskipshuset på Bygdøy). There isn’t much in the museum except for three, original, viking ships. All three are very cool, but I like this one the best. Perhaps the finest find of the Viking Age, you can read more about the Oseberg ship here.

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I have seen these three bands a combined nine times in the past few years so it’s only fitting that they are touring together. I’ve been in the photo pit for all three too. Now the question is, since they aren’t coming anywhere near me, do I make a road trip to bump the nine times to twelve times? Hmmmmm…. Sounds like a fun evening but a long drive.

Tickets are now on sale so check the tour dates to see if they are coming to a town near you.

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Today is Setsubun (節分) in Japan. Even if you aren’t in Japan, if you happen to run into a Japanese person, today is a good day to say “oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” (out with the devils, in with the luck) to them.

Today’s photo is from the Setsubun bean-throwing festivities at Rinnoji in Nikko. They threw treats and prizes instead of beans. We were handed handfuls of beans as we headed out after though.

There were several famous actors who tossed the prizes. In this photo, for instance, you can see Nakayama Jin (中山 仁) and Otonashi Mikiko (音無 美紀子), whose names are displayed beneath them.

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Today’s random desktop image is this one. I took this photo out the window of the Flåm Railway train, a train ride I will never forget.

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tea room at Ikegamibaien (池上梅園)

During the winter in Japan trees are frequently covered in straw rope or wires formed to make a teepee of sorts which supposedly protects the tree’s branches from accumulating large amounts of snow and breaking. The devices are called yukitsuri (雪吊 or snow hangers), and you can read more about them here.

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