Alright, so I'm not going to even make any excuses, it's been like 3 weeks since I last updated. But I'm here to make up for it with a bunch of pictures AND a video blog. Don't you feel lucky?

Mugging for the camera in the park

You're probably wondering about the title of today's post. Well, I've been playing around with "hard lighting" in some of my photos to give them a darker, more atmospheric feeling. I've accumulated a few over the past couple of months, and decided to post them all in one big entry so I can clear the deck for new photos in future posts. Hence the "hard light blowout".

Home made watercress and spinach soup for dinner...

Now, about the "nuno napkins". That's Japanese for "cloth napkins", and my friends, I'm not talking about the napkins which we use at the dinner table. But rather than type it out in excruciating detail, I've decided to make a video blog about it - and how I almost killed myself with a tea scented candle.

A ramen shop under the train tracks in Yurakucho

You can check it out below, but allow me to say this before you click play: the last 7 minutes of today's video is rated PG-13 and is squarely aimed at my (largely female) readership. Because ladies, I feel like this is something I can talk about with you in a frank (and humorous) fashion. Gentlemen and small children? You may wish to skip the latter half of this video, unless you're way metrosexual like yours truly. You've been warned.

If you are still, for some reason, curious about cloth "napkins" or wish to (for some ungodly reason - did you not just listen to all the problems with this scheme I listed in the video!?) make your own, well then, I have dug up a website just for you. It's in Japanese, but the pictures are pretty self explanatory. But seriously, gentle readers, do yourself a favour and just buy the damn things in the store. This is not an area you want to be handi-crafting around with.

Hand Made Cloth Napkins

Okay, that's it. Tons of pictures after the "keep reading" link below.

Taken in the back alleys of Ikebukuro

Near Cafe Pause in Ikebukuro

Inside Cafe Pause. The cake was delicious. The lotus tea, on the other hand, not so much...

One should always eat their mint. Even if its stuck in a cup.

Blue blue skies while waiting for a bus

A quiet walk in the park

The old lady in the shot later came up to me and asked why I was photographing a gutter

Autumn is arriving...

Killing time while waiting for a friend in an upscale cafe in Ginza filled with rich old people

This place is actually a restaurant...

Inside aforementioned restaurant

Eating homebaked pound cake. For the record, that is not a crime scene in the background! - I was spray painting something red ;)

The sun starting to set over Tokyo

Yurakucho station

Okay, that's it. Thank you for reading!