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little things that makes life easier…

Posted on December 7, 2007 @ 8:00 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, japan, travel, wordpress

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hotelcombined tokyo aynaku travel illustration

Lousy hotels are familiar to long term travellers. At Maharaja Palace, a third class Tokyo pension house, it happened to me to wake up in the middle of the night and find out that a bunch of cockroaches were actually going for a stroll upon my body…the nasty little things!
Times are changing and the Internet definitely helps people who like travelling on a shoestring.
HotelsCombined.com. is a start up, but it is already experiencing phenomenal growth. It is a unique comparison website which searches over 30 top travel sites at once to find the best rate and displays information on one easy-to-navigate page. It helps independent travellers to find the lowest rate instantly and save time, since they don’t have to go to all other travel sites one by one to compare the rates…and forget cockroaches!

Illustration Friday’s topic is: the little things

the god of happiness

Posted on October 19, 2007 @ 5:30 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, china, japan, mythology, ukiyo-e, wordpress

hotei tao aynaku travel illustration

Hotei - one of the seven gods of happiness, is also the happy god of abundance and good health. Hotei is also seen carrying a large bag over his shoulder that is said to contain gifts and fortunes for those who believe in his virtues.
He is distinguished by his body of generous proportions and round stomach exposed beneath loose robes.
As a wandering jovial monk, a spiritual activist who travels about transforming the sadness in the hearts of people, Hotei is a genuine symbol of of spiritual growt…

Illustration Friday’s topic is: grow

sister moon

Posted on July 28, 2007 @ 2:26 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, japan, ukiyo-e, wordpress

kaizan zen aynaku illustration travel

“both deluded beings
and buddahs gaze at
the same moon”
This is by Kaizan  (1769 -1846)   a Zen monk, a master of calligraphy and ink painting…

Illustration Friday’s topic is: moon

Here are three good links on last week topic: Three ravens press ; Wolfgang Kolar ; Franci .

 

neighbour

Posted on May 6, 2007 @ 9:34 am by massimo | Filed under: africa, japan, people, travel, ukiyo-e

Behind the walls of his room in Al Mansura Hotel, in bustling downtown Nairobi, a man breathed into a saxophone. My room was next to his and I could hear the musician training himself all day long. At about 7 pm, invariably it was all over. The …

remember

Posted on April 28, 2007 @ 3:15 pm by massimo | Filed under: japan, sailing, ukiyo-e, wordpress

Maybe I should put forward for this week’s topic my whole blog! Actually every Aynaku’s post relates to memory so I consider that my most recent submission should make no exception, and be one of Aynaku’s most typical. My very first time on board a sailing boat is …

the floating world

Posted on January 27, 2007 @ 6:43 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, india, japan, travel, ukiyo-e, wordpress

 

From1688 up to1868 the chonin, urban merchants and townspeople became the affluent bourgeoisie and the standard-bearer of a new Japanese popular culture. With plenty of money, they lived a life of luxury and created a lifestyle of their own, …

aquarium

Posted on August 5, 2006 @ 6:35 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, japan, people, travel, wordpress

Ginza is a central area of Tokyo where many art galleries are. The area is more like a typical city centre: lots of big buildings, a bunch of department stores and several large corporations. I used to go to Ginza often, visiting dozen of galleries …

robofish

Posted on April 22, 2006 @ 6:01 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, fun, japan, news, travel, wordpress

My only trip to Japan dates back to 1994; I spent a month in Tokio and had to leave the country because of the high cost of life. Nevertheless my short stay …