The most expensive piece of plastic in my wallet.

A particularly large amount of ash flew over the Osumi peninsula this morning. The cloud followed me from Kanoya to my school in Nejime, leaving my car nicely coated in gray. Slowly creeping over the apartment. Looking south. Mos Burger’s bright red a-frame roof, soon to be less bright red. A JSDF plane flies into […]

Despite not having classes, today ended up being quite busy. The morning started out with three letters in my mailbox at school: In case you are curious, the numbers on the outside are chosen by students (and teachers!) so they do not have to put their name. When I reply, I write their number on […]

Sakurajima erupting under the waxing gibbous moonlight. We were greeted with the same hail-stone pelting of ash to and from the Sakurajima Ferry yesterday. Driving through it was quite an experience. The cloud blocked out both Sun and Moon, swirling around passing cars and headlights. The Black God continues breathing.

I can think of no more fitting reception upon my return to Kagoshima than a massive plume of ash from Sakurajima. Here you can see the cloud being split by the Takakuma mountain range. This was the view from my kitchen window just after the taxi dropped me off at my apartment. A deceptively gentle […]

This was a particularly active day for Sakurajima. I first noticed the a massive cloud of ash being redirected south-east as I drove to work around 7:30. An ominous cloud approaches. In this shot, you can really appreciate the distance this stuff travels and the volume that is produced… The city was blanketed in ash […]