On Campus Earlier Today

Wakako :: February 13, 2004

I am sure you are a good photographer, Ruedi.

Gav :: February 13, 2004

That water tank picture is really good.

Yukiko :: February 14, 2004

Is the windmill the one you mentioned before?

Rudolf :: February 14, 2004

No, it isn’t. I was referring to the wind power plant in Hisai City, which consists of four turbines standing on a hilltop in the Suzuka Range. The generator I photographed is a brand-new structure that was recently set up here on campus between the archery range and the handball pitch.

Here’s a list of other wind power generators in Japan.

It would be great if somebody could research new wind power projects, maybe do an interview with Maeda-sensei over at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and present a write-up here on Tawawa. Or maybe I’ll save this as an assignment for the composition course starting in April. =)

David :: February 15, 2004

I wonder what that second picture is? Perhaps an angel’s wing…

David

www.geneva.ch.vu

Rudolf :: February 15, 2004

Dr. Ubben, I presume?

There’s an Art Department here at the university, and they’ve got a workshop where they make sculptures. Some of those sculptures are scattered around the campus, particularly near the workshop. There also used to be a sculpture dump just outside the campus fence, next to the baseball field, which was quite surreal, especially the Lady Reclining in a Bathtub. Sadly, the site has just been cleared and converted into a parking lot.

The “Angel Wing” sculpture is the most finished piece I’ve ever seen here. It’s been around for quite a while and I’ve walked past it many times, but it never occurred to me it could be a wing: I always thought of it as a tree. Not any tree, mind you, but the type of tree that looks like a burst of green flames and of which there’s quite a number on campus. In the central areas those trees get pruned once a year by gardeners on ladders, which takes much of the fierceness out of them, but down towards the beach they’re left in their natural state — it’s the trees in the bottom right corner of the first photo.

I really like your drawings! They’ve got a late Victorian sensibility about them that I find very appealing.

David :: February 16, 2004

I never was into using titles. Do you have the botanical name of these trees of green fire? From your photo, perhaps some sort of cyprus or juniper….

Thanks for the elegant descriptive words for my drawings “late Victorian sensibility”, yes, moods do go that way sometimes. These days, I am expanding the site

David

www.geneva.ch.vu

Rudolf :: February 16, 2004

Here’s another photo of the trees. Those behind the cyclist are the same but trimmed. Maybe somebody knows what they’re called in Japanese and can look them up in a dictionary. Anyone?