Haku ハク。

On August 18, 2025 4 Comments - Music

Who is Haku?

In 2019 Osaka Japan, four young women met at a vocational school club that teaches instruments to high school students. One of their advisors suggested that they join up to form a band and Haku was born. The circle punctuation mark at the end of Haku’s name in Japanese reflects these roots, symbolizing the “circle” where they first met. (these types of clubs are referred to as “circles” in Japan)

Haku released their first single in 2020 and by 2021 they had won the grand prize at a Kansai prefecture talent contest. Attention in Japan started to grow as the band released more music and played live shows. Haku hosts an annual “Haku Day” on August 9th, inviting their favourite musicians to play with them in Japan, drawing inspiration from their fellow artists.

Recently, at the request of fans outside of Japan, Haku has begun playing international shows. They played their very first overseas show in Korea. Singapore was next and, in September 2025, Haku made their North American debut in Toronto, Canada as part of the Next Music From Tokyo showcase.

Releases

In their seven year career, Haku has released a steady stream of singles, EPs and two albums.

  • Blue Girl single, 2021
  • 本物 / honmono, single, 2021
  • ワタシ / watashi, single, 2021
  • 収録曲 / hitonatsu, single, 2021
  • ふたり基地 / hutari kichi, single, 2021
  • 若者日記 / wakamono nikki, mini-album, 2022
  • ナイーブ女の子 / naive girl, single, 2022
  • 無題 / mudai, single, 2023
  • 直感way, chokkan way, single, 2023
  • 僕ら / bokkura, EP, 2023
  • 僕らじゃなきゃだめになって / Bokurajanakyadameninatte, single, 2023
  • 自由のショート / jiyuu no short, single, 2023
  • 僕らじゃなきゃダメになって / Bokurajanakyadameninatte, album, 2023
  • dedede, single, 2024
  • 頭の中の宇宙 / The Universe of my Mind, single, 2024
  • あいっ！ / Ai!, single, 2024
  • Catch, EP, 2025
  • 南新町 / minami shinmachi, single, 2025
  • それしか言えない / soreshika ienai, single, 2025 (***this marks Haku debut on major label Toy’s Factory)
  • 夢中猫 / Patapata Cat, single, 2025

Upcoming Releases:

New digital single Fuwa Ring is scheduled for release Feb 11, 2026.

New EP “Sekai” will follow on March 4, 2026.

Haku lineup:

A promo photo of Haku, a band from Osaka Japan
promo photo from official Haku Instagram
  • Ai (あい) – Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar
  • Mayu (まゆ) – Drums
  • Nazuna (なずな) – Lead Guitar
  • Kano (カノ) – Bass and Backing Vocals

Haku everywhere!

Largely unknown outside of Japan, Haku became famous globally with their cover of Mono No Aware’s かむかもしかもにどもかも! The catchy nonsense-lyric tongue twister was released on YouTube in Haku’s trademark vertical frame practice-session format. The popularity of the video sparked a massive social media following and requests from fans around the world for overseas live shows. Local Haku shows also began to attract foreign fans who were travelling in Japan. Fans started sending them videos of themselves mimicking Ai’s groovy dance. Below is the original video of Haku covering the Mono No Aware song. As of this writing, it has over 16 million views.

This one…

Next Music from Tokyo

Late this summer, Haku made their North American debut in Toronto, Canada at Next Music From Tokyo Volume 17.

A photo of the poster for Next Music From Tokyo Vol 17

Next Music from Tokyo is an annual showcase of young Japanese indie bands put together by Toronto anesthesiologist Steven Tanaka. Each year, Tanaka handpicks a group of bands to tour three cities in Canada over 10 days and it is always a fantastic scene. The bands give everything they have and the crowds happily take it all in, dancing and crowd surfing (Steve too)!

This year when the NMFT line-up was announced, I was surprised to see that it featured Haku. The website even issued a warning that since the massively popular band is coming, tickets will sell out faster than usual. This got my attention and I started listening to their back catalog as well as newer releases. I was happy to find that, although the viral video clip is cute and obviously popular, Haku’s original music is even better.

Haku live at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Canada

Around a year ago, Haku performed on NHK Japan and talked about influences and future goals. Ai expressed that although they were a band of 4 young girls, they did not want to be bound by the expectations of being a “girl band”. They hoped to show a more aggressive sound in live shows and to write songs that would have a broad appeal to fans of all genders and ages. With that statement in mind, it was fun to witness their first North American show in person.

From the very first song, the band delivered an energetic and gritty sound. The crowd, made up of men and women of all ages in equal number, responded with enthusiastic dancing and clapping. Surprisingly, many of their fans were singing along in Japanese to Haku’s originals. If their goal was to win over a broad spectrum of fans with high-intensity live versions of their original songs I think it was accomplished with great success. I loved the show and I was immediately sorry I didn’t buy tickets for both nights in Toronto.

Taking the stage at the packed Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.
Kaitenshitekarakangaeru at a sold out show in Toronto, Canada.

Haku original music

For a band whose members are probably somewhere in their early 20s, Haku has released a good volume of music. The early singles and first mini album (Wakamono Nikki) sound like a young band still developing their identity and musical style but the playing is solid and the songwriting is good. The second full length album, Bokurajanakyadameninatte, is where the band really starts to shine and the most recent EP titled Catch showcases the fully developed Haku at their best.

The songs are bright and energetic with memorable vocal melodies and guitar hooks. They manage to sound fresh and original but somehow familiar at the same time. In the NHK interview, Ai talked about how many older fans have said that Haku’s music takes them back to their youth. She attributes this to the influence of 90s US and UK indie on Haku songwriting. These 90s flavours blended with modern J-pop and J-rock influences give Haku their defining sound and broad appeal.

Recipe for Success

Ai’s vocals are full of catchy melodies and fun cadence. Her lyrics (all in Japanese) touch on the universal topics of love and relationships with others, as well as her relationship with the world at large. Ai takes centre stage as the main vocalist and delivers crunchy rhythm playing on her 70s Telecaster Custom. She hopes to write songs that “stand the test of time” and from the enthusiasm of the live audience and the fact that they knew most these songs by heart, I think she is on the right track.

Nazuna’s guitar playing is mostly clean with an unmistakable Stratocaster chime. She sometimes doubles the rhythm guitar but more often wanders away on her own with melodic single-note lines. At NHK, she said that she wanted to invent guitar phrases that “linger in your ear”. I think that Nazuna’s guitar lines are just as catchy as Ai’s vocals and the two together create melodies that are hard to forget.

Kano is a creative bass player never lingering very long on a single note. Bass lines bounce along with the drums, counter guitar lines, experiment with harmonies and always add to the overall big energy of the song. Kano is also the second voice for doubling or vocal harmony and, in interviews, stands out as the most outgoing spokesperson for the band.

Mayu keeps it all together with breezy style, creative fills and lots of happy energy. She is a great drummer now but I think her ambition to learn and improve will sharpen her skills even more in the future.

Each player in the band brings their own unique style but it is definitely the combination of these four talents that gives Haku it’s appeal. The musicianship is undeniable and their obvious close friendship just adds to their charm.

Gear:

Haku uses some interesting guitars. Ai is playing a 70’s style Telecaster Custom and Nazuna’s Stratocaster is the same vintage. Both have 3 bolt neck plates used mainly on 70s Fenders. I think Fender Japan reissued these sometime in the 90’s so it is possible these 2 guitars are from that era. Either way, they are unusual instruments. Ai runs her Tele through a Marshall half-stack and Nazuna is using a Jazz Chorus 120.

As for pedals, Ai’s main sound seems to be Telecaster, JHS Morning Glory, Marshall amplifier. She switches out dirt pedals often: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Anasouds Savage (Klon Centaur clone), Animals Pedal Surfing Bear Overdrive (cute Japanese made tube screamer variant), NYC Big Muff fuzz have made the rounds.

Nazuna has a big pedal board which includes a Strymon Big Sky and Timeline, JHS Double Barrel, JHS Charlie Brown (cool and uncommon), Boss Turbo Distortion, Triangle Big Muff, Suhr Jack Rabbit Tremolo, Digitech Whammy as well as a Maxon Stereo Chorus.

Kano is running a Fender Precision Bass though a solid state head and Ampeg cabinet (at least at live shows). This deep, punchy Precision bass through a big cabinet is my favourite electric bass sound.

At least in their practice space, I have seen Mayu using a 4-piece Tama drum kit. Beyond that, I am not sure. Unless they are popular enough to carry their whole kit around, drummers usually just travel with their snare and cymbals so…hard to say.

Where to find Haku:

You can stream Haku in all the usual places.

Haku is also active on Instagram and YouTube. Click here for the Haku official website.

Haku is rumoured to be returning to Canada for Next Music From Tokyo Volume 18! Keep an eye on the NMFT website for details.

For a list of all upcoming live shows look here.

Here is the song Ai! from the Catch EP….it is a great record. Look it up on your favourite streaming platform.

A great song and video from Bokurajanakyadameninatte….

If you have any questions or comments or if I spelled anesthesiologist or anything else wrong… please share in the space below.

What’s your favourite Haku song? Leave it in the comments!

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Jeow Bong

On August 10, 2025 2 Comments - Cooking

What is it?

Jeow bong (or jaew bong) is a Lao chili paste used as a dip or seasoning. It is powerful and complex: full of strong aromatics and potent citrus and fruit flavours, all tied together with fermented fish sauce.

One summer at the restaurant we had a food runner who’s mom was from Laos. We became pretty good friends and her family ended up visiting for a meal a few times. I had fun preparing interesting veggie dishes (off menu) for her vegetarian dad and sister.

Afterwards, on more than one occasion, her mom sent me homemade Lao beef jerky and other little snacks. One time I even got a full dinner-set of larp, sticky rice, sides and, of course, jeow bong! This was my first experience with Lao food and I was hooked.

Sometime before our food runner left to go to university, she brought me my own bamboo sticky rice steamer and pot set with a couple of little rice baskets. This was such a thoughtful gift and I use them often. Thanks Tounie, Émilie and famille Desrosiers!

Jeow bong recipe:

This is a very good recipe. I am always surprised at how incredibly delicious it is every time I eat it.

First let me say that although I am a professional chef, I am no expert at Lao cooking. I have learned to make a few dishes because I like them so much but I am still learning. When I looked around the internet for recipes, I found many different recipes for jeow bong. I pulled from a few of them, combining ingredients that I can easily get in my neighbourhood. Many recipes include pig skin as an ingredient but I left it out of this recipe only because I didn’t have time to pick it up. This recipe turned out very well without it but next time I may try with pork included.

Ingredients

  • 10 cloves garlic
  • 4 medium shallots
  • around 25 grams fresh galangal (one thumb-size chunk)
  • 20 grams dried chilis
  • 60ml (1/4 cup) of water
  • olive oil for frying (1-2 tablespoons)
  • 30ml (2 tablespoons) fish sauce
  • 6 kaffir lime leaves
  • 25 grams tamarind paste (a little less than 2 tablespoons)
  • 1 teaspoon MSG or Aji-no-moto (same thing, different name)
  • 1 tablespoon palm sugar (or use regular white sugar)

Process

jeow bong ingredients
Raw ingredients.
chopped shallots and garlic
Slice shallots and garlic into uniform smaller pieces…this will help them to brown and cook evenly and will make them easier to crush with a mortar and pestle.
chopped galangal and kaffir lime leaves
Slice galangal into smaller pieces, rough chop lime leaves (you don’t have to do this but it keeps them from bouncing out of the mortar).
grating palm sugar
Shave palm sugar…you can probably just cut off a tablespoon-sized chunk if you don’t have a rasp.
In a hot dry pan, toast the shallots and garlic. Keep them moving.
heating shallots and garlic in dry pan
When they start to get brown and soften up a little, they are done.
heating galangal and lime leaves in dry pan
Dry roast galangal and lime leaves. These don’t need to brown. Just heat them until they are very aromatic. Use your nose. It is ok if the leaves char just a little. Galangal looks like ginger and I guess it shares a little of the flavour but…it has a much sweeter fruity aroma. I think it smells kind of like pink bubblegum when you warm it up.
roasting chilis in dry pan
Roast chilis until they become dark and smokey. A few charred patches are ok.
all aromatics pictured with stone mortar and pestle for making jeow bong
Now these will get processed by hand with this stone mortar and pestle. I think most people probably use a food processor instead but I wanted to try it this traditional way. It was more work that I thought!
scissors cutting chilis to smaller size
Start with the chilies. I snip mine into smaller pieces with scissors first. This way they don’t bounce out of the mortar so easily when you are grinding them.
chilis after grinding in mortar
Grind and pound them into a rough powder.
galangal and lime leaf grinding in mortar
Add galangal and kaffir lime leaves.
Pound and grind these into a rough paste. This takes a considerable amount of time and muscle. I was surprised.
Repeat this process with the shallots and garlic…pound..grind..pound…grind.
adding garlic and shallots to mortar and grinding into paste
This looks good to me. This is much rougher than would come out of a food processor (or a jar) but, I like the rustic look and once you cook it out everything relaxes into a nice soft paste.
Heat oil in a heavy pan.
cooking paste from mortar in pan
Add all of the paste from the mortar and warm it through.
Add the fish sauce, palm sugar, MSG, tamarind and water.
cooking paste while reducing liquid
Cook over medium heat stirring often.
finished jeow bong in pan
Once it cooks down to a sticky paste, it is done. Remove from heat and cool it down.
cooling jeow bong
Finished product! This is definitely chunkier than you would get if you bought it in a jar. But, it is delicious and easy to eat. Addictive! Personally, I like this rustic homemade look out of the mortar and pestle. If you want something perfectly smooth, use a food processor instead.

Now what?

Store the paste in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

You can use your jeow bong as a dip for meats or veggies or mix it into stir fried dishes. Or, try swiping a little onto a ball of warm sticky rice and popping it into your mouth. This is my favourite way to eat it.

Go easy with this stuff. It is surprisingly powerful!

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

Thanks for reading : )

Diagram

On August 2, 2025 2 Comments - Photography

***this post will not work in tiny form on your phone. Have a look on a bigger screen if you can***

What’s a diagram?

In broad terms, a diagram is a visual representation of an idea or a system of related parts. It might explain how the parts function together or, it might just depict how the parts relate to each other in physical space. A diagram is usually a drawing or a flow of symbols representing and simplifying the workings of something.

Can a photograph be a diagram?

I think so. A photo can be labeled with words or over-laid with symbols that clarify what you are looking at or, how the different things in the photo relate to each other. I can remember school textbooks full of diagrams, from drawings showing the organs of a plant cell to photos labeling the parts of an airplane wing. I would pour over them for hours and I still love looking at them today.

It seems like a lot of old technical instructions came with roughly labeled black and white photos too. I had a motorcycle repair manual that was full of terrible black and white photos with what looked like taped-on labels. Things like lawn mowers, power tools, instruction manuals from small factories…these often used to come with labeled photos.

When I was a boy, some of these diagrams inspired me to take apart appliances when my parents weren’t home and draw pictures as I went so that I could put them back together again. These were my own diagrams and they worked! Usually…

IKEA

IKEA is notorious for it’s cryptic diagrams aimed at having a single instruction manual that works across all languages and cultures. This is a pretty ambitious goal and I don’t think it always works. The IKEA diagrams have become kind of a universal joke with anyone who has had to sweat over assembling a flat-packed bookcase or file cabinet. Over the years, I have gotten a little better at understanding them but….I also think I could improve them quite a bit. That would be a fun job : )

The Calypso

The Calypso was Jacques Cousteau’s ship. When I was small, all I could think about was the ocean. I read everything I could in the school library and then begged my parents for my own Jacques Cousteau Encyclopedia. Eventually they got me the books. My absolute favourite book was the last volume. In it was a 4 page foldout of all the rooms and systems on the ship. Both sides! The rest of the books are long gone now but the Calypso book is still on my bookshelf. This is a classic diagram with numbered lines that correspond to a key on the opposite page. It is one of my favourite diagrams of all time.

Here is one side of the Calypso diagram:

diagram of Calypso, Cousteau's ship
Jacques Cousteau Encyclopedia Volume 21 Calypso Quarters and Equipment Starboard Side, 1978

How we arrange all of our “things”

Something I like to do on Instagram: when someone posts a selfie or other photo taken inside their house, I like to zoom in on the backgrounds and have a look at what is on the walls, what is on a bookshelf or a table. I like to see how people arrange their “stuff”. The background is sometimes more interesting than the main subject.

With that thought in mind, I had a look at some of my old photos and also around my apartment to see how my things were arranged and how they might relate to each other. Sometimes arrangements seem random but other times there are patterns…the stuff we use more often is easier to access. Or things that get used together are grouped together. Sometimes there is a logical flow to the physical arrangement of our things. And sometimes, there is a kind of beauty to the random placement of things, how they just happen to end up in space. I often think how difficult it must be for art directors on a set to get all these kinds of details just right to make a fictional environment feel believable.

My photo-diagrams

Below are some diagrams that I made of stuff around my house or things in past pictures. I like the look of these kinds of labeled photos. They remind me of old parts manuals or science fair projects when paper and glue was the only way…

diagram labeling contents of living room shelf
Built-in shelf and contents south wall (fire hazards in yellow highlight).
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025
diagram of small student kitchen
Student kitchen Toronto Canada (potential fire hazards in yellow highlight).
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025
diagram of guitar effects pedal board
Guitar effect pedals mounted on board (yellow arrows indicate flow of current through circuits).
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025
kitchen shelves and contents
Gas pipe and raw lumber shelving with contents, kitchen, north wall.
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025
coffee workflow
Coffee workflow from bean broker to mug (orange indicates potential danger from scalding).
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025

Diagrams as art

I think there is something meaningful and personal about the way we arrange our “stuff”, our tools and our less functional objects. And I also think there is both art and science in good diagrams. I tried to combine both ideas here into something fun and engaging. What do you think? If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below. And subscribe if you would like a note about new posts. Thanks for reading!

Queen Street East

On July 31, 2025 4 Comments - Photography, Toronto

***your phone will magically turn good pictures into bad. Try looking at this post on a bigger screen if you can***

To Book City in the Beaches

This morning, I finished up the last chapter of a fat book that I have been reading for a few weeks. I had a new title in mind so I decided to take a walk from my place to the Book City in the Beaches neighbourhood. Book City is one of the last independent bookstores so, in an effort to support small business, I try to buy most of my books there. And, lucky for me, they had a single copy of the book I wanted. This long walk would take me along most of Queen Street East through Corktown, Leslieville and to the Beaches (named for the white sand beaches nearby along the shore of Lake Ontario).

Return flight

Since I had my camera with me and since I don’t get to the Beaches very often, I decided to take a few photos on the 7km walk home. Compared to the rest of Queen Street, this area has some truly old and interesting low rise architecture and businesses. Some blocks of Queen Street East are so quaint, they almost have the old-time feel of a cottage-town main street. The commercial areas are mostly undeveloped (so far). There is even a gas station right out of the 1950’s with pumps that look like refrigerators, full service attendants in uniform and a round glass reception area. I am excited to take some pictures of it at night! Coming soon!

The Photos

I had not planned on posting about this so I was just taking random pictures for fun. The photos are not really meant to be representative of anything. I just liked enough of them that I wanted to share them. They are generally in chronological order from the Beaches travelling west back towards Corktown.

Time for a pint….
Colourful old-school aquarium shop. You don’t really see too many of these around anymore. When I was a kid, fish were very popular pets and every shopping mall had a huge aquarium shop. I did see many just like this one in Japan and Korea with tanks of pet fish and plants on the sidewalk.
Melba Studios: I just like the look of this place. The old windows and the green paint. I think it is a ceramic studio.
Maru Japanese Bistro. These rainbow benches are all over the sidewalks here.
There is something about hand painted signage that i just love. The graphics here are so cool. The colours too. And the globe lights…so retro.
Dave’s Hot Chicken and electric bike delivery guy. These guys are such a part of the cityscape now. When I go walking and I don’t see one of these guys for awhile, I feel like maybe I have gone too far and it’s time to turn back towards home.
Old pawnshop.
Boston Discount Store at Queen and Boston Street
Jack Black, Pet M.D.
Queen Books.
This is a corner garden centre and cafe. I like the mural but I wonder why it is 11 o’clock? There is a lot of colour everywhere in this neighbourhood. It is the first thing I noticed. A lot of Toronto, especially newly redeveloped Toronto is…well…”neutral”.
Wonderful bulky old building with original windows and paint. Those apartments up top must be incredible. Ali Baba’s…good quality fast food.
Riverside Bridge/Queen Street Viaduct crossing over the Don River. “This river I step in is not the river I stand in”. That’s a Heraclitus quote…feel free to discuss amongst yourselves in the comments. I don’t recommend stepping or standing in the Don River these days. I am pretty sure that clock is broken.
4644 and 4441 meet face to face on the Riverside Bridge. These colours make me happy: the vibrant TTC red framed by the dull green bridge. It’s a good picture.
“Who is Jesus?” billboard beside faded Bay Cat Hospital sign. I had a cat neutered here once but I have not read the Bible in some time.
Concrete bridge-support art.
Speaking of colourful, Thruway Muffler is the sickest colour of pink. This crazy bubblegum colour covers the entire giant auto repair garage. Beside it is Spaccio: commissary kitchen, grocery store and restaurant that is part of the Terroni group. They have the absolute best frozen take home pizzas, a bargain at 2 for 20$.
Poke bowl billboard with float plane.
I like the lines, light and colours here. These old brick factory buildings are real beauties.
“Scenic Route” art posted on a row of boarded up and abandoned houses on River Street.
A rare selfie…Hello Neighbour

The End

Hope you enjoyed some of these photos. Queen Street at the Beaches is lined with fun and unique shops and restaurants and is definitely worth a visit. I will be back soon for some night photos. As always, if you have anything to say, even if it’s just “Hi” feel free to comment below.

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St James Town at Night

On July 24, 2025 2 Comments - Photography, Toronto

***your phone will crush and distort these pictures. If you can, try to see this on a bigger screen like a laptop***

A Very Short History of St James Town

St James Town was once a working-class Victorian neighbourhood, housing the poorest of Toronto residents in ratty decaying homes. In the 50s and 60s, city planners and developers decided to rezone and bulldoze most of the neighbourhood. Over the next decade or so, they built nineteen highrise buildings including 4 city owned public housing towers. At the time, developers assumed that fresh young middle-class office workers would quickly move in. Instead, that demographic chose to move to the suburbs of North York and Scarborough and the neighbourhood filled up again with Toronto’s lowest income families. Over the last couple of decades, the demographics have shifted more towards new immigrants to Canada and St James Town remains one of the last affordable neighbourhoods in the downtown area.

For a more detailed account of St James Town history and development have a look at this excellent article at Blog TO.

Bad Reputation?

In the late 90’s, when I first moved to Toronto, St James Town had been in steady decline for 30 years. The buildings were crumbling, the public spaces were trampled and neglected and the residents were some of the poorest in the downtown area.

One day, shortly after moving to this city, I went to visit a friend downtown and missed my subway stop. As a result, I accidentally came above ground at the tiny run-down Glen Road exit of the Sherbourne subway station. Glen Road consists of a single block of some of the last surviving Victorian homes in the area but, at the time, the houses were all boarded up and abandoned. It was like coming up into a ghost town of haunted houses. I was so surprised that I took a bunch of film photos but, unfortunately, I can’t seem to find them now. If you want to see some images from this time, this site has some good ones.

A little later I met my friend and told him about getting lost in St James Town. His advice was to stay away from the neighbourhood, even during the daytime. Apparently the area had a bad reputation for drugs, gangs, violence, prostitution. I had no idea if this was true or not but I took his advice and never came back. Not until over 20 years later when I ended up renting an apartment on this very street.

St James Town Today

With 19 highrise towers in a relatively small area, St James Town is the most densely populated neighbourhood in Canada . The “official” population of St James Town today is around 17 000 although it is probably much higher. It is still home to many low income families and is a popular landing place for new immigrants.

Sometime around 2000, the city decided to put some resources towards improving the crumbling neighbourhood. This included plans to clean up and repair the old highrises and renew the parks, playgrounds and public spaces. This is ongoing today.

Eventually, developers started to sniff around one of the last downtown neighbourhoods that had so far escaped gentrification. Condo speculators bought up and fenced off many of the old neglected houses and plots of land. They also gutted and renovated the row of abandoned houses on Glen Road in return for the city’s approval of their development plans. They squeezed in a few new glass and steel towers and tucked little townhouses into the shadows of the old highrises. Since I moved in, no less than 5 new condo buildings have gone up within a 1 minute walk. And many more are on the way.

Living in St James Town

I think that St James Town still has something of a bad reputation today. Reading online, I often see postings where people are nervously asking about safety and crime rates before moving in to the area. And still others (who probably don’t even live here) advise them to be very careful, especially at night.

I have lived here for years and have not had a single incident that would make me feel unsafe. Police, ambulances and fire trucks are a pretty regular sight. But, when you have over 17 000 people living on a few city blocks, this doesn’t seem unusual.

I like that this neighbourhood always has people moving around in it. You are rarely by yourself outside. To me, this feels safe. I used to work at a restaurant directly south of St James Town in Old Toronto. The walk home from there at night felt so unsafe to me during the covid closures that I would carry a police baton with me at all times. Walking on high alert, I wouldn’t feel relaxed until I found myself among the busy highrises of St James Town again.

Maybe the Best Neighbourhood Downtown…

I love living in this neighbourhood . Everything is in walking distance: dentist, doctor, supermarket, subway, Koreatown, Chinatown, Little India, beautiful natural spaces, museums, universities, galleries, live music venues, great restaurants, a fully operating farm, some of the country’s best hospitals…the list goes on. I think this must be one of the most connected neighbourhoods in the city. I haven’t had a car in many years and I never miss it.

The interior of St James Town itself reminds me of the highrise neighbourhood I grew up in when my parents first immigrated to Canada. People are always outside. The parks and public spaces are full even at night. Extended families get together and pass time in the shade of old trees. People who have immigrated from the same place and share language and culture find each other here, in the building hallways and the outdoor playgrounds. They naturally build communities around their shared experiences. If you walk around St James Town, English might be one of the last languages you hear. Tagalog, Hindi, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Tamil, Russian, Bengali….these are much more common.

St James Town is one of the last places where low income Canadians as well as newly landed immigrants can afford to live connected to the downtown core. And because so many of the residents share a common experience, St James Town has a the feeling of a vibrant community. People know their neighbours and I believe that people look out for each other. The neighbourhood has a strong feeling of family. All kinds of family.

Night Walks Through St James Town

Some would say that the clump of old highrises is ugly but I see real beauty in them…in their multicoloured brick exteriors, angular balconies, weird glowing stairwells, old mature trees and especially in the people who call this neighbourhood home. Hopefully some of that will come through in these photos but, if not, take a walk through here on a nice summer night and you may be surprised by how much you enjoy it.

St James Town at night
Three-winged 60’s highrises were typical of the time. St James Town has quite a few toward the south. Hand painted murals reflecting the cultural diversity of the area decorate some of the dozens of concrete stairwells.
Stairwell going down
These concrete stairwells are everywhere in St James Town. Some are in parking lots, others in the middle of parks and fields, others under trees. I assume they are exits from underground parking. I almost never see people use them…who knows what’s really down there? How deep do they go? Makes me think of a Haruki Murakami novel.
Mature trees in St James Town
Typical St James Town skyline…the place has kind of a retro space-age vibe at night. There is something beautiful and mysterious about it. All those huge angled balconies and lit windows in neat rows. You can see two people on the concrete path under the trees…this gives you an idea of how big the trees are.
Glowing stairwell
I call this the snow globe. It is one of only a few covered and lit concrete stairwells.
60s twin towers St James Town
Handsome twin towers in white brick. Big old trees and wide green spaces in front.
A small commercial area on the ground floor of a central highrise. This is close to a discount supermarket and community centre. During the day there is a full time open air flea market here. From VHS tapes to protein powder to (found?) bike seats…it’s all here.
The area is dense with unique buildings. This one is bright and clean with red brick and white metal siding with blue trim. There are no balconies on this one which is unusual. I like the lit windows at night, the warm glow.
Working-class neighbourhood with working-class rides.
One of the weird glowing stairwells to….? These are everywhere.
Korean Spicy Tteok-Bokki Truck
Food truck at rest.
240 Wellesley delivery man
Ubiquitous Toronto food delivery guy on electric motorbike.
Dirty payphone near 240 Wellesley
I wonder how serious the emergency would have to be for me to touch this payphone?
Underground parking ramp with cool green porthole building.
Moms chatting in the park. Trash waiting for morning pickup.
urban art on concrete
Stairwell art, beautiful in its detail. These little panels appear in the most unexpected places. The art itself is respected by the community…these pieces never get tagged or damaged intentionally.
Another mural on the back of a concrete stairwell entrance.
Beck taxicab on street at night
Beck Taxi parked outside new building construction site.
closed laundromat. Rows of machines
A hold-out from the 50’s. This was originally an Italian tailor’s house and business. When they were planning the original St James Town in the 50’s, he refused to sell so they built all the towers around him. Today, his building still stands, home to the New World Laundry on Parliament Street.
Glen Road at Howard Street, last remnant of original Victorian neighborhood.
Top view of Glen Road..this was the street in St James Town that I first saw when I moved to the city. At that time, all of the houses were abandoned and boarded up. This cobblestone plaza is a new renovation that just opened this summer. When the city first posted plans for this, there was a lot of resistance in the neighbourhood (mostly around losing parking spaces) but I am really happy with the way it turned out.
New pedestrian tunnel Glen Road Toronto
Newly renovated tunnel under Bloor Street which connects to the Morley Callaghan foot bridge.
That’s the pedestrian bridge at the far end of the tunnel. Interestingly, it connects St James Town (one of Toronto’s poorest neighbourhoods) and Rosedale (one of the city’s richest neighbourhoods).
A 54 story condo tower, recent construction, built directly behind the row of victorian houses on Glen Road.
This is an interesting photo of a vacant lot in the springtime fog. All of the old houses you see in the foreground are boarded up and slated for demolition to make way for a new condo. This is what is happening all over this neighbourhood. The city claims there is not enough affordable housing but they keep knocking it down and replacing it with condos that nobody can afford to live in. Those steel and glass buildings in the background are like a line of storm clouds warning of the coming destruction. The little brick houses are cowering in from of them. It’s a good picture.

Convenience Stores

There is a small commercial strip on Howard street with a couple of Filipino restaurants, a fried chicken place, a small pharmacy, an Ethiopian grocery and a Halal butcher. These convenience stores are part of this strip:

Howard Convenience Store
Howard Convenience…cheapest Haagen-Dazs ice cream. You can even buy beer now. A really nice old man runs it. I have been coming here for a long time and we know each other as neighbours. This picture was originally from my green series.
The no-name “store on the corner”.
Same “store on the corner”. I have met 3 generations of the family that run this place (and 2 generations of calico cats, both named Nyu-Nyu). A young Chinese couple own it. Shortly after I moved here, the wife became pregnant and later gave birth to a little girl. I asked yesterday and apparently her daughter is 7 years old now!

I used to buy cigarettes here. The wife’s mom (the 7 year old’s grandma) worked there at the time and I would visit her everyday on my way to work and buy a pack of smokes. She would cheerfully sell them to me while telling me that they were bad for my health and that I should stop. One day, I quit smoking and so, I didn’t go in for a few weeks. When I finally stopped in to buy an ice cream, she asked where I had been. I told her that I quit smoking and so I didn’t need to stop by so often. I couldn’t believe how happy she was to hear that. It was as if I was her own son!

Jamestown Convenience
Jamestown convenience store is just south of the highrises on Wellesley Street. An old Korean man and his son run this one. It is FULL of plants and flowers. It’s really like a flower shop pretending to be a convenience store. I think the old man prefers selling ferns over lottery tickets. This one is not directly in St James Town but it is still part of it in my mind.

Winter in St James Town

These are a few pictures of a snowy night walk through St James Town last winter. It really is a pretty place.

Snow in St James Town
Indian couple showing their baby what is probably his first snowfall. Imagine that…your first snow. The address of the white brick building is 666 Ontario Street: the highrise of the Beast!
Ventilation units pushing out clouds of steam from under 240 Wellesley St tower
Snow in St James Town park. Empty benches at night
Central Park, St James Town during a big snowfall. This park was completely redone over the last 2 years with new benches, lighting, playground and basketball courts. It’s normally full of people but I took this picture very late on a cold winter night so everyone was probably bundled up inside.

The Future of St James Town

There is a tremendous amount of demolition and building going on around here. I think the original towers are safe in their big bulky numbers. Hopefully they will continue to see improvements and provide a home for people who can’t afford to move anywhere else.

As for the surviving victorian houses…I am not so sure. Just last year I found out that Concert Realty bought up the whole west side of Glen Road. This is the same developer that is building the 54 story building outside my bedroom window. This means that right now they own a continuous parcel of land that is more than enough to build a second condo tower. They have not submitted plans to the city yet but I think it is only a matter of time. Lately there has been some pull back on new condos so hopefully Glen Road will survive for a few more years…let’s see what happens.

There is so much more…

These pictures just show a little of this neighbourhood. In recent years, the city has put up a brand new community centre complete with sunlit indoor pool, library, indoor basketball courts and community services.

The Rose Avenue Public School right at the centre of St James Town is one of the last original buildings in the area. This brick building with massive old windows was built in 1924 and still operates as a busy public school and day care, surrounded by old trees and brick walkways.

This is the walkway along the side of Rose Avenue Public School at night. It’s a pretty and peaceful spot.

St James Town represents a massive and miscalculated experiment in early city redevelopment. Originally seen as a failure and struggling for decades, I think it has grown into a unique and vital part of the Toronto downtown.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you.

Thanks for reading! : )

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Applying for a Date

On July 14, 2025 0 Comments - Language, Uncategorized

Beyond the first definition

If you ask a native English speaker the meaning of a word in English, you may get a few different answers. Take the word “date” for example. What does this word mean? One person will say that it is the number of a particular day in the calendar, as in July 15th is todays “date”. Someone else might say that a “date” is a social appointment where you meet up with someone to do a specific activity…like go to a movie. Another person might say that a date is a sweet fruit with a pit in the middle…as in “date” squares. A single word can have several different meanings. The same is true in other languages.

I have been learning Korean for several years and a lot of my vocabulary consists of words for which I know only one basic meaning. I think this is normal in language learning. More exposure to the language over time will show these words in unfamiliar contexts. Then, you look them up and discover new meanings. This is progress.

Shin-cheong (신청하다) means “to apply” for something

***I don’t think romanizing Korean words is very useful but I’ll do it here so you can recognize the word in this post and get an idea of what it might sound like.

I learned the word shin-cheong/신청하다 many years ago. It was in a vocabulary list that gave a single definition: “to apply for something”. For example… to apply for a job or a passport or a credit card. Ok…I got it. “Shin-cheong/신청하다” means “to apply for”. I remembered this word.

What else could it mean?

While studying recently, I listened to a conversation in Korean online where a man asked a female coworker to go out for a drink after work. She was surprised so she questioned him in Korean: “What? Are you asking me on a date??”

Now…in this situation, she used the word “shin-cheong/신청” in place of the english verb “asking”. “데이트 신청을 해요?” is what she said in Korean (don’t worry if you can’t read this).

So..with my limited understanding of the word “shin-cheong/신청”, the translation in my mind sounded like this: “Are you applying for a date with me?”

This made me laugh and I knew that I was misunderstanding something. Of course, I looked it up and found that “shin-cheong/신청” also means “to make a request/ask for something”. This meaning is commonly used in dating to “request” that the person go out with you. In others words “ask them out”.

Why not “apply” for a date though?

Then I started to think that maybe applying for a date was not a bad idea. It has to be better than embarrassing dating apps and online algorithm match-ups.

I drew this don’t steal my art AI bots

I imagined it like this:

If you see someone you want to date, you would simply submit an application to them, like applying for a job. Dating is work, isn’t it? The application could give your name, birthdate, contact information, hobbies, life goals, core values, expectations etc.. A good application could even include references from people you have dated in the past who will confirm that, although it didn’t work out, you don’t seem crazy or dangerous. A good cover letter stating why you are interested in dating the person could increase your chances of getting a callback.

So, in this imaginary world, it would be perfectly normal to walk up to someone you find attractive and hand them an application. The social convention would require that the person accept the application without judgement or emotion. Maybe there would be just a few polite questions or a little small talk. The whole exchange should take no more than a minute. Later the person can choose the most promising candidate and set up an interview (Isn’t a first date really an interview?)

How is this better than online dating?

First impressions or “gut reactions” are a kind of animal instinct we all have. I think these impressions are pretty reliable and accurate. If someone meets you face to face and hands you an application…simply by meeting them physically, you are learning things about them on a subconscious level. Important information is being exchanged, even in those few seconds. This is where online dating sites and dating apps fail.

Sure, you can flip-and-find someone online who has a cute picture and sounds amazing in their self-promotional blurb and set up a date with them. Then you probably find out that they are not at all what you expected. This is such a waste of time. Wouldn’t it be better to have a quick meeting first and then get the details to consider afterwards? Maybe get a few applications to compare..call a few references?

In the world outside my imagination…

I suppose this would probably never work..no room for advertising. It was just a cute and funny idea that popped into my head when I failed to translate accurately.

“Are you applying for a date with me?”

“Why, yes..thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely (your name here)”

I guess online dating apps are the new normal and they are here to stay. We have been trained over the years to filter all of life’s events through our devices. I suppose it works sometimes. But, I still believe that the best way to meet someone is to meet them, face to face, out in the world. And listen to your instincts.

If you have any questions or comments or if you would like to submit an application, please use the form below.

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Losing Focus: Finding Interest in Blurry Photos

On July 11, 2025 0 Comments - Photography, Toronto

***If you are looking at this on your phone you probably won’t see the blur in these photos. Your phone will crush the images to the point where they will probably look in focus. Of all the posts so far, this one needs to be seen on a bigger screen to make sense…

***photographers: this article is not about using diffusion filters to soften focus.

Finding something interesting in “mistakes”

Over the years, I have taken thousands of pictures. Sometimes they turn out great. Often times they don’t. Sometimes the image I was seeing in my mind didn’t translate well with the camera or, other times, the photos are technically flawed. My camera is older and the auto-focus system is not perfect. It struggles with difficult light and reflections, especially at night. So, I tend to get a few photos that are out of focus from time to time. These blurry pictures are impossible to fix and I always delete them first, without any thought, to save space on my computer.

Lately, I have found a few of these pictures that escaped getting deleted. While they are not what I intended, some of them are still kind of interesting. Unfortunately, only a few of these “mistakes” have survived. So, I decided to go out and try to take some out of focus pictures on purpose and see if I could come up with some good shots.

This project turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. My idea was to just go out, find an interesting scene, manually de-focus the camera and shoot away. I shot hundreds of photos and the majority looked terrible…not interesting…just BAD pictures.

But, over a couple of weeks, I managed to figure out which images are more likely to make a good blurred photo. Here are the ones that I think turned out pretty well.

Shooting through moving water

blurry shark at COEX aquarium in Seoul
This was a deletion-survivor from a recent trip to Korea. It is a picture of a shark in a big tank at the COEX aquarium in Seoul. I took the photo from above through the rippling surface of the water, so all the light is bent into these unnatural shapes. While it isn’t the best picture of a shark, I like the way all the colours are swirled together to make this abstract image.
I tried to recreate this phenomenon in my kitchen sink with these coffee cups. I like the way the water distorted them and I may try some more like this in the future. Maybe not as interesting as the first picture but…they are just coffee cups not sharks : )

Manually de-focussed still life shots around my apartment

These photos have a dreamy quality about them: you know what they are but all the details are missing. Like…you know there was a person in your dream…you know what you said, you know what you did…but you can’t see their face no matter how hard you try to remember….these pictures have that kind of feeling for me.

out of focus book looks dreamlike
A paperback book: what’s inside is obscured. You can almost make out a word or two but not quite.
water glass in strong morning sun
Water glass in morning sunlight…the light is strong and direct and the glass is a cold hard object. But…the slight blur softens and warms the whole image.
fern leaves backlit by morning sun
Sunlight filtered through fern leaves: if I stare at this long enough I feel relaxed…there is a calmness in this photo that wouldn’t be there if it was razor sharp.
out of focus moon jar
White porcelain vase: The plant is mostly in focus but, because it is off to the side and dark, the white porcelain jar becomes the main subject. All the hard reflections in it are smeared together giving it a liquid softness. Having a small portion of a picture in focus turned out to be a good technique for keeping the image interesting.

Out in the city at night

I thought night shooting might be a little easier but it was just as difficult to get an interesting shot. Here are a few that I did like. In the city at night, there is a lot of hard contrast in the lighting which I found helps to give some structure to de-focussed pictures.

fox family with green filter
I really like this one. It is a survivor from our green-photo project. We were taking photos around Philosophers Walk near the ROM and a mother fox with 4 pups came out to dig for food around the trees. I didn’t have the camera set up for this kind of subject but this is what I got anyways. This one looks otherworldly to me. Because of the green light and the motion blur. This could be another planet.
de-focussed karaoke neon sign
Colourful business signs lit up at night make good photos anytime. After many bad shots, I learned that for a de-focussed photo, it helps to be able to read the words.
out of focus city skyline
This is a pretty severely de-focussed shot of the city skyline. It works because the subject is obvious and the contrast between light and dark is strong. I like how all the points of light become circular here.
food trucks at night
Food trucks on the university campus. Great light, colours and graphics add to the interest of the blurry image. I don’t know why but it makes me think of those iridescent puffy stickers…
These two photo-bombed me. I am including it just because they are cute (and blurry)
ghostly looking backlit cyclist at night
There is some motion blur here and the cyclist is also strongly backlit. It gives the picture kind of a ghostly appearance.
woman studying at night in a field by lamplight
This is just a good image. The blur adds a little to the strangeness of this student studying by streetlight under a tree in the middle of the night. This is not really even near a building…she is in a field.

Time Travel

manicured garden in front of old low rise building
This one has a nice warm light. The manicured garden and the building itself give it a vintage vibe. It looks to me like the 1950s. Like, if you backed up the camera a little, you would see big american cars with fins and lots of chrome parked outside. Dreamy.

Photos that look like paintings

Scenes with strong texture and clear structure can make good unfocussed images. Because of the large grain and the soft transition between colours, these ones look like oil paintings to me.

tiny house with river rock facade
This is a tiny house in Cabbagetown with a white picket fence and a river-stone facade. This image has great texture and no clutter. Nothing extra: house, tree, fence. With the slight blur and bright sunshine it looks more painted than photographed.
U of T Convocation Hall
Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto. The massive pillars of the building along with its imposing size and the night lighting make it look painted here.
Old couple and fisherman at Brickworks pond. This image has strong lines that help it stay together even blurred as it is. This could easily pass for a painting.

Ghosts…

Images with people in them turned out to be some of the most interesting ones. They all look like dream scenes to me. They are clearly people but their limbs are distorted and their faces are obscured. This is how I tend to remember characters from dreams. I don’t think I have ever seen a ghost but, if I did, I imagine that this is what they would look like.

After dark at King’s College Circle. Night time ghosts.
Sherbourne Subway Station at Glen Road. Daytime ghosts.
Beltline Trail ghosts
people who look like ghosts in forest
Ghost couple leaving the forest

What’s next…?

This was a difficult project and I am kind of glad that I can get back to taking “normal” pictures again. I am really happy with these few good shots that I did come up with. I hope you like them too. Working on a project about shadows…

As always, you are welcome to leave questions or comments below. I am always happy to hear from you. Knowing you have been here motivates me to keep at it. Thanks for looking!

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Tiara Girls in Shibuya Scramble

On July 7, 2025 0 Comments - Japan 2025, Photography

Smartphones and Social Media: Today’s Popular Photography

These days, everyone everywhere has a camera in their pocket. Smartphone cameras have filters, AI and editing tools that give everyone the ability to take a decent photograph. Publishing photos has also become effortless. Anyone can post their images publicly on social media platforms like Instagram, and image posts get feedback through “likes” and “comments”. This is satisfying and motivating. It is a fun way to share your images with a huge audience.

Social media gives people the motivation to take photographs and smartphone technology makes it easy. The result is that millions of personal documentary style photos are being published everyday. Photo based apps have become a worldwide tool for communication and self expression. But while casual social media snaps are by far the most common type of photography, there are still other types of photographs to consider: images that are able to draw and hold your attention, freezing unique and surprising moments in time. There is a kind of magic in them. They are rare and difficult to capture.

Because these types of photos are so elusive, netting them requires some planning and skill but mostly persistence and luck. Of the thousands of pictures I took on a recent trip to Japan and Korea, I managed to capture only one such image.

The 1/250th of a second miracle

Tiara Girls in Shibuya Scramble Crossing
Tiara Girls in Shibuya Scramble copyright @ TigerSalad

1/250th of a second…that’s how much time is captured here. We are in a huge crowd of people swarming through Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo. I am quickly walking forward taking pictures from waist level without looking through my camera. The girls are walking quickly towards me headed in the opposite direction. For this fraction of a second, we are facing each other. We are less than 2 metres apart and my finger happens to push the camera shutter. We pass each other and the moment is gone. Forever. One fraction of a second before or after and it would not exist. It is pure luck.

The intimate angle, the fact that the image is in focus and exposed so well and the emotion on display coming together in this tiny moment is almost a miracle. To put it into context, I tried the same technique in the same crosswalk for over two hours and took over 400 pictures. Out of 400 shots, maybe 6 or 7 were usable. Of those few, this was the only one that stood out as something truly special. It made the whole process worthwhile and went beyond all my expectations. It is one of my favourite pictures that I have ever taken.

What sets this image apart?

Emotion.

Photographs that express strong emotion are the ones that draw me in . And, the most captivating images are candid photos, where the emotion is pure and unaffected, where the subject has no sense that they are being photographed.

Tiara Girls in Shibuya Scramble glows with the energy of youth: freedom, rebellion, optimism are all on display. School uniform collars are unbuttoned and ties are pulled loose. Determined eyes are gazing directly and fearlessly into the future.

The princess tiaras, the body language and the smiles on their faces hint at the kind of friendship that can only bloom when you are young and free and open hearted. It makes me think of this short story passage:

“The most important people turned up surprisingly early in life. After a certain point, she found it difficult to turn even the first page of relationships that her younger self would’ve entered with relative ease. People locked their hearts at some point in their lives, as if everyone had agreed to do so. Then they made acquaintances outside those locks, with people who would never hurt them or be hurt by them”. Choi Eunyoung “Sister, My Little Soonae”

Some of our closest and most impactful friendships are forged when we are very young: before we have had our hearts bruised enough times to start hiding them away from others. This photograph captures that time.

I like this picture so much that I printed an 8×10 and pinned it up beside my desk. This notice board reminds me of all the appointments I don’t want to go to and also of all the language learning I am struggling with. When I feel overwhelmed or underpowered, I look at this picture, and try to take in some of its optimism and energy.

Candid photography and telephoto lenses (spy photography)

Are there easier ways to get this kind of picture? Why not just sit up on a staircase above the crossing with a long lens and fire away..like taking bird pictures? The answer is that if you are not down in the crowd using a lens that is close to human vision perspective, you will not capture the kind of emotion that you see here. It just won’t work. The photos will look like spy camera photos, flat and lifeless. Kind of like when they show snaps of cop surveillance photos on tv shows. You need to be inside the image. When you are photographing from a distance, the photo will feel distant.

Check out my original post about Shibuya Scramble Crossing if want to see a few more pictures from this day.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Knowing you have been here gives me the motivation to keep it up. Thanks always for stopping by : )

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Midori: Experiments in Green

On June 29, 2025 2 Comments - Photography, Toronto

Please try to look at this post on a laptop instead of your phone. It will look much better.

The World of Wong Kar Wai

I recently found a big picture and essay book about Wong Kar Wai on my bookshelf. I must have bought it years ago and, because I was so busy, never got around to reading it. These days, I have been sitting on the floor every morning and reading it cover to cover as I drink my coffee. The book inspired me to see his films again and I have been watching them one by one in chronological order.

One of the things I love about Wong Kar Wai and his cinematographer Christopher Doyle is the way they use strong colour casts to emphasize mood or setting or time. Often it is a prominent green, especially noticeable in Days of Being Wild, Fallen Angels and even In the Mood For Love. The photography in these films is so striking that on the first viewing, I end up misunderstanding the story because I am so focussed on the images alone. I have always loved these green steeped scenes the most.

Here is a famous example from the end of Fallen Angels:

a green scene from Wong Kar Wai's Fallen Angels movie

My Fujifilm X100T

This 10 year old camera is the only digital camera I have ever owned. By today’s standards, it is pretty old technology but I still love it. I have always been able to capture any picture in my imagination with this little machine. If you are interested, I describe it in a more detail at this link.

A few days ago, I decided to try to take some green toned pictures. I wanted to see if I could make some images that come close to the ones I love in the Wong Kar Wai films. I did this by manipulating the white balance of the camera and pushing it hard to the green side. How to do this is not really that interesting so I won’t go into it here but, if you want to know more about it, there are lots of good articles on the subject. Usually, you manipulate the white balance to keep your colours more natural under different kinds of light (like sunlight vs LED lightbulbs indoors). I did the opposite, manipulating white balance to get unnatural colour tones.

Here are a few of the pictures I like the best

I just took pictures of regular things..no extra effort to make cinematic compositions this time…

This photo started me on this idea. I took this picture accidentally with the wrong white balance setting which gave it a mild green cast. It started my thinking in that direction….that’s my Wong Kar Wai book on the table.
Brickworks Pond…rabbit hand
The green tone gives the red of the lifesaving ring an unusual hue…I don’t even know what to call that colour.
These are wild raspberry flowers…this shade of pink seems to be mostly immune to my green filter
Plant and wing lamp
Tiny kitchen…I really like the colour of this picture.
Rice Ball stand at Dundas and Bathurst…waiting for snacks. Great daylight green tone here too.
This is a hard push towards red just for comparison with the green. It has a much different feel…it looks hot and a little angry to me..compared to cool green
Celadon green is one of my favourite greens. Whenever I go to Korea, I try to find a piece of celadon pottery that I like.
If you ever brush your teeth in my apartment, this is what you will be looking at.
McDonald’s in Pride month colours
Strong incandescent lighting will often balance the green and look a little closer to normal. This is a fast food place on Bloor Street. Still, good green overtone.
The interior looks almost balanced but the green cast outside is good. The red colour is diluted by my green treatment.
Rolex store on Bloor
Philosophers Walk beside the Royal Ontario Museum
My daughter beside the old wall of the museum
Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown
Near Spadina underground parking garage in Chinatown
Spray paint and stencil signs…I love them
Waiting, waiting for the light to change…
Near the El Mocambo on Spadina. Tony Leung could easily be buying cigarettes in there.
Tap Phong: every cook and restaurant owner has bought something in here
College street car
St James Town around midnight
Walking home through St James Town
Parliament Street patio after hours
Gas stations always look amazing at night with a green cast. They are one of my favourite places to photograph especially when they are busy.

On my way home to write this post today, I was thinking..

Ever since I was little, if you asked me what my favourite colour is, I would say “green”. Always. The green of the sea, the green of the forest, the green of kelp and algae, the green of moss. Always green.

As I was walking home and thinking about writing this, I was listening to Luminescent Creatures, Ichiko Aoba’s new record. I only know a few words in Japanese but, every now and then, a word will pop out and stay with me… most often just because I like the sound. On the last track, which is so beautiful that I listened to it twice today, the word was “midori” 緑. When I got home and looked it up, it turns out to be the Japanese for word for “green”.

When I rolled that word around in my mind a little further, I realized that I had heard it before. In the movie Norwegian Wood (adapted from Haruki Murakami’s novel of the same name), lead character Toru Watanabe’s true love interest is named Midori. This film, directed by Tran Anh Hung, is full of vibrant green…just like his other famous film, The Scent of Green Papaya. And the cinematographer for Norwegian Wood was Mark Lee Ping-Bing who also worked on Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love. So many connections…

This is the character Midori from Norwegian Wood. Her personality and influence in the movie are also very green…in the sense of being fresh and full of life amidst mostly very dark characters. Of course she is dressed in green…I hadn’t noticed that before!

Green, my favourite colour. Green, the colour of summer. Midori…something beautiful. Green has been in my heart for the last few weeks. Maybe because it is mid summer after a rainy spring and the whole city is flooded with shades of green. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I really like them. I will keep working on it.

If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you : )

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Billy Carter Red: 10 year anniversary

On June 18, 2025 0 Comments - Music

UK 2018

In the spring of 2018, I travelled to Brighton UK to attend the Great Escape music festival. I had come to see Say Sue Me, one of my favourite new discoveries as well as 3rd Line Butterfly, legends from the early Korean indie scene. These two bands along with Adoy and Billy Carter were scheduled to play at a Korean Music Spotlight event. I had never heard of Adoy or Billy Carter so, in the weeks leading up to the festival, I did some reading online and listened to a bit of music from both bands.

Adoy had a laid back, smooth R&B sound that I just couldn’t connect with. And, I wasn’t sure about Billy Carter who were often described as a “blues band”. Usually, when I hear “blues band” I immediately get suspicious and think that I am not going like it. I do like old lo-fi blues but most modern takes on the genre are not interesting for me. I wondered what kind of blues would come out of Seoul?

As I would soon find out, describing Billy Carter as a “blues band” left a lot of elements out of the equation. Yes, they had solid roots in blues but they were so much more than that. The Billy Carter lineup at the time was Jiwon Kim on vocals and keys, Jina Kim on guitar and vocals and HyunJoon Lee on drums.

The Windmill Brixton

The first time I saw Billy Carter, they were opening for Say Sue Me at The Windmill Brixton in London UK. I didn’t have time to listen to their records much beforehand so I was hearing most of their songs for the first time. But even after just one show, I knew that I was interested in seeing more of Billy Carter. After their set, I met Jina and Jiwon while i was buying a t-shirt at the merch table. I remember getting the impression that they were not interested in talking to me. I think we were a little suspicious of each other : ) It makes me laugh now when I think about it!

Billy Carter play Windmill Brixton
Billy Carter, Windmill Brixton 2018, on Say Sue Me tour. At this time, they were label mates on Electric Muse in Korea.

The Great Escape Festival 2018

The day after the Windmill gig, I got to see Billy Carter play at a little club called Volks as part of the Great Escape Festival. This club was off the main drag near the beach. When I got arrived, there were probably less than 30 people in the place, almost all men. Even before the band got on stage I felt a bit nervous for them….”Why aren’t there more people here? Why isn’t it darker in here? Why is it all old men?” When I go to shows, I almost never worry about the band being shitty. I often worry about the audience or the venue being shitty instead. This was what I was feeling here…

The band set up, had a quick sound check and then launched right in. From that point on, I don’t think that I blinked the whole time. The musicianship was incredible, the singing powerful. The band played in front of 30 people as if they were headlining a stadium. I was really floored. For most of the songs, there was only drums (by the excellent Hyun Joon Lee) and Jina’s guitar. Jiwon added keys and melodica here and there. But the sound, especially from the guitar, was massive! I couldn’t understand how these three people could make so much great noise together. And the physicality of the band….they never stopped moving, jumping, dancing…

Billy Carter play Volks in Brighton
Billy Carter at Volks. Great Escape Festival 2018

As the band was packing up, I went out for some fresh air and wondered how I could describe the show I that I had just seen. For some reason, the word that came to mind was “demonic”. When I was watching these musicians on stage, they looked like they were possessed. Not in some affected theatrical way. Instead, they seemed to truly love and believe in the music they were making. They were possessed by their own art. It was contagious. I felt it too.

While I was outside for a smoke, I happened to see Jina and Jiwon come out of the club and light up. Now, I am not exactly a shy person but, after seeing what I just saw, I have to admit that I was a little bit afraid of these two! Eventually curiosity overcame fear and I walked over to say hi. We had a cigarette together and ended up having a really nice talk about everything from music to human rights in Korea vs Canada (my home). I remember Jina saying how much she would love to live in a place like Canada and feeling pretty proud about that.

I was able to catch Billy Carter one last time that weekend. This show was an official Korean Music Showcase full of industry people. The lineup included 3rd Line Butterfly, Billy Carter and Say Sue Me. It was an epic show for me, one I will never forget. I was thrilled to see these bands together in such a small space. At the end, I did a little tour around to say farewell to everyone I had met over the weekend. Just before I left, Jiwon (who I was mildly afraid of the day before) ran over and gave me a huge hug. So much for being scary haha..

The Great Escape 2018 was a pivotal event in my life. It reignited my love for live music and introduced me to artists that I might otherwise never get the chance to see. Billy Carter was a big part of that experience and I have been keeping up with them and their new projects as they continue to evolve as artists and activists. They will always occupy a warm place in my heart.

Billy Carter at Great Escape Festival Brighton UK 2018

Happy Anniversary!

Billy Carter Red CD
Billy Carter The Red EP

The Red EP 10th Anniversary

The first Billy Carter EP was released 10 years ago this summer. This 5 track introduction to the band is probably the grittiest sounding of all their releases. It is one of my personal favourites and, I think, one of the most important Korean indie rock records of all time. Today, I still listen to it with the same joy as I did the first time I heard it many years ago.

The title track “Silent/침묵, starts with a simple drum beat that soon gets swarmed with dirty fuzzy guitar noise. This gives way to a sticky and aggressive guitar riff that is a signature of Jina Kim’s sound in the studio as well as in live performances. Jiwon Kim’s soulful vocals power through it all and add to the high voltage blues assault. After a couple of choruses, the song itself suddenly goes silent. A ripping single note fuzz attack opens it back up over rising drum beats and wailing vocals that carry the song to the end. It sounds like a demonic chant. The lyrics are an indictment (in Korean language) of the tendency towards silence in the face of sadness and injustice. You can hear the blues influences in this song. But, the punk rock (bordering on metal) noise and riffing takes it to the very hard and ragged edge of anything I would think of as a blues.

Lost my Way, the second track, is definitely rooted in 12 bar blues. Jina’s guitar line defines the pace of the song as much as the drums. This is real rhythm guitar playing, keeping pace with, mirroring and complimenting the drum track. Because the sound is already so huge, it’s easy to forget that there is no bass player here. Jina’s guitar playing does double duty in holding down the basic rhythm of the song (a layer of sound normally provided by the bass guitar) and providing fun and energetic riffs and chords as well. This is one of the best parts of seeing them live and I have often wondered how it is even possible for a band to make so much satisfying noise with just a guitar and drum kit and some occasional keys and melodica. Jiwon and Jina share vocals on this track both alternating lines and harmonizing. Their singing styles are different but also complimentary. They sound great together, like two friends singing at the top of their lungs on the way back home from a bar at sunrise after many drinks and smokes. This song starts loud and frantic and just gets louder and more raucous as it rolls along. A fun track beginning to end.

The third track, Time Machine, pulls back the volume and intensity, but only just a little. A sad and lonely harmonica gives way to Jiwon’s powerful smokey slow blues style and Jina’s choppy guitar chords and low note grinding riffs. The lyrics seem to be reflection on past personal and family trauma and its’ lasting effects. “If I got a time machine, would go back and tell my dad not to cheat on his wife..If not, your daughter can never believe her men in her life.”. These are personal and direct lyrics, the sort that would come up later in the bands’ career especially on their last full length release Don’t Push Me. The guitar noise builds steadily as the song progresses, occasionally disintegrating into dissonance and broken rhythms adding to the sense of hopelessness and desperation that threads through the whole song.

Spring (봄), the second to last track, starts with a Johnny Cash style freight train Boom-chicka-boom rhythm guitar that bounces along until the vocals begin. This time Jina takes the microphone while playing a fun delta blues kind of guitar melody (so fun that I had to learn to play it myself). Jiwon adds a few sweet harmonies halfway through. Then, at about two minutes in, just as you are starting to think that Billy Carter decided to give you a nice easy listen, the song bursts open in a nuclear storm of guitar noise and full throttle screaming. Once the dust settles, Jiwon takes her turn at a verse and the guitar melody finally unwinds to the sound of birds tweeting in the spring sunshine. My Korean is not good enough to understand most poetry and metaphor. I suspect that the lyrics are much darker than the music might lead you to think. Somehow, I feel like they may be referencing environmental destruction or emotional disappointment here but… I can’t be sure. I will have to ask next time I get a chance!

The EP closes out with You Go Home. It features big juicy guitar riffs chugging along as Jina and Jiwon take turns singing about what sounds like a very messy end to a night of heavy drinking. A universal experience I think, especially in Korea : ) The song winds up with shouts of “Go Home!”, “잘 가!” “안녕!” “annyeong!”. For some reason at the end of this one I can feel the bone chilling cold of stumbling home on an icy winter night, full of beer and soju, howling wind making my cigarette burn down at double speed. BRRR!!

After The Red

In addition to The Red, Billy Carter have released three other EPs titled The Yellow, The Green and The Orange. Each one goes in a slightly different direction musically but they are all unmistakably Billy Carter. I love each of them and would have a hard time picking a favourite.

Billy Carter has also released two full length albums, “Here I Am” in 2016 and “Don’t Push Me” in 2020. “Here I Am” is a fantastic listen that I think is closest to The Red EP in overall feel. “Don’t Push Me” saw the band move in a slightly different direction. The music maintained the same urgency but the lyrics became much more openly political and straightforward, addressing human (and animal) rights issues in a very direct way. It was a hugely influential album for so many people that I know including my daughter, who lists it as one of her favourites of all time. The album showcased Billy Carter at the peak of their powers as musicians and social critics. Unfortunately I was never able to see any live shows after this release but maybe sometime in the future…The band has been on hiatus since this release and I am not sure if they will ever resurface again as Billy Carter. Even if they have played their last show, I think they have left a collection of songs that any band on earth could be proud of and I am very happy to have had the pleasure of seeing them live even a few times. Happy Red Anniversary Billy Carter!

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