Moon viewing

A couple of weeks ago it was the お月見 (otsukimi - moon viewing) season in Japan. It's kind of like a Harvest Festival.
It's one of my favourite events of the Japanese calendar. I was born in the year of the rabbit, so I'm supposed to enjoy a special relationship with the moon. For those of you not up to speed, I have ranted before in these pages about the Japanese idea of the moon: they see two rabbits pounding rice in a mortar rather than a man's face when they look up at it.
Being the whiny so and so I am, I'm mad because I was ill for this year's ceremony. It's held mid autumn, usually the full moon at the end of September. You decorate your house with Japanese pampas grass, chestnuts and sweet potatoes. You then sit and gaze at the moon eating 月見団子 (tsukimi dango - sweet bean dumplings). It's so peaceful and contemplative.
I've always loved looking at the sky, and especially the moon. Maybe these Japanese have it right after all: Being a rabbit I'm strangely attracted to our little satellite.
I've tried taking pictures of the moon many times. It rarely works. Shooting into any reflected light causes major hassles.
Ironically, the best picture I ever took of the moon was captured when I was absolutely off my face on a beach in Thailand. On top of being unable to see straight, my poor camera had been through the wars (this was back in My Uncle Travelling Pat days). It had been soaked in a typhoon, fallen into the water, and coated in the sand of various tropical shores.
But look at it, I think it could be a postcard.
Recently, a great friend paid me a real compliment. She said she liked the way I take photos and asked if I had any favourites. This would definitely be one of them. It makes me feel the warm hazy feeling of the country and its bars!
I have a few other favourite pictures. I'm going to try and make a little album and put it up for all to see.