Tokyo Museum of Modern Art

We took a short excursion before lunch to look at the permanent exhibition and a special on Riki Watanabe's designs.

Anton and Thor threw snow balls at each other along the way. We walked over to Ohtemachi to catch the Hanzomon line straight home. Naomi made ramen for lunch and then headed off to watch tennis.

Yesterday's snow storm had coated Tokyo in a think blanket of white, but most is gone today. I had fun using the bbq with the snow still falling. It took plenty of extra starter to get the fire going. Then we had a great feast of crab, giant shrimps and lamb chops. The oysters were eaten off the shell raw of course.

I have a couple more weeks in Tokyo before hitting the road again. It'll be off to London and Bombay, then back to Tokyo before going to Singapore for the launch of our Islamic index covering Japan and the Four Tigers.

Lunch with Jason James, PhD Candidate

Lunch with Jason James at Buono Buono in Ginza with various HSBC alumni. A host of subjects were discussed, from Dirty Dick's red neck ways to HSBC's investment banking strategy, and then on to more salubrious topics, including wine.

Next venue to be determined by the Group Secretary, Miki Izumida.

Photo Lesson

Dean showed me how to do this shot in Boca in HK. You take your digital camera in hand and hold a white cocktail napkin in front of the automatic flash to soften the flash and reflect light back onto the subjects. Works great if you unfold the napkin, otherwise it blocks too much light.

Saturnalia in Bali

The Hoffsters spent a week in Bali returning to Japan on Christmas Day. We always seem to be moving or traveling on Christmas Day!

Due to the terrorist fears the island was free of too many tourists. Lodging was cheap, transportation plentiful and a real feeling of quiet and solitude.

We had some nice experiences: rafting a river, snorkling at Menjangan and tasty seafood at the Sheraton.