michael lambe

Baby Rowan
Congratulations to old pal Rik Abel and Adrienne Copithorne on the birth of their new baby Rowan Alexander on March 19th, which coincidentally also happens to be Rik’s birthday. Hurrah!
Deep Kyoto is back!
It’s spring and time to bring Deep Kyoto out of hibernation with a new article on Cafe Proverbs [15:17], the new vegan [...]

Here’s a New Year meditation from Hozouji. It’s a very positive one I think.

Here it is in kanji and then romaji:
迎春
私たちの人生
あらかじめ
決められた
道はない
geishun
watashitachi no jinsei
arakajime
kimerareta
michi ha nai
Quite an easy one this one, (for a change). Here’s my translation:
Welcome in the New Year
The path of our life
Has not been pre-determined.
I read this as a positive [...]

On Sunday Paul took me to a very nice beer bar in Kagurazaka named “Bitter”. Kagurazaka itself, is well worth a visit if you happen to be in Tokyo, full as it is with nice little, shops, restaurants and dinky little bars. And if you happen to be in Kagurazaka, then “Bitter” is certainly worth [...]

Now I’m back in Kyoto and here’s a further update on Saturday night’s beer tasting party. (Scores were out of twenty).
1st >>> Harvest Moon Brown Ale (Chiba), 14.1 average score
2nd >>> Sagami Kolsch (Kanagawa), 13.6 (lower mean average)
3rd >>> Harvest Moon Schwarz (Chiba), 13.6
So, as these are the top-three tasting beers in Japan, you might [...]

Greetings from Chez Sparks. Last night was a very merry occasion, here in Ichigaya. 44 different Japanese beers, were tasted and adjudicated upon, taste test competitions held and (particularly enjoyable) quizzes were quizzed. And the elected favorite beer for 2007 (drum-roll please)…
Harvest Moon Brown Ale !!
That`s a very tasty micro-brew from Chiba prefecture which Paul [...]

Apologies for late bloggage – I have been a bit down. Not due to any seasonal affective disorder or out like that but simply and predictably due to work. The work which disappoints and ceaselessly crushes the soul. However, I won’t go on about that. This is a place for happy things.
Since I last wrote, [...]

Anyone see Japan play Australia last night? I tuned in for the last (and most important) 15 minutes and what a funny game eh? I especially liked the scenes after the match of the delighted dancing Aussie fans and the speechless Japanese. Today, at school, I kept accidentally dropping the name “Australia” into different contexts. [...]