Distractions, reflections

2009/03/01 Jingumae flea market, Takeshita dori, Tokyo

June 9, 2010 daviding

On the Sunday morning before catching the train to Narita Airport, Marianne and I returned to the Harajuku district. I thought that I knew the way to Design Festa Gallery, but my memory was faulty. From the train station, we walked north past Takeshita Dori, and then east. When we started up a slight incline, I figured that we were in the wrong place, and should turn south. This led us through a residential area in Jingumae. The lane we had picked might permit the occasional car, but seemed mostly for pedestrians.

On this street was a large temple or church. Christian?

As we continued, we found a small torii, marking the entry to a common space or park.

Sunday morning seems to have been flea market day in this neighbourhood.

On the temporary tables, there was an assortment of pots. Continue reading “2009/03/01 Jingumae flea market, Takeshita dori, Tokyo“

2009/02/28 Meiji Jingu, Shinto Shrine, Tokyo

June 8, 2010 daviding

I’ve been to the Harajuku district on every trip to Tokyo, and somehow managed to arrive at the Meiji Jingu at times when the gates are closed. This time, Marianne and I found the gates to the garden open.

I guess that Saturday afternoon is a good bet for families to visit the gardens.

As we entered the gardens walking north, I enjoyed the view of the brook to the side.

The park honours the Emperor Meji who passed away in 1912, and is interred in Kyoto. The view of the long, tree-covered walk is impressive.

Sake barrels are displayed as decorations, emptied from prior festivals after having been donated by local brewers.

The Meiji period was seen as enlightened one, when the emperor enjoyed western food and took wine with it. Wineries in Bourgogne, France, consecrated these barrels in the emperor’s honour. Continue reading “2009/02/28 Meiji Jingu, Shinto Shrine, Tokyo“

2010/05 Moments, May 2010

May 31, 2010 daviding

Toronto, Ontario.

Trailers labelled for stunt doubles: working actors in Hollywood North, Toronto Bay Street north of Wellington Street 20100509 1830 — Trailers labelled for stunt doubles: working actors in Hollywood North, Toronto Bay Street north of Wellington Street (Toronto) 20100509 1830

Leafy spring morning on our street (Toronto, Monday) 20100507 0850 — Leafy spring morning on our street (Toronto, Monday) 20100507 0850

Koilos, 2007, by Michael Christian, Distillery District (Toronto, Wednesday) 20100512 2000) — Koilos, 2007, by Michael Christian, Distillery District (Toronto, Wednesday) 20100512 2000

Why foam in the Berczy Park fountain? (Toronto, Friday) 20100514 1930 — Why foam in the Berczy Park fountain? (Toronto, Friday) 20100514 1930

In the lineup for the matinee show or Pu-Erh, last day, Theatre Passe Muraille (Toronto, Saturday) 20100515 1415 — In the lineup for the matinee show or Pu-Erh, last day, Theatre Passe Muraille (Toronto, Saturday) 20100515 1415

Bows tied around headstones. Marks for spring maintenance? St. John’s Norway Cemetery (Toronto, Sunday) 20100516

Rail tracks to nowhere. Basin Street eastbound at the Turning Basin (Toronto Port Lands, Monday) 20100517 1800 — Rail tracks to nowhere. Basin Street eastbound at the Turning Basin (Toronto Port Lands, Monday) 20100517 1800

When a bicycle is faster than a car northbound. Lower Don River trail, west of the Don Valley Parkway at rush hour (Toronto, Wednesday) 201005190 1700 — When a bicycle is faster than a car northbound. Lower Don River trail, west of the Don Valley Parkway at rush hour (Toronto, Wednesday) 201005190 1700

Don River, bicycle path in parklands, and Don Valley Parkway, viewed from the Millwood Road bridge, east(Toronto, Saturday) — Don River, bicycle path in parklands, and Don Valley Parkway, viewed from the Millwood Road bridge, east (Toronto, Saturday) 20100522

Beach volleyball courts at Ashbridges Bay on Victoria Day. For those who think Canadians only play hockey (Toronto, Monday) 20100524 1700 — Beach volleyball courts at Ashbridges Bay on Victoria Day. For those who think Canadians only play hockey (Toronto, Monday) 20100524 1700

Pond in L’amoureux Park South. Took subway and bus north to Steeles Ave., wending way back home (Scarborough, ON, Saturday) 20100529 1815 — Pond in L’amoureux Park South. Took subway and bus north to Steeles Ave., wending way back home (Scarborough, Ontario, Saturday) 20100529 1815

2009/02/27 Nippori Textile Town, Tokyo

February 28, 2010 daviding

I barely need an excuse to view neighbourhoods where I haven’t been, before. Since Jennifer and Marianne were interested in seeing “Textile Town“, we got maps that oriented us to the train station at Nippori. As is usual in Tokyo, the exit at the subway is rather well marked.

The train platform is elevated, so we took the stairs down. Looking over my shoulder, there’s a gate with Japanese characters leading to the platform.

The streets aren’t rectilinear around Nippori. Walking out a little from the station and looking east, there’s a commercial area … but not textile stores.

Looking south, there were also storefronts, but the rag trade is a little farther on.

We headed south in the direction we thought correct. Apartment towers reveal the area to be mixed commercial and residential. Continue reading “2009/02/27 Nippori Textile Town, Tokyo“

2009/02/24 Vegetarian cuisine at Jiyugaoka

February 13, 2010 daviding

Since I have strong preferences in food — some choices due to allergies, others from ethnic background — Satomi asked me for guidance on restaurant selection. I find Japanese food to not have the vegetarian content that Chinese food offers, so she had some time to think about that.

After a day of meetings at the university, we took the train out to Jiyugaoka station.

Maps were consulted to figure out directions.

Up the side street, many of the storefronts in this district were closed. I noticed the bicyclist choosing the safety of sidewalk, while pedestrians casually strolled the streets.

The sidewalks were sometimes non-existent, so we had to be on alert for oncoming cars.

Around the curve, the directions led us uphill.

We found our destination, Aen, with a modest front door.

Shiomi and Satomi had a lengthy consultation with the server about a good selection of alternative dishes. The menu is complete vegetarian, but I complicate matters by trying to avoid dairy products. Continue reading “2009/02/24 Vegetarian cuisine at Jiyugaoka“

2009/02/23 Shinshiba, Tokyo

January 9, 2010 daviding

Since Tamachi station and Mita station are north and east of the hotel where we normally stay, the morning commutes to the university are a regular walk that way. I decided to take a roundabout route east and south to look around, on the way to Tamachi station.

The area is called Shinshiba. Looking west, the towers — it’s hard to judge whether they’re offices or apartments — are built up to the edge of the canal.

To these southwest, the pedestrian bridge is painted pink.

I followed the main road to walk south over a bridge. On subsequent walks, I discovered a Hanamasa supermarket further down this road. Beyond that, there’s more highrises.

Following the main road, I turned east at the pedestrian crosswalk at the traffic lights.

Ot the souteast corner of the next major intersection, the old location of the Shibaura Institute of Technology has been vacated and not yet replaced with a new tenant. Continue reading “2009/02/23 Shinshiba, Tokyo“

20250503 Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge
Still a free thrill to carefully descend and ascend the arc of the bridge, holding handrails to moderate speed. Posted sign says closure in the fall, maybe time for resurfacing that happens every 10 years. Valley for the Lynn Creek is separate from the larger Capilano River, where we visited the fish hatchery. (Lynn Canyon […]
20250503 Dyadic waterfalls, Nitobe Memorial Garden
Dyadic waterfalls may follow Shinto style of complementary Odaki (masculine) and Medaki (feminine) forces of the natural world. Original small memorial garden with kasuga style lantern honouring diplomat Nitobe Inazō builtin 1935 did not survive vandalization when Japanese Canadians were sent to internment camps in the 1940s. Norman Mackenzie, president of UBC (1944-1962) recognized Nitobe […]
20250503 Yuan Wen (2025) Play in the Field | Belkin Art Gallery
Overhead sculpture, light projection onto floor, + audio recording Yuan Wen (2025) Play in the Field, part of Impos(s)able Impositions: UBC Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition. At end of hall, drawings on xuan rice paper. Noises were intruding from the installation just over the wall, with sounds set for the opening night reception two […]
20250503 Jericho Beach view northeast
Outstanding view of North Vancouver mountains, and West End city centre from second floor patio on south shore of English Bay. Club is private for sailors, but upstairs is open for public. Can't remember visiting this venue when I lived in Vancouver in the 1980s. (The Galley Patio and Grill, Jericho Sailing Centre, Discovery Street, […]
20250503 Historic Yellow Crane, Granville Island
Hoist from 1930s industrial heritage was moved opposite Sea Village in 2022. Prior location was hidden by Emily Carr University site 1980-2017 at 1399 Johnston Street, a building still vacant. Tower has become a landmark near southeast end of street, visible from Public Market. (Historic Yellow Crane, Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver, British Columbia) 20250503
20250503 Saturday breakfast, Granville Island Public Market
Leisurely Saturday morning breakfast with scrumpet (crumpet variant) and crepe. Observing not only are visitors smiling and unstressed, but also the worker teams seem happy. Purchases from Muffin Granny, a food stall original in the market since its 1979 opening. (Muffin Granny Crepe & Bakery Cafe, Granville Island Public Market, Johnston Street, Vancouver, British Columbia) […]
20250502 Malaysian cuisine in Vancouver
Malaysian cuisine may not be found in Seattle, so sampled roti canal, beef rendang, carmellized ginger fish, and Assam curry tofu at steadfast Vancouver restaurant. Last time together may have been 16 years ago in Toronto. Catching up on years that have passed. (Banana Leaf, Davie Street, Vancouver, British Columbia) 20250502
20250502 Crafting for mother
SUCCESS Care Home: Entertaining mother with crafty folding of paper butterfly. Since last year's visit, we were advised against offering food and snacks. Pushed wheelchair around the circular hallway. (SUCCESS Care Home, Carrall Street, Vancouver, British Columbia) 20250502
20250502 ECU 5 days before The Show
Touring halls during preparation for The Show at ECU, 5 days before official opening. Background right painting Jesse Ward (2025) Mundane Presence. Installation on the floor yet unlabelled. (Emily Carr University of Art + Design, East 1st Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia) 20250502
20250502 Katherine Langdon (2025) The Set-Up
Mounted early for The Show, ECU graduate Katherine Langdon (2025) The Set-Up draws the eye upon entry into hall. Is the subject with the head in the closet avoiding the situation, or showing discretion. Curtains on the framing suggest a performance? (Emily Carr University, East 1st Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia) 20250502

Rethinking work, with the pandemic disruption | IJOTB (2025)
Two years after submitting an academic manuscript and responding to double-blind reviews, “Rethinking work, with the pandemic disruption” has now been published in the International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior (IJOTB) as earlycite. The article has a DOI (Document Object Identifier), and should be streamed with an official volume and issue number soon. The […]
Evolving Styles for Learning Systems Thinking | Systems Thinking Ontario | 2025-02-13
The 128th meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario was convened in person. The classroom was filled with current students, alumni, our regular participants, and a few curious newcomers. Moderated by Zaid Khan, the conversation was sparked by Stephen Davies and myself (David Ing) on the evolving styles in learning systems thinking. Stephen has been leading SFIN-6011 […]
Systems Approaches (Project Language + Literature Reviews with Generative AI) | OCADU | 2025-01-20
The “Understanding Systems” SFIN-6011 course is a requirement in the master’s program in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCADU. For winter 2025, the class is now led by Stephen Davies, breaking the incremental evolving of content since 2008. While still on faculty at OCADU, the original course designer Peter H. Jones is now a Distinguished […]
Generative AI and Inquiring Systems: Ways of Patterning and Ways of Knowing | Systems Thinking Ontario | 2025-01-08
In the 1970s, five ways of knowing were established by C. West Churchman in The Design of Inquiring Systtems. In the 1990s, his student Ian Mitroff carried on the tradition and extended that work in The Unbounded Mind. Now in the 2020s, the technology of Generative AI opens up opportunties to query or request responses […]
STPIS 2024 Proceedings: Reifying Socio-Technical and Socio-Ecological Perspectives for Systems Changes
For readers with an interest deeper than the 15-minute presentation given in August, the Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Socio-Technical Perspectives in Information Systems (STPIS 2024) have now been formally publishied. The invited paper on “Reifying Socio-Technical and Socio-Ecological Perspectives for Systems Changes: From rearranging objects to repacing rhythms” was reviewed by the […]
Systems Thinking Ontario as Systems Convening | ST-ON | 2024-10-21
The 125th meeting of Systems Thinking Ontario coincided with the closing day for the RSD13-RSDX online program. As a regular systems convening group, we’ve had monthly meetings since January 2013. Zaid Khan moderated a discussion including me (David Ing), Tim Lloyd, Allenna Leonard, and Kelly Okamura. We recollected starting as a spinoff from Design with […]

2018/04/17 Susan Rogers on Prince, production and perception | Ableton
Rhythm and pitch are primordial to language. Susan Rogers, after a career becoming Prince's recording engineer, turned to complete a PhD in psychology focused on music cognition and psychoacoustics.Read more ›
What to Do When It’s Too Late | David L. Hawk | 2024
David L. Hawk (American management theorist, architect, and systems scientist) has been hosting a weekly television show broadcast on Bold Brave Tv from the New York area on Wednesdays 6pm ET, remotely from his home in Iowa. Live, callers can join…Read more ›
2021/06/17 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 2
Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
2021/06/16 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1
The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
2021/02/02 To Understand This Era, You Need to Think in Systems | Zeynep Tufekci with Ezra Klein | New York Times
In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
2019/04/09 Art as a discipline of inquiry | Tim Ingold (web video)
In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›

Installing WordPress Studio on Manjaro Linux
In 2024, WordPress Studio was released, making installation on a local computer simpler. The instructions were modified from MacOS to Ubuntu Linux, by Daniel Kossmann, “How to install WordPress Studio in Ubuntu Linux” | Jun 15, 2024 at https://www.danielkossmann.com/how-to-install-wordpress-studio-ubuntu-linux/ I already had NVM installed, but in Terminal, with the result “command not found”. In the […]
Notion of Change in the Yijing | JeeLoo Lin 2017
The appreciation of change is different in Western philosophy than in classical Chinese philosophy. JeeLoo Lin published a concise contrast on differences. Let me parse the Introduction to the journal article, that is so clearly written. The Chinese theory of time is built into a language that is tenseless. The Yijing (Book of Changes) there […]
World Hypotheses (Stephen C. Pepper) as a pluralist philosophy [Rescher, 1994]
In trying to place the World Hypotheses work of Stephen C. Pepper (with multiple root metaphors), Nicholas Rescher provides a helpful positioning. — begin paste — Philosophical perspectivism maintains that substantive philosophical positions can be maintained only from a “perspective” of some sort. But what sort? Clearly different sorts of perspectives can be conceived of, […]
The Nature and Application of the Daodejing | Ames and Hall (2003)
Ames and Hall (2003) provide some tips for those studyng the DaoDeJing.
Diachronic, diachrony
Finding proper words to express system(s) change(s) can be a challenge. One alternative could be diachrony. The Oxford English dictionary provides two definitions for diachronic, the first one most generally related to time. (The second is linguistic method) diachronic ADJECTIVE Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “diachronic (adj.), sense 1,” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3691792233. For completeness, prochronic relates “to […]
Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2”, edited by F. E. Emery (1981)
The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]

David Ing, at large … Sometimes, my mind wanders

2009/03/01 Jingumae flea market, Takeshita dori, Tokyo

2009/02/28 Meiji Jingu, Shinto Shrine, Tokyo

2010/05 Moments, May 2010

2009/02/27 Nippori Textile Town, Tokyo

2009/02/24 Vegetarian cuisine at Jiyugaoka

2009/02/23 Shinshiba, Tokyo

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