Once again, this is a photo taken in the industrial area in Tochigi city. I found two shrines by the lime factories. This red torii gate at the entrance of this shrine looks as exhausted as the old factories there. I couldn't figure out the enshrined deity at this anonymous shrine, however, the deity could be related to the prosperity of this industrial area, I guess...
If you want to see more photos of these lime factories, here we are.
Part 3 of the Lime factory in the industrial area of Tochigi Prefecture. Note that the building shown in this photo is NOT abandoned. Believe it or not, it's still on duty! Over time it's all been covered with lime, which makes this photo look almost like monochrome.
Well, we did have a volcano eruption at Mt. Kirishima (霧島山) but it's way too far from where I took this photo. If you are curious about the eruption, here we are.
The building shown in this photo is a lime factory in Tochigi city. It was unfortunate that the sky was fully covered with thick clouds when I was there, and because of that almost everything looks just GRAY. And a little bit red from the rust... It's not an abandoned building but it does look so exhausted...
A series of industrial factories related to the lime is located along Route 202 and I am beginning to like this bizarre looking place! I will definitely visit there once again when the sky is blue!
Around a year ago in one of our blogs named Budget Trouble, we have introduced the restaurant in my town, Utsunomiya city, Tochigi prefecture, where monkeys are employed as waiters. We posted an article about this restaurant named "Kayabuki" with the video included (below).
Recently, our video went viral and have been watched over 300 thousand times in a week or so... It all started thanks to popular bloggers featuring the video. It appeared even on FOX2 in Detroit!
This video is sort of shocking and people tend to be creeped out by the appearance of the monkey. His name is Fuku-chan. He wore a girl's high school uniform and a wig when we went there.
We got numerous hysterical comments on this issue, claiming that we are animal abusers for filming the video??? Please read this if you are curious about it. Or please visit our Youtube site, if you are curious about comments we received.
Anyway, this is my world for this week. Welcome to my town, Utsunomiya!!!
<Update> Murphy's Law! As soon as I uploaded the link of our YouTube video, somebody claimed our video due to copyright claim (?). Uploaded a longer version of our video.
To enjoy what Taiyuin has to offer, you are supposed to pay 550 JPY (around $6-7). However, there are places that are still prohibited for visitors to enter. You will see warning "Off limit" signs at particular places.
Koukamon Gate, built under the influence of the Ming Dynasty style of China, is the entrance gate to the Okunoin Inner House (奥の院), where Iemitsu's spirit sleeps. There is no "Off limit" sign in front of the Koukamon Gate, however, no visitors are allowed to go any further than that gate. Even the priests working at Taiyuin have very limited opportunity to go through the gate. Yes, Okunoin Inner House is that sacred of a place!!!
To fully enjoy what Toshogu shrine has to offer, you, as an individual, got to pay 1300 JPY (around $15), however, taking a look at this 36 meters high pagoda is absolutely free of charge!
Photographed at Tage Fudoson (多気不動尊) in Utsunomiya city. These statues are called Mizuko Kuyo Jizouson (水子供養地蔵尊). Please click the links if you are curious about these baby-looking statues in red bibs and hats and the corresponding Buddhist ceremony.
Figure 2FM4-64 Internalization in Living Cells DNA is visualized with CFP (Cyan Fluorescent Protein)-Histone (in blue) under its own promoter and a fluorescent probe, FM4-64 (in red or ruby), is treated to monitor endocytosis. It is photographed 10 min after the treatment of FM4-64 at room temperature....
Once again, sorry for the confusion. I found this object, illuminated by Ruby laser beam from the bottom, at Nasunogahara Harmony Hall (那須野が原ハーモニーホール) in Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture.
As my blog title says, I will be posting abstract images from time to time. If the description of the image starts from Figure legend (like this post or previous one), be prepared! I warn you.
What does this image remind you of??? Please let me know!
If you want to see more photos taken at this place, please click images below:
Found in my town, Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture. As far as I remember, this weird object made its debut this winter. I haven't seen it before. Or Am I a Space Cadet?
At 10-15 minute intervals, every single light source starts to twinkle. They keep changing colors (red, green, and blue, for instance). That means, if you photograph with a relatively longer exposure, the color of the light becomes plain white!!!
After the warning announcement (computer voice hysterically repeating "Steaming is about to begin." several times), you experience "Close Encounter of the Third Kind, 2010 edition"!!!
During Christmas season, you can find light-ups and illuminations taking place almost everywhere. So I bundle myself up with layers of clothing and photograph. In order to have the biggest and round "bokeh" (= blur), the aperture of my lens is always the widest. This was taken at Nasu Harmony Hall in Otawara city, Tochigi Prefecture, sometime in December 2009.
This image is NOT taken with "multiple exposures". If you have a zoom lens and are bored with taking ordinary pictures, attach your camera to a tripod, have 2-5 second shutter speed (change ISO and aperture settings) and either zoom-in or zoom-out the lens!
Supplementary Info:
ISO: 100
Aperture: F10
Shutter Speed: 5 sec
Focal length: from 75 mm (approx. 2.5 sec) to 18 mm (approx 1.5 sec)
*Margins are slightly cropped.
If you want to see more, please visit this or that.
This is our video from the first day of the festival.
It takes place at Sho-yo en (逍遥園) Garden in Nikko. It belongs to Rinnoji (輪王寺) temple. Lighting up the garden starts at 16:00 and ends at 19:00. It costs 300 JPY (around $3 bucks). Once you get a ticket, you can enter anytime. I entered at 16:00, took some pictures, my battery was dead, went out for dinner, charged the battery, and went back to the garden at 18:00.
Using a tripod or monopod is prohibited there. What I did was to sit down on the ground, hold my camera in my lap, hold my breath, extremely gently and slowly press the release, and not care what other people there thought of me.
Here is the website of this event (Japanese only).
