Kanazawa Station

 Kanazawa station is a gateway to the capital city of around 460 K inhabitants, Kanazawa city, of Ishikawa Prefecture. In 2011, the station was listed as one of the world's most beautiful stations in the US Travel+Leisure magazine. 

Tsuzumimon gate (鼓門), located at the East entrance of the station, was inspired by the Tsuzumi (= drum/鼓) of Noh (能), This eye-catching architecture was founded in 2005 and became a symbol of the station. 

In the same year, the dome-shaped roof made of glass that covers the underground square (called motenashi-dome/もてなしドーム) was inaugurated. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

During winter in Japan, myriad of illuminations take place all over Japan to cheer visitors up! Illumination at JR Hakata station, which is decorated with around 800 thousands LED lights, signifies "hope" of our new era, Reiwa (令和).

The kanji characters for Reiwa (令和) are derived from the Man-yohshu (万葉集), an anthology of waka poetry (和歌), compiled in the 8th Century. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan provided an English interpretation of Reiwa as "beautiful harmony".

Symbol tree

According to Fukuoka city official website, they claim their city as a town of light (光の街・福岡) and the symbol tree accounts for it. Illuminated colors of the tree represent those of nature in four seasons.

LED Sky Walk

It takes place from 6th of November to 7th of January (starting from 17:00 till midnight).

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2020!

Tokyo International Forum

Big O in Tokyo

You may wonder why this it is called "Big O". 

Yes, it is indeed big wheel with 60 meter diameter and "O" is named from a "centerless" non-rotating structure. In 2006 it is listed as the world's largest centerless Ferris wheel by Guiness World Records!!!

The rail of roller coaster called "Thunder Dolphin" goes through the "O-ring" of Big O! 

It's located very close to Tokyo Dome.

Shanghai Night

Bund Sightseeing Tunnel in Shanghai

Images from archive... Since these image were taken in China, I decided to post here...

It was summertime in 2013 when I was in Shanghai for the conference and I had a chance to walk around downtown. 

Bund sightseeing tunnel lies under the Huangpu river (黄浦江), connecting the Bund and Lujiazui area of Pudong district.

After paying 50 yuan, unmanned transparent compartments will take you to the bizarre world. It takes about 4 minutes to run 646 meter tunnel. 

It's open from 8:00 to 22:30 (from May to October) or from 8:00 to 22:00 (from November to April).

Apple Store in Shanghai

I had a chance to visit Shanghai, China. It was my first time to visit foreign asian country in my life. The views at night appear to be more attractive to me than those seen during daytime.

Underground Temple

We joined a tour organized by Edogawa River Office (江戸川河川事務所) whose mission is to prevent disastrous flooding  in the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan area.

The northeastern part of Tokyo cosmopolis is notorious for inundation caused by several rivers running very slowly in a relatively flat area with almost no gradient. It used to be a swamp in the past.
The idea of preventing from inundation is, during a typhoon attack or in rainy season, to drain the overwhelming water from several rivers by pooling the excess amount of water in the underground surge tank (首都圏外郭放水路) temporarily and spit it out to the bigger river (Edo river).


Here is the official video in Japanese.

The big surge tank is called "Underground temple" in its outlook. When we were in the tank, there was a movie filming going on.

The beauty of the tour is it's free of charge and you get a postcard when departing.

Interested in the tour?

Then, click [ENGLISH: Summary of the tour].


Address:
720 kamikanasaki, Kasukabe, Saitama, 322-0111

View Larger Map

Have a wonderful weekend.

A Snail?

When I was rambling through the Utsunomiya downtown, one anonymous building caught my eyes. My first thought was that this metallic snail-looking thingy was a ladder. But I was wrong!

When I got closer to it, "organic" smell got stronger (Thank God that it was winter). This metal object adjacent to the building turned out to be a long and spiral slide to the trash bin! How intelligent, or let's say, lazy the designer of this building was!


This is a Outdoor Wednesday #160 and Sky Watch Friday entry.

 

            

Matsugamine Church

Matsugamine Church (松が峰教会) in Utsunomiya city is made of Oya stone (大谷石).

In February, I visited there at night and posted a photo of this church taken with a real Fisheye lens and explained briefly about this church.

Fishing the Church

The beauty of chilling winter is the clear air and sky! Though it was windy at dusk and nobody was there, it was worth visiting and photographing with the blue sky behind.

Inside photo of this church can be seen there.

Currently Under Construction

No No No, the title does not mean the current status of this blog...

Do you remember this photo below?

This is part 2 of this construction that took place in our neighborhood.


This is a Black and White Weekend and Shadow Shot Sunday entry.

         

           

Have a wonderful weekend.

Cafeteria At Night

No tricks were applied to this bizarre image; no multiple exposures, no art filters; no fancy artworks, no nothing, except I converted it into black and white, adjusted tone curves (to get closer to what I saw), and shrinked the image size to upload.

This is a cafeteria at Nasunogahara Harmony Hall (那須野が原ハーモニーホール) in Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture. I was outside of the building and photographed the cafeteria through a thick glass wall.

If you want to see more photos taken at this place, please click the images below:

         

This is a Black and White Weekend, Weekend Reflections, and Shadow Shot Sunday and Scenic Sunday entry.

                

Have a wonderful weekend.