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.

 

            

Jizo Statue

A jizo (地蔵菩薩) statue photographed at the cemetery of Jikoji temple (慈光寺) of the Jodo school of Buddhism (浄土宗) in Utsunomiya city. It was heartbreaking to see that many statues, especially the old ones, were either cracked or crushed there and they still remained as they are up until now...

The statue in this photo is taller than me and obviously one of several that survived the March 11th earthquake!

南無阿弥陀仏...

This is a Outdoor Wednesday #159 and Sky Watch Friday entry.

           

White Angel

@Gif Sur-Yvette, France.

This is a Wordless Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday #112, and ABC Wednesday entry. G is for "Gif Sur-Yvette".

             

"F"ierce Dragon

This fierce looking dragon was photographed at Korinji temple (広琳寺) in Utsunomiya city. Wherever I visit shrines and temples, I find myself photographing it... Probably, I am fascinated by the dragon.

This is a Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and ABC Wednesday entries. "F" is for "fierce" and "fascinated".

               

"D"amaged Bridge

Photographed in Lake Chuzenji (中禅寺湖) in Nikko city. This lake is said to have appeared 20, 000 years ago when Mt. Nantai erupted and blocked the river. The exit of this lake is Kegon falls (華厳の滝). This 97m waterfall is too high for fishes to climb up. According to Futaarasan Shrine's record, there weren't any fish in Lake Chuzenji until 1878 when aquaculturing trout and the other species took place.

The bridge shown in the photo was damaged and it was too dangerous to walk. So the owner tied the entrance with strings.

If you want to see more photos of this beautiful lake, here we are.

        

This is a Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and ABC Wednesday entries. "D" is for "damaged".

               

Tree At Night

This is a Wordless Wednesday, Black and White Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday #107, and ABC Wednesday entry. B is for "Black and White"

                    

"Y"ellow Light Decoration

Photographed at Ashikaga Flower Park (足利フラワーパーク), Ashikaga city, Tochigi Prefecture. This park is well known for having a variety of wisteria trees. The tree in this entry is the biggest among them and it is still growing, branching, and expanding its mass enough to occupy 1000m²!!!

We went there for the Christmas illumination and the tree was decorated with "Y"ellow LED lights. I don't want to know how many LED light bulbs were required to cover the upper part of the tree.

I used Nikon F801S (old film camera) with Sigma 15mm Diagonal Fisheye (first image) and Nikkor 20mm F2.8D (second one).

If you are curious to see this tree during daytime, take a look at this video taken in May, 2010. In the YouTube video, this tree appears at 1:00 min mark.

This is an Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday (second photo) and ABC Wednesday entry.Y is for yellow.

         

The Gloomy Day

This is my gloomy day, photographed just immediately before starting a rain.

Below is "The Gloomy Day" painted by Pieter Bruegel in 1565.

Image from Wiki

Hmm.. His painting is gloomier than my photo!

Since I've been posting a series of colorful illumination photos lately, it's time to show a simple (and boring) monochrome photo here. Don't you think so?


This is a Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Black and White Wednesday entry.

               

"W"aterfall in Nikko

Photographed at Ganmanfuchi (憾満ガ渕) on the Daiya River (大谷川) in Nikko city. Yes, whenever and wherever I find a waterfall, I unconsciously attach an ND8 filter to the camera and take a photo with a slow shutter speed.


Yes, it's a conditional response!!! I feel like being a Pavlov's dog.


            Typical example of that symptom (it's chronic). Click the image to enlarge.


This is a Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and ABC Wednesday entry. W is for waterfall and more.

         

"U"ndisturbed "U"pstream of Ryuzu Waterfall

It is located between Ryuzu waterfall (very popular) and this place where very few people go.


As some of you probably noticed, it was photographed with my old but lovely film camera, Nikon F801S with a 15mm Fisheye lens (Kodak Super Gold 400 film).

This is a Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and ABC Wednesday entry. U is for "U"ndisturbed and "U"pstream.

                

"T"ragic Falls

In 1903, the stunning beauty of Kegon falls (華厳の滝) in Nikko had lured an 18-year-old high school student to jump. Several others have followed him since. Because of that the waterfall has became notorious as the place to commit suicide. It's utterly "t"ragic.

But now it's SAFE!

It's no longer possible to get to the top of the waterfall. Rather, the entrance fee of 530 JPY (around $5 for using elevator) is charged to watch the beauty of the waterfall from the other side. This waterfall is one of the "must-go-and-shoot" places for "t"ourists. However, Nikko natives seldom visit this famous place (unless they have guests visiting), due to the entrance AND parking ($3) fees.
In a month or so, the waterfall will be covered with snow. This photo was taken in January 2010.

This is for Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and ABC Wednesday entries. T is for "T"ragic.

         

                                    

"R"ushing across the "R"iver!

After the overwhelmingly astonishing storm, a river appeared in the middle of downtown Moka city. Reckless drivers desperately drove their cars in the river...
Did they leave their wash and futons hanging outside? Is that why they drove like speed-demons? To rescue their hanging laundry?

If you are curious about what exactly happened, we have a video to show you.



And we have a story to tell ya.

This is a Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and ABC Wednesday entry. R is for "R"ush and "R"iver. AND Friday Photo Challenge entry. The challenge of this week is "liquid".