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.

 

            

Takamori SAIGO

His name is Takamori SAIGO (西郷隆盛). He was one of the Samurai who played major roles in Meiji Restoration (明治維新). I photographed his bronze statue at Ueno Park, Tokyo. He's also known as a dog lover!

Image from Wiki

His last stand against the Meiji government in the Battle of Shiroyama was the historical basis for the 2003 film The Last Samurai. Katsumoto, played by Ken Watanabe in the movie, is based on SAIGO.


This is a Sky Watch Friday and Walk In The Street.

 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Orchestra Performance

This image is from the archive that I photographed in Kanuma City during the Kanuma Buttsuke Autumn Festival...

It was a cold day today (below zero Celsius at night) and I felt like posting photo taken during a warm weather. Where's the spring???

This is an entry for Sky Watch Friday, Walk In The Street, and Foto Friday (the theme is Shapes and Finales) entry.

         

Have a wonderful weekend.

Wind Turbine And A Monkey

Photographed at Waku Waku Grandy Science Land in Utsunomiya city, Tochigi prefecture...

It's sort of a science amusement park for kids who are interested in Sciences. This monkey, driven by electricity that is generated by a wind turbine, fetches water in a metal bucket when it's windy!!!


This is an entry for Sky Watch Friday.

All In One Frame

Yes, three famous buildings in NYC - the World Trade Center (no longer exists), the Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building - are all in one place. This is photographed with a Fish eye lens (of course) at Tobu World Square (東武ワールドスクエア) in Nikko city.


This is an entry for Sky Watch Friday.

Komine Castle

Komine Castle (白河小峰城), in Shirakawa city, Fukushima Prefecture, is one of the 100 famous Japanese castles. It was built in A.D. 1340 by Chikatomo YUKI (結城親朝). In 1868 during the Boshin War (戊辰戦争). the Castle was destroyed in the local battle called Battle of Aizu (会津戦争).

After the battle, this poor castle looked like the photo below...

Ruined Komine Castle (Image from Wiki)

After the war, what was left was the moat and part of the stone walls. The turret and the Gozenmon gate (御前門) were rebuilt in 1991 and 1994, respectively.


This is an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 10. If you want to see nice photos taken in Japan, don't forget to visit.

This is also an entry for Sky Watch Friday.

 

Anonymous Tree

Part 5 of the Buddhist Guardian ....

No No No, that Buddha statue series is just over!

This anonymous tree by the Sainoko Lake (西ノ湖) must be a centenarian (or double?). Needless to say, the weather was lovely when I photographed it with my favorite lens, Fisheye (15 mm, F2.8).

If you want to know more details about this lake, please click here.

Other photos taken at this lake are here:

This is an entry for Sky Watch Friday.

  

Mt. Toyama Summit

Photographed on the summit of Mt. Toyama (外山), Nikko city. Bishamondo Hall (毘沙門堂), that is owned by Rinnoji Temple (輪王寺), is located at the summit. A bunch of old statues is waiting for you behind the Hall. And a fresh air, too!

Actually the photo of the entrance to this mountain was the first entry of this blog!!! And this is also the 70th post on this blog.
   
     Click on the photo to enlarge.

As the sign says, it's 880m above the sea level. It took me 30 min to climb to the top of this mountain from the shrine gate (entrance) that is located at approximately 560m. Note that I took my camera bag, water, and tripod with me. Altogether it weighed around 15kg.
 
This is an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 8. If you want to see more nice photos taken in Japan, please be sure to visit!!!

As usual, this is also a Sky Watch Friday and Foto Friday entry. The theme of this week is "fresh".

      

Happy New Year

This is my first attempt to photograph Mt. Fuji from my town, Utsunomiya. I climbed Mt. Kogashi (古賀志山), which is only 583m above the sea level but it's still the highest mountain in our city.

Mt. Fuji is approximately 170 km from my town. It was sunny but a little bit hazy. I convinced myself that I would be lucky enough to be able to see Mt. Fuji at my first attempt. I will definitely give it a try once again to try to capture a clear view of the highest mountain in Japan!!!



This is an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 7. If you want to see nice photos taken in Japan, don't forget to visit!!!

As usual, this is a Sky Watch Friday entry.

Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas

Full moon looks like one of the decorations. Can you recognize where it is?

Santa has a sparking eye that is actually the light located far behind him.


This is an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 6. If you want to see nice photos taken in Japan, don't forget to visit!!!

As usual, this is a Sky Watch Friday and Foto Friday entry.

         

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful holidays!!!

Blessed Piper

Yes, it's him again. A Pied Piper of little boy riding on a "SLUG". When I went to say "Hi" to him, I saw him surrounded by his friends, pigeons. Well, quite a lot of them, I have to say. I was speechless then and forgot my greeting to him.

If you want to know him, please click here and there.

    

As usual, this is a Sky Watch Friday, Looking at the Sky on Friday, and Foto Friday entry.

     

His Mission During December

Do you remember this little boy? A Pied Piper of little boy riding on a "SLUG". Last month, I eyewitnessed his everyday mission of making clouds.

Click image to to see his everyday mission. That's one of my favorite photos.

However, it's been sunny lately and I wondered how he's been doing...

So I went to see him today. Everything was clear. In December, his mission is to make soap bubbles of light illumination after dusk!!! No wonder it's been so sunny and that we have illuminations all over.

Utsunomiya central park has a Christmas light-up during this month (from 16:00- 18:00).


This is an entry for Show Me Japan.

And as usual, this is also a Sky Watch Friday, Looking at the Sky on Friday, Aspire Photo Challenge, and Photo Friday entry. This week's challenge is "Tranquil".

            

Traffic At Night

It was photographed while a bus was passing me by in my neighborhood. It was full moon that night.

This is a Sky Watch Friday and Looking at the Sky on Friday entries.