Wooden Bridge

Photographed in Nikko city. No green color is in this photo!


This is a Shadow Shot Sunday #146, Scenic Sunday 137 and Sunday Bridges.

                 

Snowy Day

We have snow fall from time to time, however in many cases, it does not stay for long. By next day, it's either gone or it turns into sleet.


This is a Black and White Weekend and Weekend Reflections #76, Sunday In My City.and PhotoSunday. The theme is "Glare".

                  

This is also an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 16. If you want to see nice photos taken in Japan, don't forget to visit!

 

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.

Utmost For His Highest

These are members of the Aizu Mass Choir from Aizu Wakamatsu city (合図若松市), who were invited to express their love for Jesus at an ice candle ceremony commemorating the liberation of a place where untold numbers of Jews lost their lives - Auschwitz. The candle lighting, Jesus-loving event was held at the Auschwitz Peace Museum (アウシュビッツ平和博物館) in Fukushima Prefecture (I am not kidding)!!!

Yes, there is an Auschwitz museum in Japan and we blogged about this place here and about the ice candle ceremonies here (in 2010) and there (in 2011).

If you want to listen to their music, we have a video.




This is an Alphabe-Thursday entry (U is for utmost).

White Angel

@Gif Sur-Yvette, France.

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

             

Still On Duty

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.

This is a That's my world and White Wednesday #89 entry.

         

H-II Rocket Nippon

Photographed at Waku Waku Grandy Science Land in Utsunomiya city, Tochigi prefecture. H-II rocket is a Japanese satellite launch system.

This rocket replica was re-painted last year. We personally prefer the previous version...

Which one do you prefer?



This is a Blue Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday #110 entry.

            

Lime Factory Part 2

Another photo of the Lime factory in the industrial area of Tochigi city. I find this old factory beautiful in its own way and I am utterly obsessed by this industrial area! A ragged beauty, sort of?


If you are curious about this area, please click the photo below.

This is also an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 15. If you want to see nice photos taken in Japan, don't forget to visit!

 

And also for Sunday In My City.

Candle Light-Up In Nikko

Photographed at Kanmangafuchi Abyss (含満ガ淵) in Nikko city. On Valentine's Day, we had a candle light-up ceremony. These Jizo statues are called Bake Jizo. It is called so because whenever you count the number of statues, you are always confused and the number is not consistent...

Why??

Because numerous numbers of Jizo statues are there. Some are pretty small and you may miss them. Some are not full figured because they were flushed away by flooding that happened around 100 years ago...

This is a Black and White Weekend, Shadow Shot Sunday #145 and Scenic Sunday 136

                 

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.

Ameno Uzume

Daidai Kagura (太々神楽) is a traditional dance performance that is dedicated to the Shinto deities. The script is based on Japan mythology. Shinto priests wear masks to play the roles of particular gods and dance along with the traditional orchestra.

In this photo, an old male priest wore a mask called Okame (オカメ) and was playing a Shinto goddess, Ameno Uzume (or Amano Uzume /天鈿女命). Her husband is Sarutahiko (猿田彦). He is one of my favorite deities and I photographed him during the Daidai kagura performance as well.

 

If you want to know more about him and how Ame no Uzume got married him, we posted this article on our blog, Budget Trouble.
 

This is a Sepia Scenes #122, Alphabe-Thursday entry (T is for tradition), and Thursday Challenge. The theme is "MOVEMENT"

        

"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".

               

Old Factory in Tochigi City

The factory looks like it is covered with ash...

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...

View Larger Map

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!

This is a That's my world and Ruby Tuesday entry.

           

Kagura Performance in Mibu

Daidaikagura (太々神楽) performance at Umebayashi Tenmangu (梅林天満宮) in Mibu city (壬生町). When you see that the name of the shrine ends with "Tenmangu", it means that Michizane SUGAWARA (菅原道真) is enshrined there. He is a deity of scholarship and deified as "Tenjin sama (天神さま)".

The Shinto deity holding a bow in this photo seems to be Hondawake [= Emperor Ojin (応神天皇)]. As you can guess by just looking at him ready to shoot an arrow, he is defied as the "god of war". His nickname is "Machiman sama (八幡さま)".

I have one more photo of the Kagura performance for you!

This is a Mellow Yellow Monday #109 entry.