Picturesque Japan

06/01/2022

Have you ever heard about Hotel Senjojiki in Nagano?
https://www.chuo-alps.com/lang/en/hotel-senjojiki/

30/12/2021

Have you ever been to Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa, Tokyo?

19/09/2021

This is the information video about going to the trailheads of Mt. Tanigawadake.

22/07/2021

In Japan, mountains are considered as places where Gods reside.

山 = yama = mountain
之 or の = no = of
神 = kami =God

07/07/2021

Olympic Torch Relay is scheduled for today in Kasukabe. This is the route preview at 6:00am.

06/06/2021

06/06/2021

Ryuokyo Gorge in May.

13/04/2021

Featured cherry blossoms in 2021 in Tokyo and in Saitama.

Thank you Canon Australia's Japan Tour 2018 members for giving me PowerShot G5 X. It's truly a game-changer!

My Camera: Canon PowerShot G5 X
https://amzn.to/3skA4QO​

Music: Yoshinori Tanaka
https://www.yoshinori-tanaka.com/

28/03/2021

12/03/2021

/// Confusing Japanese expressions ///
Toki sudeni ososhi = It's too late.
Toki sudeni osushi = It's already sushi time.

24/02/2021

What an amazing photo!!!!

銀河よ #富士山 #天の川 #夜景 #富士山とともに #富士山が好き #風景 #日本

15/01/2021

An old funny photo from 2018. The sign says "You can go only to the two directions, but this rule doesn't apply to mini-vehicles." However, it looks like you must to go to heaven or turn left. lol

06/12/2020

Tobu Railway near Kasukabe station.

01/12/2020

Cat-shaped Run in Kasukabe. lol

16/11/2020

Takatsudokyo Gorge in Gunma prefecture.
#高津戸峡 #わたらせ

07/11/2020

Visit the Hamarikyu Gardens, take the TOKYO CRUISE to Asakusa, and visit Sensoji Temple. This is the perfect way to enjoy Tokyo in 4-5 hours.
#浜離宮 #隅田川 #浅草

07/11/2020

Parody stuff at Nakamise Shopping Street. 😛
OCOSITE = Please help me stand up
azides = We are horse mackerels
PAMA = perm

21/10/2020

Japanese people love miniature stuff. I found these tiny snacks at a supermarket. The one in the middle is called "dorayaki" and the diameter of the regular one is about 10cm (4 inches). This one is only 3.5cm (1.37 inches). I should have placed my cat next to it. :P

14/10/2020

This may look like a boring time lapse video, but if you pay attention to the colors of the flowers and leaves, they get more orange as the sun goes up. It's lovely to spare a bit of “nature time” every day.😊

14/10/2020

We call these flowers "kosumosu (cosmos)" in Japan. However, we also have a different expression. It's 秋桜.
秋：autumn
桜：cherry blossom(s)
You could pronounce this either /kosumosu/ or /aki-zakura/.

13/10/2020

Do you like to wake up before sunrise? It's really worth it💕

07/10/2020

5 am at Kasukabe station.

02/10/2020

Higan-bana (Spider lilies) in Gongendo, Satte city, Saitama, Japan.

01/10/2020

Traditionally, Japanese people appreciated the moon on August 15 on the lunisolar calendar. July, August, and September used to be considered as autumn, and August 15 was the middle of the season. People held a party looking at the moon on this day. This year, it falls on October 1, the day before the full moon. Nowadays, not many people have a party for this, but we still talk a lot about it.
#中秋の名月

28/09/2020

I was going to capture the sunrise, but happened to see a lot of birds swimming. Have a wonderful day💕

25/09/2020

A sightseeing spot in Japan: Naruto Whirlpools in Tokushima.

16/09/2020

Digital transformation

14/09/2020

Finally and suddenly, autumn has come.

10/08/2020

August 10, 2020 is "Mountain Day" in Japan. It's relatively a new holiday started in 2016 and it's usually August 11. However, it is moved to August 10 this year for the Olympics.

August is chosen because the shape of the kanji character "eight" looks like a mountain.

We don't have any special traditions related to this day, but this is the day to provide “opportunities to get familiar with mountains and appreciate blessings from mountains.”

05/08/2020

Do you send summer greetings in your country? Though not all Japanese people do this, we have a culture to send summer greeting cards. Until the end of July, it's called "Shochu-mimai" (the meaning is something like "I care you during these hot days") and from August 1, it's called "Zansho-mimai" (the meaning is something like "I care you while the heat is still remaining").

I don't like summer, but these summer cards have been making me very happy. :)

18/07/2020

/// Radio Exercise (Radio Taisou) ///
There is a well-known exercise program in Japan. It's called "Radio Taisou (Radio Exercise." People who were born and raised in Japan definitely know this. The exercise program goes on air at 6:30 am, 8:40 am, noon, and 15:00 on NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). When I was an elementary school student, kids in my neighborhood gather to do this exercise every morning during the summer holiday.

Even after growing up, some factory workers do this exercise before work or during the break. Also, there are some local communities to do this exercise together. In the novel "Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami has some episodes with this Radio Taiso. Anyway, it's truly well-known stuff.

However, my friend from the US didn't know about this (of course). She stayed in Hiroshima for one year to go to high school and she learned this exercise at the school. She believed it was her high school's own exercise. Later, she had a chance to travel to some other areas in Japan and she was so surprised to see people doing "her high school's" exercise. :P

Well, of course, it wasn't "her high school's," but whenever I see people doing this exercise, I remember this episode and think about how much she was surprised.

You can watch the TV version on YouTube. It's really a good program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feSVtC1BSeQ

図解をこちらからダウンロードできます！ 「ラジオ体操」図解 https://www4.nhk.or.jp/radio-taisou/23/?cid=dchk-yt-2004-04-st 誰もが知っている「ラジオ体操第1・第2」。長い間、人々に親しまれてきています。 年齢や仕事などに関係なく....

08/07/2020

I posted an article on Dreamstime contributors' blog. ;)

Some photos brought me surprising earnings, but the more they were downloaded, the more I felt depressed. However, I finally found my way to enjoy stock photography.

07/07/2020

/// Tanabata (Star Festival) ///
In Japan, people cerebrate "Tanabata (七夕)" on July 7. The literal meaning of "Tanabata" is the seventh day of the seventh month of the year. According to a Chinese legend, the two stars Altair (male) and Vega (female) are allowed to meet on this day if the sky is clear. For the rest of the year, they are separated by Milky Way.

To cerebrate this day, Japanese people write down wishes on a piece of colored paper and decorate bamboo trees. Sometimes, you'll find some cute wishes of kids like "I want to be a squirrel." What would you like to wish?

https://pict-japan.blogspot.com/2020/07/star-festival-tanabata.html

03/07/2020

"Kayariki" is a mosquito-coil holder and the very traditional ones are pig-shaped. However, you can find some cute ones these days. Here is mine.

One day, my dad found a mosquito was resting at the tip of her tail and said "She may be too sweet to kill mosquitoes." Anyway, whenever we see this Kayariki cat, she makes us very happy.

https://pict-japan.blogspot.com/2020/07/mosquito-coil-holder-kayariki.html

19/06/2020

In Japan, we were asked to avoid crossing prefectural borders for non-essential travel. On June 19, the government relaxed this recommendation. By the way, these are the photos of prefectural borders between Chiba and Saitama.