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A year in Japan gave me a whole new perspective on the changing seasons, including the flowering seasons. I checked out the flowers in season every month in some of their most famous places in and around Tokyo. I find myself wanting to do the same thing now that I’m back home, something that wasn’t high on my radar before.
Today’s photo is of the ume (plum blossoms) at 池上梅園. Ume are far more impressive against a dark, stone lantern background than against an overcast sky.
I took today’s photo from Shinjuku in Tokyo. I used my TZ7 (which I eventually sold to a friend in Starbucks in Shibuya–I hope it is still treating my friend well) at maximum zoom which equates to over a 400mm focal length on the 35mm scale. The camera is not supposed to go beyond 300mm, but with certain settings you can bump it up higher than that. The photo has not been cropped.
If you talk to people in Tokyo, you’ll find that some haven’t seen Mt. Fuji in years or even decades. I met one who claimed to have never seen Mt. Fuji. That’s not because they can’t see it from Tokyo (although buildings block most views), they just don’t bother to look. I, on the other hand, couldn’t go more than a few weeks without finding a location from which I could view Mt. Fuji while living in Tokyo.
One of the closest shrines (if not the closest) to Waseda University is Mizu Inari Jinja on the Takadanobaba side of campus. I’ve shown you glimpses of it previously. Today’s photo (my Windows 7 random wallpaper of the day) is a close-up version.
I have previously posted several photos from this bridge, most recently this one. I’m guessing that it is rare to see it this empty. During Golden Week or on a weekend I’m sure this bridge is loaded with Japanese tourists enjoying the view. For best results arrive before sunset on a weekday (not a holiday) with decent weather to be treated to one of the best views of Mt. Fuji.
Last night was the 15th Annual Ho’opa’a Hawaii Club of Southern Oregon University Luau. The hula dancers weren’t all from Hawaii. There were several students from Japan who participated (some in this photo). I’ll post some more photos from the luau, over the next few days, here.
At first glance, I wasn’t sure when I took this photo. The Japanese maples have green leaves, yet there are leaves on the ground and on the shrine roof. In well-populated parts of Japan the leaves are swept up so quickly that autumn doesn’t seem like autumn for long once the leaves fall. However, this isn’t autumn at all or the maple leaves wouldn’t be green. Someone just got a little “lazy” with the leaf sweep the prior fall. I took this photo of the most rear structure in the 王子稲荷神社 complex in early May of last year. The angle is a bit unusual. Normally you don’t find yourself above a shrine and above the torii.
Don’t confuse Oji Inari Jinja with Oji Jinja. This one is better even though Oji Jinja is one of the “Tokyo Jissha” (東京十社 or ten shrines of Tokyo).