Today’s photo wasn’t taken in Japan. I took it last week on the SOU campus. It’s one of the few cherry trees in Oregon that look like the sakura so common in Japan.

I don’t have a macro lens for my Nikon D7000. The camera with the 18-200mm lens simply won’t focus on anything closer than half a meter (1.6 feet) from the lens. I thought this would be problematic in taking these kinds of macro shots. That has not been a problem though. Instead of going inches from the target and taking the photo at or near 18mm, I just back up and zoom. This photo was taken hand held with a breeze blowing at 150mm. Not a bad macro, close-up shot for a non-macro lens like this…

Posted on April 10th, 2011 under Japan, Oregon. Tags: cherry blossoms, macro, Nikon 18-200mm VR II, nikon d7000, photography, sakura, 桜. Comments: 1

Thanks to bout fixing, the March Grand Sumo Tournament was cancelled, and the May Tournament is now going to be free. Numerous sumo wrestlers who were linked to the match fixing have been forced to retire.

Today’s photo is of Kyokutenho (旭天鵬), who was not one of those found guilty. Many of the sumo rikishi, like nearly everyone else in Japan, travel by train. You can watch them walk from the train station to Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo simply by waiting outside on tournament days.

Posted on April 9th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: people, sumo. Comments: 1

A news crew drives into the evacuation zone around the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in the following video. The place is a ghost town (other than animals), and damage from the earthquake and tsunami has gone unrepaired. Although their Geiger counter goes off whenever they hit the “legal limit,” the levels really aren’t that bad. Most of the time within the zone radiation is at 1 or 2 μSv per hour. For comparison purposes, 0.34μSv/h is average for living in the USA, so inside the radiation zone they are getting about 5 times what Americans are normally experiencing in an hour. They peak at about 8 μSv per hour, but that doesn’t seem to last long. Even when they are really close to the reactor they sometimes have levels only a few times what people living thousands of miles away experience on an hourly basis.

During their entire time in the zone (assuming they were in it for a couple hours), they probably encountered less radiation than what a person is exposed to in a dental exam (and hundreds of times less than what a person getting a mammogram receives).

Note that radiation levels in places like Nikko, Japan (in the neighboring prefecture) are about a third of what you will find in the USA.

Posted on April 8th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: video. Comments Off on Radiation near Fukushima

Hisamatsu Minshuku (2010)

We stayed in a minshuku called Hisamatsu (久松) while in Ogimachi (荻町) in Shirakawago (白川郷). This was an authentic minka or gassho zukuri. I don’t think you can fully experience Japan without staying in a place like this. The owners are an extremely old couple, but their daughter pretty much runs the show at this point. She can speak a bit of English I think, but I made our reservation (by calling through the above link) and did all the communication in Japanese. If you aren’t in Japan and want to book a night or two, you can try these email addresses: hidatio@hidanet.ne.jp or info@shirakawa-go.gr.jp

The daughter has kids too, but we never saw them. The food was excellent, the building amazing, but to be perfectly honest I didn’t sleep well. Grandpa headed to the bathroom every few minutes it seemed and I woke up each time. If you want a good night sleep I recommend bringing some earplugs. Do wake up before dawn and go for a walk though!

Posted on April 7th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: shirakawago, thatch roof. Comments Off on Shirakawago Lodging (Hisamatsu Minshuku)

In Suginami-Ku in Tokyo you can find Zenpukuji Park (善福寺公園). In that park in early summer the lotus flowers and lily pads are quite a sight.

Posted on April 6th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: flower lovers guide to tokyo, kichijoji, park. Comments: 2