Kobe Port Birds

Birds at the Kobe Port.

Coming in For a Landing

Just one more image from the bridge in Ueno, this post is truly for the birds. . .

Birds In Ueno 上野

On my visit to Tokyo went to Ueno, a district in the Taitō Ward, as I was crossing one of the bridges a fellow was feeding the birds by throwing crumbs and seeds over the side. As I stood next to him to watch, a large group of hungry aves surrounded us and I had a change to get out my camera and snap a few interesting shots.

Kobe Municipal Arboretum

Last weekend visited the Kobe Municipal Arboretum (神戸市立森林植物園), and this is a view of Mount Maya from one of the mountain hiking trails. The weather in the Kobe mountains is a little cool this time of year, but the views make a few hours of wind chilled extremities totally worth it.

Bottle Gourd Arbor

This is one of the curiosities at the Kyoto Botanical Garden called the bottle gourd arbor. It houses many kinds of gourds that have been grown in a large metal lattice "hut," and as the gourds mature they hang down over the heads of the garden visitors. This is the Lagenaria siceraria, called hyoutan in Japanese. The Kyoto Botanical Garden has more then just Kouyou and sakura, it features more then 2,000 species of plants and trees, and is well organized into specific gardens including: bamboo, bonsai, camellia, european, hydrangea, iris, Japanese native plants, lotus, useful plants, and an uma grove.

Autumn Leaves

Another shot from the Kyoto Botanical Garden, I really enjoy Autumn with its crisp cool air and the sweet pungent smell of the damp leaves that crackle under your feet. The vibrant colors that speckle the mountainside and blanket the corners of gardens and street sides. Kyoto is really charming in this season and might be the best city in Japan to enjoy Kouyou, at least in my opinion.

Kouyou Black & White

Normally, perhaps these days at least, the vibrant autumn landscapes are captured in color. For this scene I was drawn to try black and white, in this case with a red filter applied. I learned some about black and white printing in a photo lab with enlargers and color filters back in my school days. These days I work mostly in digital but still like to use filters, and the red filter actually filters out the "red" wavelengths of light - so the brilliant red and orange hues of the autumn trees fall to white. The effect is almost infrared photography like.

Kouyou 紅葉

Fall colors (Kouyou) are to the Japanese autumn what cherry blossoms (Sakura) are to spring. The viewing of autumn leaves has been a popular activity in Japan for centuries and today draws large numbers of travelers to famous kouyou spots both in the mountains and in the cities. As you can probably tell I am a big fan of autumn and its kouyou, and will be boring you with many shots like these over the next few days. Consider yourselves duly warned. This is another image from within the Kyoto Botanical Garden.

Kyoto Botanical Garden 京都府立植物園

Took a trip with some dear friends to the Kyoto Botanical Garden, which is a very nice place to view the many changing colors of the autumn leaves. The Kyoto Botanical Garden was founded in 1917, and opened to the public in 1924. After the World War II, it was occupied by the Allied Forces and fell into disuse, but was reopened as a botanical garden for relaxation in 1961.

Autumn

Pseudorca Crassidens

Close to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium there are two different dolphin shows, this photograph is of the False Killer Whale (Pseudorca Crassidens), a cetacean, and the third largest member of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). It lives in temperate and tropical waters throughout the world. As its name implies, the False Killer Whale shares characteristics such as appearance with the more widely known Orca (killer whale). Like the orca, the False Killer Whale attacks and kills other cetaceans. However, the two dolphin species are not closely related.

Idea Leuconoe

Idea Leuconoe is the latin name for the Tree Nymph Butterfly and this is its pupa, rather pretty really, but apparently not appetizing to predators as it shiny golden glow seems to lack camouflage. Photograph taken at the Okinawa Fruits Land.

Tree Nymph Butterfly

There are many names for the tree nymph butterfly, including rice paper butterfly, paper kite butterfly and wood nymph butterfly. The name rice paper butterfly likely comes from the unusual texture of its wings. The way it flits and floats in the air led to the name paper-kite butterfly. The Japanese call it Ogomadara or Lady of the Southern Island. The tree nymph has a wingspan of 37 to 43 inches, making this large black and white insect the largest butterfly in Japan.

Manzamo 万座毛

The name Manzamo stems from the original Okinawan Hogen dialect, meaning ‘big enough for 10,000 men to sit on this field by the cliffs.’ Also referred to as the Elephant’s Nose at Manzamo, the craggy cliffs form the elephant’s trunk.

Ficus Microcarpa

Ficus Microcarpa, also known as the Malayan Banyan, is native to the Okinawa islands. Historically the Okinawan people worshipped Ficus Microcarpa as a sacred tree, believing that this tree with aerial roots is a place where spirits (fairies) live.

Sunflower ひまわり

Sunflower, Himawari ひまわり, on the side of the street near my home. The days have become noticeably shorter and winter is close at hand, the last of these bright yellow flowers are fading and bow heavy with seed.

Suma Rikyu Park: Flight

Poised for flight at the Suma Rikyu Park.

Suma Rikyu Park: Dragonfly

Caught this fellow near the rose garden at Suma Rikyu Park drying its wings during a short break in the rain.

須磨海浜水族園

One last image from Suma Aqualife Park, these fellows seem to prefer living huddled together in a small tube; kinda like a capsule hotel for fish. Hope this gives you a smile, to me they look like little muppets. Today is the beginning of a three day weekend in Japan, hope wherever this finds you, your weekend is close at hand and promises to be a good one.

Suma Aqualife Park

Yesterday was a free admission day to the Aqualife Park in Suma, so I decided to check it out with the large numbers of locals and children who had the same idea. "Suma Aquarium" was built in 1957, and was considered to be the biggest aquarium in East Asia. After its renovation in 1987, the aquarium was renamed Suma Aqualife Park and the "Wave Tank" is in front of the entrance hall of the main building was added. The first of its size in the world, the tank spans 25m and contains 1200t of water. Inside the tank are ocean sharks, rays, turtles and other large fish. While not as modern or impressive as its cousin in Ōsaka, the history, beachside location, and many exotic pacific ocean animals made this an enjoyable afternoon.