Fireworks Display in Yatsushiro

Two More Photos of Yatushiro Firewoks Display

Yukata Festival

These are the photos taken at a Yukata Festival which was held on 16th and 17th in Kumamoto City. Yukata is Japanese summer kimono and is one of the seasonal charms of summer. At ryokan, Japanese style inn, we change into a yukata in any season to relax, though. On the 17th, people of all ages, especially young people, wearing yukata were on the scene. They looked like that they were enjoying a brief flirt with unconventional living.

Harvesting Igusa

The area where I live boasts of the largest igusa(rush) producition in Japan. Igusa is the material for making tatami-mats used in Japanese houses. Tatami are thick mats made of rice straw and are finished with a cover of woven igusa(rushes). Now is the high time for harvesting igusa in my neighborhood. I should have captured the clearer facial expressions of the farmer who were working under the scorching sun.

An Early Bird !

This is the first post in July. I can't believe that I had been posting daily update until last November. There are several reasons for that, but one of them was that I had not been well both physically and mentally. But when I saw the doctor who treated my heart problem last Wednesday, I found out that the treatment worked almost perfectly though I have a complication. After knowing this, I started to make a practice of early rising the next day. I have been trying to get up before six o'clock every morning and take about 30-minute walk in my neighborhood or go out for taking pictures in other places in my city. I used to be a night owl but now I am an early bird. It is true that the early bird catches the worm. I have been feeling alive again these days!!

Pinkish Little Flowers

These are picutures of weeds called "nejiriso" or "spiranthes sinensises" in my yard. They are now full in bloom in the yard which has not being tended for about a month because of my poor health. Actually I had an ablation precedure on my heart early this month. Since then, I had not felt like taking pictures. But today they looked so adorable that I could not resist going out into the yard with my camera. I placed a tripod in front of them, sat on the lawn, and photographed them with my 60mm macro lens. I got out of breath afterward, though.

Funny Dance

These photos were taken at a welcoming party to entertain walkers who came to participate in the Kyushu International Three Day March held in our city last weekend. This dance in which dancers who are performing with red kimono coats on and funny face masks and traditional Japanese towels covering their heads is called Hyottoko Odori. They entertained the walkers with their comical and sexy performances. You can easily guess from these photos how much the foreign walkers enjoyed the dance. Some even joined the dancers on the stage.

I'm Kate!!??

In our city, a children's costume parade has been held every year over 17 years on Children's Day, May 5th. This year about 200 children dressed in fancy costumes marched on the main street. The girl in this photo who was impersonating Kate Middleton posed with smile to my camera while her husband was talking with a masked clown. A man with a red cap on behind her is a mayor who joined the parade. It looked as if the street was drastically changed into a fairyland that day.

Japanese Wisteria

Japanese wisterias are full in bloom in our area. These two phots were taken in a little park in our city. When I was preparing for photographing, they started to swing in a breeze. I used the slow shutter to capture gently rustling wisterias which smelt sweet in the warm spring breeze.

Framed Photos of Flowers

Today I learned how to frame a photo by using Adobe Photoshop in my photography class which I attend every other week. The flowers are Japanese peony flowers which are said to be one of the most gorgeous flowers in Japan. I photographed them in a little park in our city. They look more gorgeous in the frame.

Catching Crusian Carp Ritual

These are photos of a spring Shinto ritual which is held annually at Inyaku-Shine in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture. It is called Funatori Shinji or Catching Crusian-carp Ritual in which young men wearing only a red or white loin-cloth jump into a pond at the shrine, catch crusian carps, and throw them toward people who gather to watch the ritual. It is said that mud flung with carps at people will protect them from illness throughout the year. The boy shown here may live to one hundred. I enjoyed taking snap shots of the ritual together with many shutterbugs like me, while trying not to get muddy.

Model Photo Session

Last Sunday I attended a spring session for photographing a model which was hosted by a local newspaper photography circle in Kumamoto Prefecture. It was held in Kumamoto Castle where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Arriving at the castle, I was surprised to find out that there were about 300 photographers!! At first I felt uncomfortable shooting a model with so many experienced-looking photographers but I took about 300 photos of this model against the background of cherry blossoms, the castle and its stone walls, and so on.

Yellow Flowers

This photo is part of the vine coverd fence at my house. Now yellow flowers are blooming. I think that they are the same kind of yellow flowers growing in the backyard of my friend's house in California. I don't know their name.

High Schoolers on The River

On my way to the spot where I sometimes go to take a snap shot of kingfishers, I noticed a high school girls practicing rowing on the Kuma River. I pulled over my car and photographed them with my 500mm tele-photo lens in order to make bokeh of yellow flowers blooming on a bank in the foreground. It looked like that they were enjoying their bloom of youth in the warm spring morning.

Photos of Hitoyoshi-go

I love　the steam locomotive "Hitoyoshi-go,"and I like to take snap shots of it with the cherry blossoms and yellow flowers which bloom along the railroad. But unfortunately the petals of cherry blossoms in our area began to fall every time the wind blew. Yellow flowers are now past their prime. So I will not be able to take photos like these until next spring. It is not scheduled to run this weekend, but all most all cherry blossoms are gone. by then.

My Last Students

This is a picture of the students from a college in Singapore whom I taught Japanese language in March. They came to Japan on a 42 day-study-abroad program on March 5. Today was one of the days when I was supposed to teach them, but my class was cancelled. They had left Japan last week because of the earthquake, tsunami, and the accident of the nuclear power plant in northern Japan. I decided not to renew my part time teaching job at a junior college for the next fiscal year which begins in April. One of the reasons is a medical treatment for my longstanding heart condition. So I completely retired from my teaching job which I had enjoyed for 47 years. These three foreign students are my last students. I really enjoyed teaching them and I thought that they also enjoyed my class. I liked their friendly smiles.

Snap Shots in Kumamoto Castle

I went to see a photo exhibition which was held at Prefectural Art Museum Branch last Thursday. On my way back to a parking lot, I walked around the Kumamoto Castle and took some snap shots there. It was one of the warm spring days. There were many people doing whatever they liked under the cherry blossoms.

Steam Locomotive & Yellow Flowers

These are the steam locomotive "Hitoyoshi-go" which runs from March to November in our area every year. It is one of my favorite objects of shooting in this season. They look very good in yellow flowers.

Cherry Blossoms

These photos were taken in our city the day before yesterday. I photographed them by using a polarizing filter in order to bring out the color in the blue sky. As for the first photo, I waited for the wind to pick up and used a slow-shutter speed in order to capture gently rustling cherry blossoms. Now cherry blossoms are seen in many places in our city. The season for cherry-blossom viewing has come here. I suppose that many people will go on a cherry-blossom viewing picnic this weekend.

Photo of A Kingfisher

This is a picture of a kingfisher which is a symbolic bird of our city. I had never thought of taking snap shots of kingfisher until one of my photo friends invited me to a spot where he used to photograph them. Today I went to the spot, placed a camera with a 500mm-lens on a tripod, and waited for them for long hours to come to catch little fish. It was just lucky that I was able to take this picture. I had been thinking that it was almost impossible for me to take snap shots of kingfishers which flew over a little stream in a flash. Next time I would like to photographe a kingfisher sweeping down from a perch or coming out of the water with a prey in its beaks.