山梨県、河口湖湖畔にて。2022年元旦、初日の出を見届けた後の爽やかでエネルギーに満ち溢れた晴天のもとの富士山。

Eye shooting green beauty of Hokkaido. I feel so relaxed after visiting this place. It was from Hinode park in hokkaido's Furano area in 2021 summer. Fresh and beautiful green scenery.

Heaven on earth.
The rainbow colored flower field with blue sky. The white clouds creates more scenic environment. In the background there is patchwork field and mountain range. What else one nature lover can expect? Its a perfect place to visit in summer. This photo was taken from shikisai no oka in the Furano area of hokkaido. I was amazed to see this beautiful park. If you have any chance to visit this park in next summer then I would highly recommended it.

兵庫県神河町にある砥峰高原のススキ
ここのススキはいつ見ても綺麗で夜になると天の川も見れます。

兵庫県宍粟市にあるたまたま見つけた夫婦の様に寄り添う桜
ここの桜は憩いの場が桜の下にあり好きになり昼間は家族でお弁当食べによく訪れます

兵庫県日和山には竜宮城があります。
長秒露光でフィルターを用いて波を雲の様にして撮影しました。

The patchwork field is very popular among the tourist because of its scenic beauty. Luckily when I visited hokkaido in summer I was able to see this beautiful patchwork field. On the background there is are hills which makes the scenery more beautiful. I would love to call this as patchwork hill. The photo was taken in furano area of hokkaido in July 2021.

冬の鳥取砂丘
鳥取砂丘は何度も訪れた事があるのですが、この日は天候悪く荒れて吹雪で大変でしたが、いつもの砂丘と違い真っ白の砂丘は素晴らしい光景でした。

兵庫県宍粟市にあるミツマタ群生
ミツマタは紙幣の原料ともなりまさに黄金の森でした。

成田山新勝寺で撮影しました。

Beautifully decorated Yokohama China town during chinese new year using red lantern, chinese hoardings and lantern dragons.

成田山新勝寺にて撮影しました。?初詣のときに敷地内にある五重の塔の造形美に惹かれて撮影。1500年の歴史を垣間見ることができました。

タイトルは『踊るよさこい旗』
いつかまた踊り子さんたちと観客の熱気を感じられる特別な4日間が訪れますように

The shrine and its nearby area at China town, Yokohama were well decorated with lights and lanterns before the Chinese new year. It looks very beautiful and charming.

Just some more photos to wrap up our trip to Nikko.

I took a bunch of photos of different monuments and buildings that seemed important or had lavish decorations.
I can't make out what the writing on the monument says but I can at least make out the kanji for heart (心).

I also liked the golden palanquins inside the the building in the forth photo, although I'm not sure if they were used at some point or are simply for decoration.

The other photos are from Futarasan Chugushi Shrine (二荒山中宮祠神社) located in front of Lake Chuzenji.
Unfortunately we didn't have time to go inside the shrine but I was at least able to take some nice photos of the torii gate.
Apparently it has a kagura hall as well and the entrance to Mt. Nantai is located inside the shrine as well.

And finally, just an assortment of food that I haven't posted yet.
All of it tasted great.
It was definitely a trip I'm never going to forget!

Some more photos from our trip to Nikko.

There were so many awesome monuments, landmarks, and buildings that it'd be impossible to fit it all into one post.

I was so glad that I had my mobile battery with me because I was taking so many photos that I was just burning through my battery lol.
I really liked how the incense burner looked and I tried looking up how old it was but I wasn't able to find anything about it, only the one in front of Tokugawa Ieyasu's burial site.

I would have liked to use the chozuya as well, but unfortunately it was closed off due to covid.
I also liked seeing the sake barrels as well as they always brighten up shrines.

The "Ippon Toro" lantern was interesting as well.
I'd never heard of Empress Tofukumon'in before either, so it gave me some interesting things to read about Japan's Edo Period.
Apparently she helped rebuild prominent temple in Kyoto and collected art and pottery from famous artisans of the time and even those of the past.

Some buildings I'd have to look at a map to know their names but there was definitely no shortage of decorations.
Unfortunately we weren't able to take photos inside some of the main buildings, but a few of them had ceiling paintings done by famous painters.
Many of them were birds, and I'm not an expert, but I think they were mostly cranes and they were all really beautiful.

Continuing on from yesterday's post...

On the second and final day of our trip we woke up and ate a light breakfast followed by some udon and soba at a nice little restaurant on the way to the Kirifuri Highlands (霧降高原).

We were originally planning on hiking up to the observation deck around 880 meters up the mountain, but it proved to be a little farther than we thought it would be an had to stop at around 650 meters as there was a massive staircase to reach the observation deck and not everyone in the group was up for the challenge lol.
Not having the proper gear didn't help much either.
Most people had on snow shoes and they could easily trek through the snow but wearing just boots or tennis shoes we were a bit under-equipped and decided it'd be better not to overdo it.
We got to see some really amazing views and talk to an 85-year-old man who told us what gear we should buy if we're planning on hiking in the snow, about how the dam located on the mountains across from us rises and falls during the day/night, and how this was his ~60th time climbing the mountain but the woman he came with has done it more than 300 times.
She had to turn back early that day, but those are some impressive numbers!

After enjoying the outdoors we headed over to Nikko Edomura/Edo Wonderland (日光江戸村) and had a blast exploring the theme park.
We arrived at about 2pm so we got a nice discount on our all-day passes.

Walking around we got to see all of the different buildings that gave the theme park its Edo-Period-feel.
We also got to see the oiran procession (花魁道中) which was really awesome as well.

It seemed like they tried to make it as accurate as possible too.
The way the courtesan walked was in the traditional figure eight style which, from what I've read, is not easily done, so I assume that this is a sort of special type of profession as she was doing it (to my untrained eye) perfectly.
One funny thing was that the girls in red in front of the courtesan had to slouch somewhat because they were too tall and the theme park obviously can't employ children to play the role like they would have traditionally.

We also got some temporary "tattoos."
They got some cute Nyan-mage tattoos and I got a Shinsengumi tattoo lol.

After that we watched a really awesome performance inside of the ninja theater, but we weren't allowed to film or take photos so I don't have anything to post unfortunately.
It was really cool seeing the ninja actors jumping off of rooves and fighting though.

On top of that we also tried out the ninja maze where I was unfortunately the last one to make it out as I got unlucky and hit a dead end at the last part of the maze.
This was a really fun experience as there were a lot of hidden and revolving doors that you had to find to escape the maze.

We also did the shuriken experience and I managed to get 3/5 but I gave one of my shuriken to my girlfriend in the hopes that she would stick one in the target but unfortunately she wasn't able to lol.
I guess I was technically 3/4 because of that.

Overall the whole trip was a blast and we got to make some awesome memories out in Tochigi.
I definitely recommend it as a travel destination!

Took a trip out to Nikko, Tochigi over the three day weekend and had an incredible time.
The purpose of the trip was to celebrate my girlfriend's sister's college graduation so we wanted to make it as memorable as possible.
I don't have enough room to fit this into one post so I'll post the rest throughout the week.

We started out from Tokyo and had lunch somewhere Nikko Toshogu Shrine.
I'm not sure if Yuba is a local specialty but it seemed like literally every single restaurant in the area was selling it so I'm assuming that was the case.
It was my first time trying it and it was pretty interesting I guess you could say.
It tasted alright with the soy sauce and radish but I think I prefer normal tofu instead. Either way it was a nice experience.

After eating we headed out to Nikko Toshogu Shrine nearby and man was it amazing.
Everything was so lavishly decorated that I couldn't stop taking photos.
The pagoda was incredibly beautiful as well and the snow covering the Nikko area made everything even more beautiful.

I was lucky enough to get a really nice shot of the corridor full of lanterns while no one was walking through the area as well.
I also took a photo of the torii gate at the top of the steps as it had a very strong presence and signaled the end of the long journey up the steps to reach the inner shrine.

Unfortunately the main gate was undergoing repairs so it was completely covered in tarp and surrounded by staging so I wasn't able to get a photo of it, but I did get some really cool shots of the main shrine.

I tried as hard as I could to get some good photos of the grave of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and while I think the photo of the gate isn't bad, I think I'd need a better camera to get a good shot of the crane and his tomb.
That being said it was still really awesome to see.

After checking out the shrine we headed out to Kegon Falls and I managed to get some really nice videos and some decent photos as well.
I can't post the videos or I would.
It was really awesome seeing the icicles surrounding the waterfall and all of the frozen scenery as well.
Even just taking the lift down to the waterfall was an experience.
After we left the waterfall observation deck and went back up the elevator we got some suiton (水団, flour dumplings in soup) and shared it between the three of us as a light snack before dinner later that evening.
We also visited Lake Chuzenji and admired the scenery there for a bit as well.
We didn't spend a ton of time here so this photo was the best I could do.
I like that I was able to get the sign in the shot though so I can't complain.

After enjoying the view of the lake we headed to our hotel and ate dinner and had some wine.
The place we stayed at was called "Lamb Chop" (ペンション・ラムチャップ日光).
The food was great and service provided by the the owners was top notch, so I definitely recommend checking it out if you're looking for a place to stay in the area.

After dinner we headed back to our room and I was so exhausted I fell asleep almost instantly.

And that was the end of day 1! I'll post day two tomorrow since this post is getting quite long now!

Although the samba dance is from Brazil but I saw it 1st time in Tokyo at Asakusa area. It was from 38th Asakusa Samba carnival in 2019. I was really very excited and happy to see it. Unfortunately from 2020 because of corona the event is not happening but I wish this 2022 I could see it again.

過去から現在まで人間が作った物も
自然もいいものは全て
未来に残していけたらいいな☺️

長崎市で10月7〜9日に行われる祭礼
［ながさきくんち］
国の重要無形民俗文化財に指定されています

写真の山車は［コッコデショ］
ながさきくんちの中でも人気がある奉納踊です。
山車を空高く放り投げ、投げた腕を伸ばしたまま掴むという荒技と男らしさ、掛け声の勇ましさ
観る人を夢中にさせる魅力溢れる事は間違いありません

他の奉納踊りも個性豊かでとても楽しめる祭礼行事だと思います
出店もたくさん多く出店していて子供も大人も楽しく過ごせる時間を満喫できる事間違いなし！！


空高く放り投げる瞬間の力強さと躍動感を捉えたくてシャッタースピードを落として撮影。
手元の動きと担ぎ手の表情を自分なりに上手く捉えれたと思います

岡山県の美観地区をお散歩しに?
昔の事は全然分からへんけど
歩くだけでワクワクする
何回行っても大好きな場所☺️
美味しー物食べて飲んで幸せしかない♡

This Kasaboko (flower parasol) used in 300 years old Japanese festival in Chichibu which actually looks stunning. This chichibu night festival is also known as 'chichibu yomatsuri'. I was really very excited to see it.

毎年恒例六甲山で行われる六甲ミーツアート
芸術の秋と言う事で毎年家族で楽しみにしてる六甲ミーツアート
コロナの中制作が大変だったと思われたのですが素敵な作品ばかりで制作者様には本当に感謝です。

そして夜景だけではなくアートで六甲山を活性化し今まで以上に観光客の方が来て面白さも増し賑わいを見せこれからも楽しみにしております。

前から訪れたかった天橋立智恩寺にて和傘のライトアップを見る機会があったので行って来ました。この後の花火大会も良かったのですがやっぱり個人的には日本の和が好きで凄く綺麗でした。

前から訪れたかった天橋立智恩寺にて和傘のライトアップを見る機会があったので行って来ました。この後の花火大会も良かったのですがやっぱり個人的には日本の和が好きで凄く綺麗でした。

初詣 at 明治神宮

Camera: canon eos40d
Lens: TAMRON XR Di II

Twitter、Instagramもやっているのでフォローお願いします！
どちらもアカウントID etuko_photos です！！

雪降る明治神宮より。

Camera: canon eos40d
Lens: TAMRON XR Di II

Twitter、Instagramもやっているのでフォローお願いします！
どちらもアカウントID etuko_photos です！！

普段地元で初詣をするのですが1978年から続くイベント姫路の万灯祭に行ったのですが、提灯の数にビックリしました。
三脚禁止なので参拝者の邪魔にならない様手持ちで撮影致しました。

家島でおこなわれる獅子舞いの天神祭
豪華絢爛の船の中で地元の子供達が獅子舞いを披露してくれるのですが、こちらもコロナで見る事が出来なくなりました。

アップ許可済み