日光霧降ノ滝の紅葉

壮観な渓谷に落ちる霧降ノ滝

栃木市大平山見晴台からの景色です。
眼下に広がる関東平野に積乱雲が多く発生！
青空いっぱいで遠くまで広がる、関東平野を撮影する予定でしたが
さすがにこの雲の多さでした。
しかし高い所から観る積乱雲は、大きさや高さがよく分かります。
そのスケール感がダイナミックに印象付けてくれました。

宇都宮二荒山神社
お祭りも戻りました
子供達の歓声が楽しい

7月23日那須塩原の大沼公園
夏の湿原を撮りに行って来ました。
観光地の近くなので大勢の観光客が来てるかと思ってましたが、
ほとんど人も来てなく、大自然を独り占め撮影し放題！
下手くそながら、気に入った3枚を出させていただきました。
NDフィルターで長時間露光にて水面は滑らかに、
草むらはあえて、被写体ブレでふわふわな感じに撮りました。
それが良いのか分かりませんが、自己満足です。
塩原の大沼穴場です！

栃木県の平和観音像の写真です。階段を登って近くに行くとお賽銭が観音像の上にたくさん乗っていてここへ来た人の平和への願いを感じさせました。とても大きな観音像で同じ高さへ行くと町が見下ろせます。同じくらいの目線で町を眺めると自然と今日の世界の状況を観音様はどう思っているのか問いかけたくなります。

あまり見たことのない花があったのでその時の1コマ。
場所は栃木県足利市の足利フラワーパーク！
春夏秋冬いろんな花が咲いてる場所なのでおすすめです！

桜がとてもきれいだったのでパシャり?
気づいたらあっという間に春が終わりそうな位暑い…家の周りは桜が散ってしまいました?
いい写真が撮れたので見ていってください?

栃木県の足利フラワーパークに行った時の写真です。四季折々の花がたくさん咲いてるのでとてもおすすめです！
花の写真を撮ると心も癒される…春になりバタバタし始めましたが息抜きにとてもよかったです☺️

「みんなの投稿」に投稿いただいたお写真をご紹介！

インバウンド観光情報SNS「クールジャパンビデオ」ピックアップ投稿です。
本日は「カメラヤン」さんの投稿をご紹介します。

藤棚のリフレクションが素晴らしいお写真ですね。

栃木県足利市にある「あしかがフラワーパーク」は、「世界の夢の旅行先10カ所」や「日本夜景遺産」にも選ばれた有名な観光スポット。

例年4月中旬から5月中旬に見頃を迎える藤は見どころの一つ。
「奇蹟の大藤」とも言われている1000平方メートルある藤棚は見逃せないポイント。樹齢約150年の大藤は圧巻の美しさです。
また、2023年は「ふじのはな物語～大藤まつり～」も開催。（開催期間：4月12日（水）～5月14日（日））
藤だけではなく、ツツジやバラ（ローズガーデン）も楽しめます

秋から冬にかけては「日本三大イルミネーション」にも選ばれたイルミネーションイベントも開催。
テーマ別に異なる演出のイルミネーションが園内を煌びやか映し出します。
園内には飲食店やお土産やさんもあり、家族やカップル、グループでの観光に最適です。

前売り券を事前に購入しておくと、お得な料金で入場することが可能。
1日券だけでなく、夜の部のみのチケットもあるため時間に合わせての入場もできます。
国営ひたち海浜公園とあしかがフラワーパークのセット券や、足利市セット券もご用意。詳細は公式ホームページをご確認ください。

◆あしかがフラワーパーク◆
【住所】〒329-4216 栃木県足利市迫間町607
【交通アクセス】JR「あしかがフラワーパーク」駅から徒歩約３分
【駐車場】有り （無料：6000台）

昨年の秋に那須塩原へ旅行した際の写真！3、4回訪れてますが、この場所の景色がサイコーなんです！写真に見える橋は、紅の吊橋です♪

栃木県奥日光温泉寺に向かう参道
並んだ灯篭に積雪が、
おそろいの帽子をかぶっているみたいです。
参道の途中から湯元源泉まで木道が続いてます。
木道からの景色も絶景です。

栃木県矢板市から日光男体山を撮影しました。
あいにくの天気ですが雲の間から差し込む光の帯が
綺麗でした。
八方ヶ原付近の展望台からの眺望です。

栃木県奥日光中禅寺湖からの夕焼け
今時の夕暮れに観れる絶景
真っ赤に染る夕焼け雲
まるで燃えているようで
寒さを忘れて見惚れてました。
何度来ても良い所

圧巻の藤
一度行ってみたかった「あしかがフラワーパーク」。圧巻の藤に圧倒されました。今年の思い出

栃木県にある半月山展望台から撮った日の出を浴びる八丁出島?
ボートがいい感じ?‍♂️

「みんなの投稿」に投稿いただいたお写真をご紹介！

本日のインバウンド観光情報SNS「クールジャパンビデオ」ピックアップ投稿になります。
「Abhi Sen」さんの投稿をご紹介します。
息を呑むような駒止の滝（こまどめのたき）

色とりどりに紅葉した壮大な木々の中、落ちる滝の景色が絶景ですね。

栃木県那須町にある「駒ヶ滝」は別名「駒止の滝」とも呼ばれている幅約2m、高さ20mの滝です。
上下の滝壺の色は美しく神秘的。「那須第一の滝」と言われています。

紅葉は例年10月中旬頃に見頃を迎え、紅葉と滝のコントラストを日光国立公園「那須平成の森」内に設営されている観瀑台から、閉鎖される冬期を除き季節ごとの姿を一望できます。

アクセスは車では東北自動車道「那須IC」より約40分、電車では那須塩原駅よりタクシーで約30分。最寄り駅は黒田原駅となっています。駐車場は無いため、近隣の那須平成の森などに駐車し徒歩で向かうことをおすすめします。

また、周辺には那須温泉郷のひとつ北温泉があり、奥那須の秘湯を楽しめます。

Wisteria - a symbol of love, beauty, creativity, and long life. ?

When I first saw this tree, i certainly thought that it's a magical tree straight from a fairy tale book ?

It's in Ashikaga Flower park in Tochigi Prefecture. ✨

天空の足湯にて。
標高2,000m、日光白根山ロープウェイの頂上駅。登山の疲れが癒されます〜
?iPhone13promax

あしかがフラワーパーク
「うす紅橋」藤の花夜間ライトアップ
日本。栃木県。足利市。

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.

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!

渡良瀬遊水地の春の風物詩である「ヨシ焼き」は、およそ1500ヘクタールもの面積が真っ赤な炎で焼き払われます。ヨシに寄生する害虫駆除や野火の防止、湿地環境の保全の為に毎年行われています。

毎年大渋滞の日光いろは坂を抜けて…

昨年のペルセウス座流星群の時期になります。
周囲は流れ星に歓声を上げる中、目の前にそびえ立つ夏の天の川に感動してました?
そんな日本の夏の絶景です??

日光東照宮陽明門 リニューアルして初めて訪れました。
パーツ全てに彫刻が施されていて、どれだけ時間と労力が掛ったのか?
想像に難くありませんでした。

自転車の国際レース
街中で実施されるので迫力も満点。
コロナが落ち着いたら是非また見に行きたい。

あしかがフラワーパークの藤の花。

ライトアップ②?

Wow this is awesome! I went to Ashikaga Flower Park a while back and had a blast! It was a bit cold when I went but I made sure I got some snacks at one of the vendors. The park was quite a bit larger than I was expecting and the illuminations were really cool as well. I didn't think there'd be so much wisteria but the large trellises were really beautiful. The other flowers in the park were amazing as well obviously, but there's something about the cascading wisteria that just looks so fantastical. Even in this picture you can kind of see how they almost create waves with the lighting and the angle. It kind of reminds me of the Northern Lights, albeit only orange-ish in this photo. What a great photo though. Good memories here!

栃木県日光市の日光連山、厳しい冬と広大な自然が圧巻