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posted: January 31st, 2008 |
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The photos on this page start with January 13th and continue through the 20th; a trip to Kawagoe, sunset at Handea Airport and the "Dondo-Yaki" event at Tama-sakai. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin January 13th |
On January 13th Kazuya and I went to Kawagoe to visit the 7 temples which house the 7 gods of Good Luck. There was nary a sign in English and all of the temples looked pretty much the same to me, so I have just included a few pictures. The first and 3rd pictures are some temple. The 2nd photo is the old town bell tower, where they announced the time in days gone by.
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 Jan13_HonKawagoe_ SomeTemple03RC |
 Jan13_HonKawagoe_ OldTower01sRC |
 Jan13_HonKawagoe_ SomeTemple06RC |
Here is a photo of the old section of the city, another shot of the old bell tower and the 3rd shot is a rickshaw carrying a couple of passengers.
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 Jan13_HonKawagoe _OldStreet02RC |
 Jan13_HonKawagoe _OldTower02sRC |
 Jan13_HonKawagoe _Rickshaw01RC |
Here is one more picture of the old section of the city. The 2nd shot shows some expensive teacups - about $300 in US Dollars. The 3rd shot is one of the fox gods.
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 Jan13_HonKawagoe_ OldStreet07RC |
 Jan13_HonKawagoe_Expensive TeaCupsCrop_sRC |
 Jan13_HonKawagoe_ SomeTemple25RC |
| End January 13th, Begin January 17th |
Here are 2 sunsets taken at Haneda Airport from our office window. The 1st shot was taken on the 17th - such brilliant color! The 2nd shot (on the 18th) exhibits an interesting phenomenon, a partial SUN PILLAR, which I had never seen before. The sun was already below the horizon, but note the pinkish glow near the center of the photo just above where the sun has already set.
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 Jan17_HanedaAirport Sunset05RC |
 Jan18_Haneda Sunset01RC |
| End January 17th, Begin January 19th |
On the 19th we went to see if we could find any birds at Oyama Dairi Park near Tama-sakai station. We didn't find many birds, but we happened to see a seasonal event held there. The event is called "Dondo Yaki", which is a traditional ceremony held around January 15th in Japan. People make a huge pile with bamboo, older talismans, Kadomatsu (New Year's Day Ornaments), children's calligraphy, etc., set it afire and wish for good luck and health. There is also a custom that they bake some rice cakes on that bonfire and eat the rice cakes while wishing for good health. There were lots of people participating in this event and there was a long line to get the bamboo sticks with two little rice cake balls on the top. We almost gave up, but actually they prepared lots and lots of those sticks, so we could get one for each of us.
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 Jan19_TamasakaiPark NewYearBonfire03RC |
 Jan19_TamasakaiPark NewYearBonfire04RC |
 Jan19_TamasakaiPark NewYearBonfire05RC |
The bonfire of old talismans and so on - it burned incredibly fast after it was lit (3rd photo in Row 5).
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 Jan19_TamasakaiPark NewYearBonfire07RC |
 Jan19_TamasakaiPark NewYearBonfire09RC |
 Jan19_TamasakaiPark NewYearBonfire13RC |
Here are 3 shots of the bamboo sticks with the rice cake balls on them and people cooking the rice cakes around the fire.
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 Jan19thOyamaDairiP30 _DodoyakiRC |
 Jan19thOyamaDairiP12 _MayudamaRC |
 Jan19_TamasakaiParkNew YearBonfire21_0595RC |
| End January 19th, Begin January 20th |
On the 20th we went to Nogawa Park to take pictures of birds. These 2 shots are the best of the day. Both of these shots are Coccothraustes coccothraustes - the Hawfinch. The first shot was taken in full sun while the 2nd shot was a more shaded location.
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 Jan20_NogawaPk_Coccothraustes_ coccothraustes_Hawfinch07scRC |
 Jan20_NogawaPk_Coccothraustes_ coccothraustes_Hawfinch11scRC |
| End January 20th, End Page 2 |
| And, that shows you what we saw from January 13th through the 20th. Thanks so much for taking the time to look. Please continue on to Page 3 for the conclusion of this month's adventures. |
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