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This is Page 1 of 2 - the best of January 2009!
posted: January 31st, 2009
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This page actually begins with December 31st, 2008 and takes you through the 18th of January, 2009. Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin December 31st, 2008
  On December 30th and 31st Kazuya and I were in his home town - Funagata Town, Yamagata Prefecture. It was snowing on and off the entire time we were there. Here are 3 pictures taken on the 31st as we walked to a local Hot Spring.
Dec31_Funagata_SnowScene03RC.jpg
Dec31_Funagata_
SnowScene03RC
Dec31st_2008_FunagataSnowScene04RC.jpg
Dec31st_2008_
FunagataSnowScene04RC
Dec31_Funagata_SnowScene06RC.jpg
Dec31_Funagata_
SnowScene06RC

  Here is one more picture taken on the 31st as we returned from the Hot Spring. The 2nd photo was taken by Kazuya from the window of the Shinkansen Train as we returned to Tokyo on January 1st, 2009.
Dec31_Funagata_SnowScene10RC.jpg
Dec31_Funagata_
SnowScene10RC
Jan1st_2009_ShinkansenToTokyo31RC.jpg
Jan1st_2009_
ShinkansenToTokyo31RC
End December 31st, 2008, Begin January 2nd, 2009
  On January 2nd Kazuya and I went to Jindai Shrine for our New Year's visit. Here is a picture of the crowd waiting to get into the Shrine. The 2nd shot is an orchid at Jindai Botanical Garden and the 3rd shot is Ay-o's New Year's Poster for the Year of the Ox. Sorry this is such poor quality - you should have seen it before I worked on it extensively in PhotoShop.
Jan2_JindaiShrine01RC.jpg
Jan2_Jindai
Shrine01RC
Jan2_JindaiBG_Orchid02RC.jpg
Jan2_JindaiBG
_Orchid02RC
Jan03_OxYearPoster01_PS_3RC.jpg
Jan03_Ox
YearPoster01_PS_3RC
End January 2nd, Begin January 17th
  On January the 17th Kazuya and I went for a long bicycle ride (about 6 hours) down the Nogawa (No River). The most picturesque thing we saw was some Kingfishers. Here are the 2 best shots.
Jan17_NogawaRiv_Kingfisher10RC.jpg
Jan17_NogawaRiv
_Kingfisher10RC
Jan17_NogawaRiv_Kingfisher13RC.jpg
Jan17_NogawaRiv
_Kingfisher13RC

  On our return trip to home on the 17th we bicycled up the Sengawa (Sen River). Here are 2 shots of some kind of duck which is not in my book and which we had never seen before. If anybody knows the scientific and English Common Names of this duck - PLEASE e-mail me. (edited: somebody DID e-mail me and this duck is a Falcated Duck [Anas falcata].)
Jan17_SengawaRiv_Duck06sRC.jpg
Jan17_Sengawa
Riv_Duck06sRC
Jan17_SengawaRiv_Duck08RC.jpg
Jan17_Sengawa
Riv_Duck08RC
End January 17th, Begin January 18th
  On January 18th Kazuya and I went out to Tamasakai to the Oyama Dairi Park and took part in the "Dondo-yaki" event, which is an event at which people burn their old talismans and so on which people used during the previous year for good luck. The first photo here shows the incredible pile of stuff to be burned. The 2nd picture is a zoomed photo of a small portion of the pile and the 3rd photo is another shot of the entire pile.
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire08RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire08RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire09RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire09RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire12RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire12RC

  Children stand around the pile and at a signal they set it afire. The first photo in this row was taken at 1:11:26 PM, the 2nd photo at 1:11:40 PM and the 3rd photo at 1:11:48 PM. In 22 seconds it has turned into a conflagration!
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire15RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire15RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire16RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire16RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire17RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire17RC

  The first photo here was taken at 1:11:57 PM, the 2nd photo at 1:14:19 PM and the 3rd photo at 1:15:25 PM - in this photo it has only been 3 minutes and 59 seconds since the fire was lit!
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire18RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire18RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire24RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire24RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire29RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire29RC

  This final fire photo was taken at 1:19:58, now 8 minutes and 32 seconds since it was lit afire! Now it's time to buy our "Mayudama" (small balls made from rice flour) and roast them. The 2nd photo shows the "Mayudama" on sticks before they started selling them. The 3rd shot shows people waiting in line to roast their "Mayudama".
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire40RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire40RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire05RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire05RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire41RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire41RC

  These 2 photos both show what the line of people waiting to roast their "Mayudama" looks like.
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire42RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire42RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire44RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire44RC

  The 1st shot here shows people standing around the fire roasting their "Mayudama". The 2nd shot shows a firefighter in full reflective gear - they had to go in to the fire from time to time and stir it, rake it and so on to ensure a complete burn. We did a much better job of roasting our "Mayudama" this year than we did last year (3rd shot). Last year the event was not so well organized and by the time we got to the fire there was not enough heat left to be able to roast our "Mayudama". This year we were able to roast them to perfection and they were actually quite delicious.
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire48RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire48RC
Jan18_TamaSakaiNewYearBonfire47RC.jpg
Jan18_TamaSakaiNew
YearBonfire47RC
Jan18th_OyamaDairiPark77RC.jpg
Jan18th_Oyama
DairiPark77RC
End January 18th, End Page 1
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