posted: January 31st, 2016 |
This page begins with January 2nd, 2016 and a trip to Jindaiji Shrine to donate a bit of money to Buddha and say some prayers for things we want to happen in 2016.  After that we walked through Jindai Botanical Garden and found a few things to take photos of.  Our next outing was a trip to Nogawa Park on the 16th on a bird search and also to see if any spring flowers were making an appearance.  Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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Begin January 2nd |
  Within the first 9 days of the New Year it is a Japanese tradition to visit one's favorite Buddhist Shrine and donate some money and at the same time to make some wishes for what one wants to get/gain/accomplish in the coming year. So, on January 2nd Kazuya and I bicycled to our local Jindai Shrine and did that. The first photo in this row shows people praying and the money bin where they throw the money into. The second and third photos show the people standing in line to make their donations and say their prayers.
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Jan02_02_Jindaiji ShrineCrowdRC |
Jan02_03_Jindaiji ShrineCrowdRC |
Jan02_04_Jindaiji ShrineCrowdRC |
  After donating our money and saying our prayers we entered Jindai Botanical Garden and found a few plum trees in bloom. The second photo is a cropped out piece of the first photo. |
Jan02_10_JindaiBot Garden_PlumBlossomRC |
Jan02_10Part_JindaiBot Garden_PlumBlossomRC |
Jan02_14_JindaiBot Garden_PlumBlossomRC |
  The first photo on this row shows a pink plum blossom. The second photo shows a daffodil in bloom and the third photo is another plum. |
Jan02_19_JindaiBot Garden_PlumBlossomRC |
Jan02nd_05_JindaiBot Garden_DaffodilRC |
Jan02nd_04_JindaiBot Garden_PlumBlossomsRC |
  Here is a shot of some pink plum blossoms in first position. The second image was cropped out of a different photo to show a nice close-up of two pink plum blossoms. The third photo shows more white plum blossoms. |
Jan02nd_07_JindaiBot Garden_PlumBlossomsRC |
Jan02_19Part_JindaiBot Garden_PlumBlossomRC |
Jan02_21_JindaiBot Garden_PlumBlossomRC |
  All three photos in this row show another winter to very early spring flowering plant - Chimonanthus praecox - Roubai in Japanese. |
Jan02_32_JindaiBot Garden_RoubaiRC |
Jan02_33Crop_JindaiBot Garden_RoubaiRC |
Jan02_37_JindaiBot Garden_RoubaiRC |
  Here are two more shots of Chimonanthus praecox - Roubai in Japanese. |
Jan02nd_19_JindaiBot Garden_RoubaiRC |
Jan02nd_20_JindaiBot Garden_RoubaiRC |
End January 2nd, Begin January 16th |
  On January 16th we walked to Nogawa Park to try and catch some birds and see what spring flowers were in bloom there. The first shot in this row shows a daffodil. The second and third shots show a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus kizuki). |
Jan16_02_Nogawa Pk_DaffodilRC |
Jan16_04_Nogawa Pk_WoodpeckerRC |
Jan16_05_Nogawa Pk_WoodpeckerRC |
  Here are two more shots of the Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus kizuki). Surprisingly we did not see many other birds on this outing. The third shot shows that the Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is just emerging from the soil on this date. |
Jan16_06_Nogawa Pk_WoodpeckerRC |
Jan16_07Crop_Nogawa Pk_WoodpeckerRC |
Jan16_08_Nogawa Pk_SkunkCabbageRC |
  Here is a single shot of Shibateranthis pinnatifida - Setsubunsou in Japanese. This is our first ground flower, but there were only two or three of them in bloom this early in the season. The second and third shots show some very photogenic Yuba-Yuri (Old Women's Lily) seedheads. |
Jan16_13_Nogawa Pk_SetsubunsouRC |
Jan16_16_Nogawa Pk_YubaYuriRC |
Jan16_17_Nogawa Pk_YubaYuriRC |
  In first position in this row is another plum blossom. In second and third position are photos of the very red berries of Reineckea carnea - Kichijosou in Japanese. |
Jan16_21_Nogawa Pk_PlumBlossomRC |
Jan16_24_Nogawa Pk_KichijosouRC |
Jan16_26_Nogawa Pk_KichijosouRC |
  Here is a final shot of the very red berries of Reineckea carnea - Kichijosou in Japanese - and then a shot of a weed of some sort which has some fairly red leaves. And, that's it for January outings and photos. |
Jan16_28_Nogawa Pk_KichijosouRC |
Jan16_29_Nogawa Pk_WeedRC |
End January 16th, End January 2016's Photos, Begin Miscellaneous Links |