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This is Page 1 of 3 - the best of June 2009!
posted: June 30th, 2009
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This page begins with June 7th and takes you through June 12th - a climb of Mt. Takao for the annual viewing of Dendrobium moniliforme orchids and a trip to Hakone. Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin June 7th
  On June 7th Kazuya and I went out to Mt. Takao to check out the status of the Dendrobium moniliforme orchids. They were out, but unfortunately so were the crowds of people. We couldn't believe the number of people. The second photo shows the crowd right at the trail-head. This made it impossible to set up the camera tripod and concentrate on getting great pictures. This year Kazuya did much better than I did as far as capturing the flowers, and for that reason most of the pictures below are taken by Kazuya.
June07_MtTakao04_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June07_MtTakao04_Dendrobium
_moniliformeRC
June7th_TakaoSan014_CrowdRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan014
_CrowdRC
June7th_TakaoSan023_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan023_Dendrobium
_moniliformeRC

  Here are 3 more photos of Dendrobium moniliforme and note that all 3 of them were taken by Kazuya. You must keep in mind that these orchids are up high in the huge old cedar trees - they are not something you can get down on your knees and concentrate on, unlike most flowers. One must try and zoom in on a branch of a cedar tree 75 feet away and at an angle which cranes your neck. It's a much easier task when using a tripod, but using a tripod was out of the question this year.
June7th_TakaoSan027_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan027_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC
June7th_TakaoSan030_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan030_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC
June7th_TakaoSan035_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan035_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC

  Here are 3 more - all by Kazuya.
June7th_TakaoSan049_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan049_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC
June7th_TakaoSan042_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan042_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC
June7th_TakaoSan052_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan052_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC

  Here are 3 shots which I took. My camera has a more powerful zoom, so that's why these shots "seem" closer - because of the zoom capabilities of my camera.
June07_MtTakao25_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June07_MtTakao25_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC
June07_MtTakao27_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June07_MtTakao27_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC
June07_MtTakao30_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June07_MtTakao30_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC

  Here is a final shot of Dendrobium moniliforme followed by 2 shots of Helwingia japonica. A bush which has the fruits in the center of the leaves.
June7th_TakaoSan085_Dendrobium_moniliformeRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan085_
Dendrobium_moniliformeRC
June7th_TakaoSan094_Helwingia_japonicaRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan094_
Helwingia_japonicaRC
June07_MtTakao47_Helwingia_japonicaRC.jpg
June07_MtTakao47_
Helwingia_japonicaRC

  Here is a shot of one of the shrines on Mt. Takao. The 2nd shot is a Pseudopyxis depressa - Inamorisou in Japanese. The 3rd shot is our Lunch - we ate at a soba shop at the base of the mountain. Soba is buckwheat - so these are buckwheat noodles. We had them with Tempura and a Tororo Sauce; which is the sauce in the front center. One dips the noodles in the tororo sauce before eating. The brown sauce on the front left is for the Tempura.
June7th_TakaoSan101_ShrineRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan101
_ShrineRC
June07_MtTakao57_Pseudopyxis_depressaRC.jpg
June07_MtTakao57_
Pseudopyxis_depressaRC
June7th_TakaoSan115_LunchRC.jpg
June7th_TakaoSan115
_LunchRC
End June 7th, Begin June 12th
  On June 12th, 13th and 14th Kazuya and I went to the Hakone Area via Hakone-Yumoto, Gora, Sounzan and the Ropeway across Owakudani. The 3 photos in this row show the ropeway ride across the hot sulfurous gorge just before Owakudani. They have drilled all of these holes in the bottom of the gorge in an effort to relieve underground pressure so that the area does not explode into the air in a sulfurous eruption once again.
June12th_Hakone_Oowakudani004_RopewayRC.jpg
June12th_Hakone_Oowakudani004
_RopewayRC
June12th_Hakone_Oowakudani007_RopewayRC.jpg
June12th_Hakone_Oowakudani007
_RopewayRC
June12_Owakudani08_Ropeway_SulfurRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani08_
Ropeway_SulfurRC

  The first shot in this row is the final shot from the Ropeway. The 2nd and 3rd shots show Mt. Fuji from Owakudani. The 3rd shot shows some fantastic clouds.
June12_Owakudani12RC.jpg
June12_Owakudani12RC
June12_Owakudani16_FujiRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani16_FujiRC
June12_Owakudani19_FujiRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani19_FujiRC

  Here are 3 photos of escaping steam and sulfurous gases. The smell is sometimes terrible due to Hydrogen Sulfide gas. There are several sensors in the area so that alarms go off when the gas levels become high enough to be dangerous to people. We have never heard the sirens, but the smell is often terrible.
June12_Owakudani23_SteamRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani23
_SteamRC
June12th_Hakone_Oowakudani048_SteamRC.jpg
June12th_Hakone_
Oowakudani048_SteamRC
June12_Owakudani29_SteamRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani29
_SteamRC

  Here is a crow sitting on a rock - guess he doesn't mind the smell. The 2nd shot is me at the place where they make hard-boiled eggs in the natural hot water (see next row for eggs). The 3rd shot is a great view of Mt. Fuji framed by a bush.
June12_Owakudani36_CrowRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani36
_CrowRC
June12th_Hakone_Oowakudani067_BlackEggsPlaceRC.jpg
June12th_Hakone_Oowakudani
067_BlackEggsPlaceRC
June12_Owakudani39_FujiRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani39
_FujiRC

  Here are the eggs cooked in the sulfurous hot water. It turns the egg shells black, but it has no effect on the taste. They are delicious and each egg eaten is supposed to add 7 years to your life. The 2nd shot here is a beautiful cloud formation and steam escaping.
June12_Owakudani43_BlackEggPlaceRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani43
_BlackEggPlaceRC
June12th_Hakone_Oowakudani070_CloudsRC.jpg
June12th_Hakone_
Oowakudani070_CloudsRC

  They cook LOTS of eggs per day here - so many that they need a special little cable car to carry the eggs to the egg-cooking place and to send cooked eggs back down to the parking area - for people too lazy or unhealthy to be able to walk to the place where they actually cook the eggs. The final shot here was after we took the Ropeway down the other side of the mountain - from Owakudani to Togendai and then took a bus from there to Sengoku Kogen where the "susuki" grass (Pampas grass) (Miscanthus sinensis) is growing. See October 2007's photos HERE for the beautiful grass photos in the autumn. In this photo the contrasting green and blue is amazing!
June12_Owakudani44_EggsRC.jpg
June12_Owakudani44
_EggsRC
June12th_Hakone_Sengokuhara002_PampasGrassFieldRC.jpg
June12th_Hakone_Sengokuhara002_
PampasGrassFieldRC
End June 12th, End Page 1
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