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This is Page 1 of 2 - the best of May 2008!
posted: May 31st, 2008
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This page actually begins with April 30th, a trip to Koishikawa Botanical Garden, and then goes to Yamagata Prefecture, Kazuya's hometown, Mt. Zao and the largest Willow Tree in Japan. Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin April 30th
  On April 30th Kazuya and I went to Koishikawa Botanical Garden for the day. We saw lots of beautiful flowers and photographed them, but the most incredible thing of all which we saw were 4 parrots doing their mating ritual. These parrots are not native to Japan but somewhere and sometime they escaped or were released into the wild and now they have become more or less naturalized. There are more and more of them every year. We even see them flying over our house from time to time.
Apr30_Koishikawa_Parrot28RC.jpg
Apr30_Koishikawa_Parrot28RC
Apr30_Koishikawa_Parrot33RC.jpg
Apr30_Koishikawa_Parrot33RC
Apr30_Koishikawa_Parrot43RC.jpg
Apr30_Koishikawa_Parrot43RC
End April 30th, Begin May 3rd
  For the Golden Week Holidays Kazuya and I went to his hometown - Funagata, in Yamagata Prefecture. The pictures in this row are a "Forget-Me-Not", a new violet for us - Viola rostrata (notice the long flower spur) - and a new Asarum sp. for us.
May03_Funagata_Forget_Me_Not03RC.jpg
May03_Funagata_Forget_
Me_Not03RC
May03_Funagata_Viola_rostrata05RC.jpg
May03_Funagata_Viola
_rostrata05RC
May03_Funagata_Asarum_sp04RC.jpg
May03_Funagata_
Asarum_sp04RC

  Here is another new violet for us, Viola vaginata, a great shot of a "Trout Lily" (Erythronium japonicum) and a beautiful bluish Anemone sp. flower.
May03_Funagata_Viola_vaginata04RC.jpg
May03_Funagata_Viola
_vaginata04RC
May3_Funagata_Erythronium_japonicum01RC.jpg
May3_Funagata_Erythronium
_japonicum01RC
May03_Funagata_Anamone_sp05RC.jpg
May03_Funagata_
Anamone_sp05RC

  Here is another one of those bluish Anemone sp. flowers and the "Ichi-No" Waterfall.
May03_Waterfall_Anemone_sp02RC.jpg
May03_Waterfall_
Anemone_sp02RC
May03_Ichi_no_Waterfall01RC.jpg
May03_Ichi_no_
Waterfall01RC
End May 3rd, Begin May 4th
  The next day father and mother took us to Yamagata City Nature Park and saw this patch of Skunk Cabbage, large areas of Viola verecunda and another new violet - a yellow one - Viola brevistipulata.
May04_ZaoArea_Skunk_Cabbage02RC.jpg
May04_ZaoArea_
Skunk_Cabbage02RC
May04_ZaoArea_Viola_verecunda02RC.jpg
May04_ZaoArea_
Viola_verecunda02RC
May4_YamagataPk_Viola_brevistipulata08RC.jpg
May4_YamagataPk_Viola_
brevistipulata08RC

  Here is another shot of the Viola brevistipulata and 2 shots of Glaucidium palmatum. In the 3rd shot - notice how the leaves protect the flower until it gets ready to open.
May04_ZaoArea_Viola_brevistipulata08RC.jpg
May04_ZaoArea_Viola_
brevistipulata08RC
May04_ZaoArea_Glaucidium_palmatum03RC.jpg
May04_ZaoArea_Glaucidium
_palmatum03RC
May04_ZaoArea_Glaucidium_palmatum06RC.jpg
May04_ZaoArea_Glaucidium
_palmatum06RC

  Then we went to the Okama Caldera on Mt. Zao. The first shot here shows me in the tiny chair lift seat. The 2nd shot is Kazuya on the chair lift and the 3rd shot is from very close to Okama Caldera Lake.
May4_ZaoSan_OkamaLift02_DanRC.jpg
May4_ZaoSan_
OkamaLift02_DanRC
May04_ZaoArea_Okama_Lift_KazuyaRC.jpg
May04_ZaoArea_Okama_
Lift_KazuyaRC
May04_Zao_Okama_Caldera05RC.jpg
May04_Zao_Okama_
Caldera05RC

  Here is the Okama Caldera Lake - still frozen. The 2nd shot shows Mt. Katta-Dake - we went up there too. The 3rd shot is Mom, Dad and I with the Caldera Lake in the background.
May4_ZaoSan_OkamaCaldera13RC.jpg
May4_ZaoSan_
OkamaCaldera13RC
May04_Zao_Okama_Caldera13RC.jpg
May04_Zao_Okama
_Caldera13RC
May4_ZaoSan_OkamaCaldera23_Mom_Dad_DanRC.jpg
May4_ZaoSan_OkamaCaldera23
_Mom_Dad_DanRC

  Here is another shot of the Caldera, a shot looking to the right of the Caldera and me with the Caldera in the background. You can find a large size JPG file of this image HERE (691 KB)
May04_Zao_Okama_Caldera19RC.jpg
May04_Zao_Okama
_Caldera19RC
May04_Zao_Okama_Caldera22RC.jpg
May04_Zao_Okama
_Caldera22RC
May4_ZaoSan_OkamaCaldera26_DanRC.jpg
May4_ZaoSan_OkamaCaldera26_
DanRC
or HERE for 652 KB PDF file

  Here are more Caldera and immediate area photos.
May04_Zao_Okama_Caldera25RC.jpg
May04_Zao_Okama_
Caldera25RC
May04_Zao_Okama_Caldera28RC.jpg
May04_Zao_Okama
_Caldera28RC
May4_ZaoSan_OkamaCaldera33RC.jpg
May4_ZaoSan_
OkamaCaldera33RC

  And here is a shot of me with the Caldera in the background and a shot of Kazuya with the Caldera in the background.
May4_ZaoSan_OkamaCaldera39_DanRC.jpg
May4_ZaoSan_Okama
Caldera39_DanRC
May04_Zao_Okama_Caldera35_KazuyaRC.jpg
May04_Zao_Okama_
Caldera35_KazuyaRC
End May 4th, Begin May 5th
  On May 5th we went to Tsuya to search for violets, but instead we found the Largest Willow Tree in Japan! Here are 2 shots taken at the Tsuya Station and the little 2 car train. The 3rd shot is the Largest Willow Tree in Japan.
May05_Tsuya_Station_Train03RC.jpg
May05_Tsuya
_Station_Train03RC
May05_Tsuya_Station_Train04RC.jpg
May05_Tsuya
_Station_Train04RC
May05_Tsuya_JapanBiggestWillowTree02RC.jpg
May05_Tsuya_Japan
BiggestWillowTree02RC

  And here is Kazuya after we returned to Tsuya Station and a shot of the biggest willow tree, taken from the Tsuya Station platform.
May05_Tsuya_Station01KazuyaRC.jpg
May05_Tsuya_
Station01KazuyaRC
May05_Tsuya_Station04_BiggestWillowTreeRC.jpg
May05_Tsuya_Station04_
BiggestWillowTreeRC
End May 5th, End Page 1
And, that shows you what we saw from April 30th through May 5th. Thanks so much for taking the time to look. Please continue on to Page 2 for the continuation of May's photos. Go To Page:


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