posted: May 2nd, 2005 |
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Photos included on this page are those taken from April 10th to the 24th, a bit past the end of vacation. All but the final 3 photos are vacation shots though. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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  Photo 1 is me - same time & place as the final photo on the previous page. In this row and also in the next row are several "Yu" photos - "Yu" = bath. In Kusatsu there are 18 free public baths, all fed by natural hot water! On the 3rd day our mission was to visit as many of these free baths as we could fit into our schedule. Our bus back home did not leave until 5:00 PM, so we had all day to do so. The weather forecast was for rain, so we did not want to try any mountain hiking this final day, plus, we were still kind of tired from yesterday's hike. Note the interiors of the baths in shots 2 and 3. We squeezed in visits to 6 of the 18 free hot baths and all but one of them was constructed of wood and very tall for easy escape of the steam. One of them was made of concrete and it was all steamy inside, we saw the benefit of wood construction. |
Kusatsu_DanSainoKawaraPark 02RC |
Kusatsu_ChiyoNoYuInside 01RC |
Kusatsu_ChiyoNoYuInside 02RC |
  The first shot here was the newest appearing free bath we visited. The 2nd shot, a Japanese skunk cabbage was along the road between 2 of the hot baths. The 3rd shot was a very nice one, even though it looks old and decrepit, it was not! Oh, by the time we were on our way to the 6th bath, it was beginning to rain too. The weather forecast was correct. |
Kusatsu_OkinaNoYuOutside 01RC |
Kusatsu_SkunkCabbage 02RC |
Kusatsu_NikawaNoYuOutside 01RC |
  Rows 3, 4 and 5 were all taken on April 16th at Nogawa Park. That is a great park for flowers which is near our house. They have a fenced in area with board walks which is not open to dogs, picnickers, frisbee throwers, baseball players and etc. It is strictly for flower and bird people. Note the WHITE Dandelion!!! There appears to be only one plant in the area. The rest of them were the typical dark yellow. Note that it has it's own species name, albidum - Latin for white! |
April2005_NogawaTaraxacum_ albidum03RC |
April2005_Nogawa Sakurasou01RC |
April2005_NogawaRenge 03RC |
  The most amazing thing in this row is the VIOLET VIOLET! Ha, I mean, that the color is REALLY Violet! |
April2005_NogawaLamium_ album02RC |
April2005_Nogawa_Ajuga 01RC |
April2005_Nogawa_Violet Violet03RC |
  Another Violet, Cherry Blossoms along the Nogawa (gawa = river) and a green tinted cherry tree. Yes, the flowers were truly green tinted, it is not merely a reflection off the surrounding greenery. |
April2005_Nogawa_PurpleWhite Violet03RC |
April2005_Nogawa 02RC |
April2005_NogawaGreen Cherry03RC |
  This row brings us to April 17th - another trip to the Mt. Takao area, this time - in search of the elusive Takao Violet (Viola yezoensis). Last year we only found one of them. We did much better this year! The first shot is one of them - note the purple leaves and the purple veins in the flowers. The next 2 shots are 2 species of Corydalis. |
Apr17HikageTakao Violet01RC |
Apr17HikageCorydalis_ decumbens02RC |
Apr17HikageCorydalis _sp04RC |
  Two more shots of the Takao Violet. These little 480 x 640 pixel pictures do not do it justice. This first shot is incredible when printed as an 8 x 10 photo. If you would like to see the full size print of this photo CLICK HERE for the 806 KB JPG file (1,516 pixels width x 2,000 pixels height) (which will open in a new window) or if you'd like to save the JPG file, then right click and click the appropriate menu option for your browser. The 3rd shot is another nice little Omphalodes japonica. |
Apr17HikageTakaoViolet BEST11RC |
Apr17HikageTakaoViolet BEST13RC |
Apr17HikageOmphaloides_ japonica01cropRC |
  All 3 shots here are Asarum caulescens, a weird plant - the flowers are virtually underground and you have to move some leaf litter and stuff to find the flowers. The first shot is an increbibly well lit shot by Kazuya. |
04_17_05HikageAsarum_ caulescens05RC |
Apr17HikageAsarum_ caulescens06RC |
Apr17HikageAsarum_ caulescens07RC |
  Mitella pauciflora - the entire plant, and a close up of the weird flowers of this small guy. The 3rd shot is an Oka Violet, which must be rare, because this one group of research people was freaking out over it. There were several of them at the higher elevations of Castle Mountain. |
Apr17HikageMitella_pauciflora 06RC |
Apr17HikageMitella_pauciflora 07RC |
Apr17HikageOkaViolet 02RC |
  The first 2 shots are a species of Oxalis, both taken by Kazuya. Great lighting, he's really good at lining himself up so that his lighting is wonderful! And, check out all of that green in the 2nd shot. That ends what can be considered vacation pictures. The final shot in this row is a pink dogwood flower at Koganei Park, taken just a few days ago (April 24th). |
04_17_05HikageOxalis02RC |
04_17_05HikageOxalis04RC |
Apr24KoganeiPkPinkDogwood01RC |
  A white dogwood flower, a repeat of the Takao Violet in the center position of Row #7 (an afterthought actually) and a new picture of my DVD shelf!!! Yes, it's actually a current photo. You may ask why I don't update this photo more often. The reason is that I take a separate photo of EACH SHELF using the tripod. I have to use the tape measure to make sure that the camera is the same distance from the shelf for each shot, and then bring each photo into PhotoShop, crop, adjust and so on, and eventually paste all of them together. It took me 6 hours to create this photo. Here is a link to my entire DVD collection if you're asking yourself what might be good to rent for the weekend! Click Here. The DVD's will be sorted by date purchased. You can click on title to sort that way if you desire. This link will open a new browser window. |
Apr24KoganeiPkWhiteDogwood04RC |
Apr17HikageTakaoVioletBEST13bR |
DVDShelfApril15_2005Small |
That's all for this month! Thanks for looking and reading. Hope you enjoyed the tour of some new areas of Japan! |
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