Temples and Monkeys

A few pictures from our adventures the last couple of months.  We’ve been all over the place: Fukuoka, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kobe, Awajishima, and down to Cape Sata again (my sixth time!).  We even went to see Cirque du Soleil in Fukuoka!  I’ve started leaving my camera behind more often and taking more pictures with my phone.  I’ll maybe get some of those phone pictures up here sometime.  I’ve also started taking more people pictures and I’m not sure how best to work those into this blog format yet.  Anyway, here are just a couple of pictures I’ve snapped along the way.

Izumo and Izumi

We took a little trip up to Shimane prefecture for a couple of days after snowboarding near the end of 2011.  It was a totally unplanned side-trip, and having no set destinations made it really interesting and fun.

First we went to Iwami Ginzan, an old silver mine.  You can walk through some of the old tunnels and see what it’s like inside the mountain.

We also went to Izumo Taisha, one of the largest and most important shrines in Japan.  Check out the size of these ropes.

Swinging out to the coast, we found this shrine (Hinomisaki Shrine).

Found this by the lighthouse.

We also went over to Izumi in Kagoshima to see the cranes again right after New Years.  Here are a couple of pictures from the “Niagara Falls of Satsuma country.”

This was actually on top of a mushroom museum.

Final pictures of 2011

There have been quite a few adventures the last couple of months, and I’ve been meaning to write about them and about my recent observations of Japan, but obviously I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Before the year ends, I figured I should at least get some pictures up.  Some of these are from as far back as the end of September, while the last ones are from mid-November.  I hope to get some more stories and observations up this next year (a New Year’s resolution, if you will) as well as post more pictures of adventures in Japan.  I can’t believe the year is already almost over.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Various Adventures of Late Summer

We went to a trick art show in the end of August.  Trompe-l’œil is so cool.

I went hiking with some friends near Kiyotake, and this is part of the mountain we climbed.

We went to Cape Toi for the fire festival and checked out the wild horses.

Miyuki and I checked out a tiered rice paddy area on the way down to Nichinan.

Shinmoe-dake was erupting a little bit as we were coming back into town.

 

I went to the zoo with one of my friends.  She came down to visit from Tokyo and was attending a mammal symposium in Miyazaki City.

Tim Comes to Visit

My friend Tim came to visit for a few days and we had some adventures around Kyushu.

 

It was so windy up on top of Mount Aso in Kumamoto.   Felt like a typhoon without the rain.

 

I see this every day when I’m walking to my car.  It’s in a very unobtrusive place, peering out on those who pass by beneath.

 

We found a nice path that looks like it hasn’t been used in years… and decided to see where it went.

 

2011 Okage Matsuri

A big festival happened in Miyakonojo after we got back from America.  I got some of my friends involved in helping to push the lanterns, and I went along to watch and take pictures.  It was a pretty cool festival, and there were tons of people.  It was really nice to see Miyakonojo with such a lively atmosphere.

Trip to America – Part Nine (Sedona)

The last day, we went to Sedona to see the pretty red rocks.

Trip to America – Part 8 (Grand Canyon)

The next day, we went to the Grand Canyon!

 

Trip to America – Part Seven (Prescott)

The next day we walked around my dad’s new neighborhood in Prescott.

Trip to America – Part Six (Tucson)

Next we flew down to Arizona to meet my dad.  We spent our first day down there at the Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson.