Asakusa Sanja Matsuri Dog

Starting on Friday and ending in the grand finale on Sunday, today, is the huge Sanja Matsuri, probably the biggest festival in Tokyo. Among all the hundreds of thousands (actually about 2 million people over the three days) I spotted these two, looking great in a quiet corner of Sensoji Temple. Even dogs dress in their finest on these important days!

Cormorant

At a beach by the Pacific Ocean I saw this Japanese Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus). It didn’t seem too scared of people. I wonder if it could have been one of the domesticated birds that are used for fishing by the masters at Nagara River in Gifu Prefecture?

Feeding Seagulls in Yokohama

Feeding birds seems to be an almost universal pastime for the elderly of all nations on Earth. Here is a gentleman that I met in Yokohama who was kind enough to allow my photography as he was feeding the local gulls one fine afternoon in the sun. When I get to be his age I hope I can return the favor and do my share of bird feeding as well!

Tokyo Crow

While walking through Tokyo’s own “Central Park”, the Yoyogi Park, I saw this crow resting on a cherry tree branch. These animals are incredibly intelligent and can distinguish between individual people by memory, so I try to always be very respectful when I get closer to one. They are actually quite camera shy, I guess they have bad memories of men with guns, but this one stayed put long enough for me to take a photo. Crows in Tokyo belong to a subspecies that grow very large, in Europe they would rival even our ravens and they communicate by using different calls. I have seen crows act on “orders” from other crows, but I wonder if the cooperate of if they have leaders?

The kanji, the Japanese character, for crow, is 烏. It is very similar to the kanji for bird, 鳥, except for the line representing the eye. The crow is so black you can’t see the eye. A very simple kanji to remember! I’m sure I’m not the only kanji learner that went through a “bird phase”.