Kamakura – Pacific Ocean View

A couple of weeks ago I spent a few minutes looking out at the sea from Yuigahama Beach in Kamakura city just south of Tokyo. The beach faces south so you are always going to see the sun over the ocean from this point, I always wonder what Kamakura would like like from a boat in the ocean? Someday I need to find myself a spot on one of those boats I sometimes see on the horizon here. It’s an unseasonably cold early April afternoon but already some windsurfers and surfers are out there.

Skies Over Sumida River

Yesterday I took a long walk along Sumida river to enjoy the gorgeous weather and the beautiful sky. Late in the afternoon and the sun was shining through underneath thicker clouds casting a light and shadows to the west. I took these two photos within seconds of each other, with a warm tone filter and a polarizing filter. It seems colder weather is returning to Tokyo, but at least we had a few days of almost spring!

Hyuga Coastline – Miyazaki

Japan is pretty wild country when it comes to geology, and any visit to the cost is bound to show you any number of geological features you’d only find in textbooks in other countries. Here’s a few snapshots of the wild coastline to the south of Hyuga city in Miyazaki prefecture, taken last summer. It might not look to bad, but the rock is very sharp and it was an ordeal to get from the top of the hill down to the rocky bottom and the water’s edge without scratches or bruises. Not surprisingly there were no other people in sight except for some fishing enthusiasts on one of the rock islands out in the ocean. I have more photos of this part of Japan and the critters that live here coming up.

Skies Over Yuigahama Beach

A mere hour on train from inner city Tokyo (population 12.5 million) is the wonderful Yuigahama beach. It always amazes me that there can be such a beach so close to such a huge city without it being absolutely packed every day, all day. Where I come from we have a lazy miniature river flowing through the city and it’s lined with people and dogs and kids just looking at the water. When it’s not covered in ice that is. I took these photos of a nearly deserted Yuigahama beach yesterday, a public holiday. I wonder what everyone was doing? There’s several ways to get here from Tokyo, but most of them involves the Yokosuka line or the Tokaido line and then a bus, taxi or good walking shoes. Or you can rent a bicycle near by Kamakura station. The beach is cleaned regularly during the season but there’s still a bit of garbage lying around so I usually bring a bag and just pick stuff off the beach as I go along. If everyone picked half a kilo of garbage off the beach it would be spotless within a couple of days!

The heat has come back to Tokyo and these last few days have been almost sticky. Wonderful weather after this long winter we’ve had. I took these with my 17-35mm wide angle zoom. No filter. Enjoy!