Saturday, January 23, 2010

A welcoming gate



An entrance of a Japanese traditional style house which I really like. It has wooden door which seems so heavy but I can't show you here. I took this picture yesterday afternoon, and spent a while in front of it, luckily the neighborhood is always quiet. Wish someday the owner will let me in :) and wish you all a nice weekend.

Monday, January 18, 2010

So hail a taxi cab and come around here...



It's a common knowledge that taxies in Japan will open their back doors automatically. No difference here, so let me introduce Saijo Taxi. They can be found mostly in station, hotels, bar district or just call. It's a bit difficult to just wait and hail one, I think they aren't around much in the streets, or is it just my feeling whenever I need a taxi they seem to dissapear? Initial charge is about 500Yen, quite expensive but it's worth it :).

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Afternoon Odd



Is it only me or have you seen an odd-modeled car like this? This Daihatsu is probably for commercial use or limited edition or something, otherwise, I would see many on the streets of Saijo.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Blog day: Best photo of the year 2009


I still remember the day I was taking this photo in the bar district of Saijo in the afternoon. The street was still quiet as life began its activities right after dark. It's just a random snapshot with not too good quality, yet I love it so much.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Going Further

While waiting for the train to take me to work this morning.

Skipping my lunch time to explore small woods behind my workplace. Located next to main road, yet the place was so quiet and peaceful.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The Rice

The rice which was about to be harvested. Taken in the summer end 2009, I felt like showing you paddy fields in Saijo since I didn't post any photos in the end of last year.
Compare with my Jan 11th post, which I took about 100 meters away from this point of view. And to answer Gary's question, farmers don't do rotate crops, they just clean it to be ready for the next use in summer. Rarely enough, there's a small field in town which was turned to be a temporary parking space :).

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Which Platform?

To go to Saijo from Hiroshima Station, take the Sanyo-Line train at platform 5. Please get in the line, don't rush, it has 8 cars and thank God, it's rapid service. Do you think the information is clear enough?

Monday, January 11, 2010

An urge to gather

A cold cloudy weather this morning, but it didn't stop those farmers from gathering, perhaps discussing about rice price today or what to do with their large field during winter. The harvest season was over at the end of summer. Here in Japan rice field only being planted once a year during summer makes its unproductive period lasts longer despite the fact they make good use of technology. That's what I see in Saijo and its neighboring villages. The three-day holiday is over today. Happy weekdays, everyone.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

How old can it go?

Would be nice to ride this one around the town :).

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Have you had dinner tonight?

An old-fashioned small restaurant, squeezed between other old small shops which sometimes makes me wonder if there's someone cares enough to take a look inside. Only a few meters away from the last stop at Hiroshima Station. What a tough week, anyway, happy weekend everyone.

Friday, January 8, 2010

2010 Wishes

How are you? I hope all is well, with no one's suffering from flu :). I'm back again with pictures of new year praying or Hatsumoude on Monday, Jan 4.

Omikuji, おみくじ, are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. After one reads his omikuji, it is then tied on the rope. In new year season like this, when there are so many visitors, you can see Omikuji is put at any possible place like in the collage photo above.

A woman buys Hamaya, demon-breaking arrow to ward off misfortune and to attract good luck.

No annual events and festivals without food seller. Care for yakisoba (fried noodles) everyone?

Oh, let me see.....this year you're going to travel a lot and get a new lens. Just don't forget to save more money.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Hiroshima Castle

Hiroshima Castle was established in 1589 century by Mori Terumoto, a governor of nine provinces that today comprise Hiroshima, Shimane, Yamaguchi, and part of Tottori and Okayama prefectures. It is also called "Carp Castle" since the area where the castle was built was then called Koi-no-ura (Koi Sea Shore). Koi means carp in Japanese.

The original castle was destroyed by the atomic bomb blast on August 6th 1945, which its epicenter was less than a kilometer from the castle. The present tower was reconstructed in 1958 and is now used to exhibits historic artifacts. Unfortunately, no cameras are allowed in the castle except on the 1st and 5th floor which serves as observation platform.

As seen in the first photo, the castle is surrounded by moat whose original purpose was to prevent from enemies' attacks, now from high rise apartments and mansions.
For a complete cyber tour, please visit http://www.jcastle.info/castle/profile/44-Hiroshima-Castle

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Just like this


There's never enough snow in Saijo. Like today, it only lasted 3 hours.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Today's Story

A sunny day in Hiroshima city, there was a food festival in the area near the Hiroshima Castle which was ended today, the last day of new year holiday.
I bought my first obanyaki in 2010 :)

And this is what I saw at the temple, I think it's a special day where people visited the place to do some rituals.
Salary men from offices nearby came in flocks to join a processions (I didn't see 'salary women'),
perhaps praying for a better life in 2010.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

One Fine Morning

Apart from headache effect, foggy morning is a thing that I always looking forward to. 20 minutes biking to the outskirt of the town.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

What's left from autumn

A photo I took during autumn at a park near my place, among very few shots, some even lost when transfering them into another PC. I know I didn't take the most out of the autmn last year. And now when it gets colder and colder, all I want to do is just curl up on the couch with a book and hot chocolate.

Friday, January 1, 2010

New Snow 2010

Four months twenty two days. I did count how long I have neglected this photoblog :(.
Having come back from my hometown in Indonesia for long holiday, my laziness seemed to overpowered me. What have I missed during my absence? Please don't tell :). And the fact that it's the last year of my staying in this town would be my greatest regret for not keeping it up to date.
How are you? I do hope everything is fine. Missed you all and our community. Would love to hear your stories, Guys.

There are some notes related to this blog that I hadn't managed to do: make its thumbnail appears in the CDP homepage (trust me, I tried several times), make CDP's logo appears in my homepage ;), do theme day every month, connect this blog with my photo gallery so that there's no more double uploading, and make it looks tidier. It looks messy, doesn't it? Seems a simple task actually. Oh, the to-do list is long, I'd better stop here.
No 2010 resolution at all, I knew I would fail again. The only thing I learned was don't put things off what you can do now. So, there I was, between Dec 31, 09 at 11:30pm and Jan 1, 10 at 00:30am, under the bright full moon, -3 deg Celcius, holding my camera (the tripod didn't help) until I couldn't feel my hands anymore. And here they are...
tad da...postcards from Saijou... wishing you all Happy New Year 2010, a better life for us, God wills.