Purple Shower in Japan

Hello there! How have you been so far? Our beautiful spring  has passed, and we are now in humid early summer. Every day is really muggy, and in the northern part of Japan, Hokkaido recorded it’s the highest temperature ever for that day. It was 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit ) yesterday even though we are still  not in our rainy season. This is really strange for us.

Anyway, I want to show my favorite flowers, wisterias today. My husband and I went to a park close to our house a couple of weeks ago and I took a bunch of photos of them.  Unfortunately, they are all gone now, but you can enjoy looking around them in my blog.

We have both white wisterias and purple ones.  Which do you prefer?

 

 

Look at the pretty Japanese garden. Since the day had no clouds, the view was just amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

They look just like a purple rain shower to me! The wisterias are my university’s symbol and they reminds me of my uni’s campus a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn’t it a nice shot? I am happy that I could take the photo of wisterias and a bee together!

The bee was huge and just like the same size as a humming bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this photo above is the best photo of  wisteria I took! Don’t you think so?

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed other flowers as well. I love purple or blue flowers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisterias are called Fuji in Japanese and we have loved the flowers for more than 1800 years. We have painted the flowers a lot in the Japanese style of paintings. I am from Otsu, Shiga prefecture and Otsu-e ( painting below) is popular with the flowers.

She is called Fuji Musume in Japanese. The Fuji Musume is played in Kabuki as well.

As you know, Kabuki is played by only male actors.

Thank you for visiting my blog! I will update it soon again!

See you soon!

 

-Yumi

 

Spring Flowers in Japan

Hello there! Long time no see! How have you been so far? I am sorry that I hadn’t posted anything on my blog for a while. Now, I have returned!

In Japan we are in the mid spring and I would love to show you what kinds of flowers we can see in this season.

A couple of weeks ago, I went into my neighborhood and took some photos of these flowers called Renge in Japanese.

They bloom only in Spring. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astragalus_sinicus

I love these tiny flowers because they are my favorite color purple! They bloom in rice fields.

 

 

 

When I was a little girl, I used to make crowns or necklaces with these flowers with my childhood friends.

Look at the center of the photo! Can you see a bee?

The bee seemed to be busy to gather honey from the Renge flowers.

 

 

What kinds of flowers can you see in your area where you live now?

I will post other flowers for spring some time soon! So, stay tuned!!

Thanks for taking a look at my blog post! See you around!

 

-Yumi

 

I Miss Spring!

Hello there! It’s getting more muggy here, and I really miss our wonderful spring! How is the weather there? I hope you are having a good one.

Today, I want to show some photos of plum blossoms that I have taken a couple of months ago. Of course, our plum blossoms bloom in early spring. We can’t see them anymore.

I think our cherry blossoms are much popular than the plum blossoms in the world, but actually, they are really cute. I love both of them.  I especially love the rich pink ones.

I took these pictures at a shinto shrine close to our house.

Plum blossoms sometimes have been used to a Shito shrine, temple or family symbols like the flog.

 

This pink plum tree was so cute! I really loved this one.

 

This tree is white. The white one is pretty too, but I prefer the pink one.

 

Well, this is new. The shinto shrine has a pray spot for kitties. Since I am a cat person, I couldn’t help taking the photo!!

 

 

We have lots of different pink colors in our plum blossoms. This one is my favorite color!

 

Do you know what it is? This is called “omikuji” in Japanese. You can read about omikuji here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-mikuji This is a part of our shinto-ism or Buddhism. We are kind of superstitious and try to know our fortunes.  When I visited here, I tried it out. We usually leave the used omikuji like this in the photo. The white paper things in the photo are all used omikuji.

 

This plum tree is my favorite one. I really love the rich pink!

 

Plum blossoms are a good object for painting, and when you look at our ancient paintings, you can see a lot of them on papers, porcelain, woods and so on.

Now, we are having lots of hydrangeas. Which flowers can you see in your place now?

I hope you start a good week! See you in weeks here again!

 

-Yumi

Autumn in Japan

Hello there! How have you been? It’s been a while since I have posted my last blog. I had been busy for a while and, when I realize that, it’s the season that we can see leaves changing.

Last week, my husband and I went hiking the closest hill called Pon Pon Yama. It was the best timing for us to enjoy the autumn view. Since I took some photos, I want to show them to you. I hope you enjoy Japanese autumn views.

In the hill we have a Shito-shrine, and it’s popular among people who live in the area.

 

This statue is a guardian for a Shito-shrine called Komainu.

 

 

I think this is a monk’s house of the Shito-shrine.

 

 

This statue is called Jizo and God for children. He is my favorite God because his face looks always peaceful.

 

 

 

I am very proud of these Japanese maple leaves. I love their red. This is the Japanese autumn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The color green and the red are so pretty!

 

 

 

 

I found six cute zizou.

We enjoyed the views, the clean air, and walking. I realized that hiking is so much fun, and good for exercise. I want to do this more often from now on with my hubby.

It’s getting colder here. I think in some places it’s getting hotter. Stay warm or cool and don’t get sick.

See you around in two weeks again here!

-Yumi x

 

 

 

Rose Garden

Hello there! How have you been?

I am doing good, and I am sorry for the delay. I am glad that I can post something today.

It’s fall and not a season for roses. I took these photos in May when I visited my closest rose garden with my hubby.

Every year I go there with my hubby to take some rose photos, and I am glad that this year the rose photos look much better than last year. I admire a lot these nature. They are just so beautiful, and I think the words, “flawless” or “divine” are just for them.

I hope you enjoy looking at my rose photos and can get some inspiration form them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which color do you like the best in roses? I love pink roses the best.

I am already looking forward to visiting this garden to see them again next year. I hope they will bloom prettier flowers then!

Have a lovely weekend/ week! See you soon!!

-Yumi

 

 

 

Eel Foods

Hello there! How have you been? We are in the midvv summer, and every day is so hot and humid. To cheer ourselves up, we eat eels in summer. Well, it means Japanese summer is too tough, and many people lose their appetite. It’s easy for us to get sick. To stay healthy, we eat eels.

A couple of days ago, my family and my parents went to the biggest eel restaurant in my hometown. We ate eels until we got stuffed, lol. I think my family, my parents and I can stay healthy during this summer thanks to the eels.

Since the restaurant has a beautiful garden, I took some photos with some foods. I think eel foods are very fascinating for you to see because I don’t see eel foods so often out of Japan. I hope this blog entry is interesting for you to know about our food culture. As I repeat mentioning, our food culture depends on the seasons a lot. Eels are definitely summer food for us.

appetizer with some cherry blossom tea

grilled ell with koi fish sasimi

I love eating koi fish sasimi with sour miso sauce. It’s so yummy.

Umaki, egg omelet with grilled eel

Umaki is my favorite too!!

 

Koikoku, miso soup with koi fish

Koikoku is my favorite too. It’s sweeter than regular and has much richer flavor than the regular one. We have another good restaurant for Koikoku close to my hubby’s parents’ house. When I get there, I will introduce the foods there.

Koi-no-amani

It might be gross for you, but this is another one of my favorite. The fish is koi with sweet tasting soy sauce flavor. It’s hard for people to get Koi fish from a market for the amani, but I cook other fish with amani. The only thing that I don’t like is the fish part, though. My hubby loves amani with fish eggs.

Unadon ( Una-jyu)  with some Japanese pickles

This is my best favorite food! I love grilled unagi with some rice!

 

Yuzu flavor ice cream. Yuzu is a citrous fruit.

On this day my dad found a dragonfly. According to him, the dragonfly was a rare sort. I forgot the name, but I took some pics with him. He seemed to be very happy with good foods and the rare dragonfly.

The restaurant has a koi pound.  I guess we ate some koi fish from the pond, the fresh ones, lol.  Poor fish……

I hope you enjoyed the blog entry!

 

See you in two weeks again!!

-Yumi x

 

Cherry Blossoms! I Know It’s Too Late!!

Hello there! How have you been?

It’s been a while since I updated my blog last time. I have excuses that I was in the States. I apologize that I couldn’t post anything. You can guess how much I enjoyed my trip in America. I will write about my trip in the States in my other blog soon. So, if you are interested in it, please visit my other blog, my porcelain painting blog. Thank you!

Today I show you cherry blossoms photos this year. Yeah, I know it’s too late, but I can’t ignore this. I took these pictures before going back to the States. I didn’t have time to post them then. I hope you enjoy them.

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

cherry blossoms

 

These pictures were taken on the way to a grocery store. I love this road in spring because I can see lots of different sorts of cherry blossoms. Which one do you like the best?

Now, the road is full of green. All pick were gone, but I can look forward to seeing the pink next year again before going back to the States!

Thank you for taking a look at my blog! See you here again next week!

Have a lovely weekend!!!

-Yumi

Spring Has Come in Japan!

Hi there! How have you been?  How is the weather there?

In Japan the weather is getting warmer, and now plum blossoms are full in bloom in my area where I live.

Last week my hubby and I went out to enjoy seeing the view of plum blossoms and took lots of photos. So, I want to share them with you today. I hope you feel Spring of Japan a little bit from the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this weeping plum tree! It’s so gorgeous!!!!

 

 

My hubby and I were so lucky to see some Japanese bush warblers, called Uguisu (うぐいす）in Japanese. I was so excited when I saw them to cry, “Take some pics of them!!!!!” to him, lol. Actually, he did a great job, lol. I want to paint the bird some time.

 

 

We will have cherry blossoms soon after the plum blossoms. I just can’t wait to see them!

Have a lovely weekend! See you tomorrow on my other blog, my porcelain painting blog!!

-Yumi

Leaves Changing

Hello there! I am sorry for the delay. Last week after I updated my other blog, I got stomach flue. It was horrible. I threw up, had a stomach ache, headache, fever and couldn’t eat anything for three days at all. I had to lay down on my bed for two days. Since then, I lost weight and my appetite still hasn’t come back.

Before it gets colder, I want to share fall in Japan today. I took these pictures two weeks ago with my hubby. He and I drove around our neighborhood.

Now, Japan is getting colder and leaves started falling down. We are heading to winter. I will miss this weather soon. I hope you all don’t get a cold.

See you next weekend here again!

-Yumi

My Favorite Flowers in Fall

Hello there! How have you been? I am so sorry for the delay. I went to back to my painting school and I am so busy for this. I am also planning on studying abroad again at the end of this year and busy for preparing things.

Today I want to introduce my favorite flowers in fall. Do you have these flowers in your country? I have heard these flowers bloom in Asia. They smell excellent, and I so love the smell. We have the tree in our small garden, and I took some pictures of them. I am so sorry that you can see the photos, but you can’t smell it.

They are called kinmokusei in Japanese and Sweet Osmanthus in English. When I took their pictures, they were in full bloom. Now, they all are gone. We are having  nice weather and enjoying autumn here. We will see leaves changing soon. I will post some of pictures when it comes.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Yumi