Festival in Iwasaki

Kids waiting to catch mochi and snacks.

People waiting to pray. You can see priests who give out eggs.

A pot of amazake being kept warm.

To read more about this festival and see what it looked like (there's a short video too) visit our other blog.

Utsunomiya Fire Department Truck

Taken through my dirty windshield while driving to work on old Route 4.

This is a Ruby Tuesday entry.

Raccoon Car, sort of...

Teeth, tail, ears, eyes, and all...

In the real Tottoro movie, it was a bus, and not exactly a raccoon. Here, it is what it is. Cute.

In a field nearby Fubasami

Tottoro at Shimokoyama Hoshinomiya Shrine in Mibu

Kids can enter through Tottoro's belly, go through a plastic tunnel and arrive at the shrine grounds proper.

Inside Tottoro:

And this guy totally photobombed us:

Plenty of space behind us, but noooo.... he HAD to ride in front of us. And stare. Of course.

Shirasawa countryside

Mikoshi in storage

Children's mikoshi waiting for matsuri season.

Children's - because it's small and light enough for kids to carry.
Mikoshi - portable shinto shrine.
Matsuri season - festival season, normally during summer, when the crowds go out into the streets, carry mikoshi, chant, drink beer and sport ridiculous "matsuri" hairstyles.

Tsuruta Pond

This wasn't treated in a HDR software, it simply looked like that.

This is a Watery Wednesday entry.

Bamboo behind Shimokoyama Hoshinomiya Shrine

Inside a shrine

Dokkyo Hospital Helipad

Do you remember Jesus Body? It's no more

If not, here it is:

but it's not Jesus anymore.
Now it's Jedus, whoever he is:

Which makes me wonder what's next? Judas Body perhaps?

Spring - almost here

seen nearby Utsunomiya Castle ruins:

Where old TVs go to die

Uyoku Isuzu

right-wingers go for a ride


this is a Ruby Tuesday post.

Because We Love Cats

saw this wild kid on Sunday:

even though apparently not totally homeless, such cats just break my heart:

仏舎利

Busshyari (??) no clue how to transcribe it into romaji:

The story goes that some Buddha's bones are in there.

Our Neighbor's Cat

This poor thing spent the whole winter chained up like that outside, sleeping in a cage.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand people who do that to animals.

Every day when I walk to/from the car I seriously consider cutting that leash and bringing this baby home with me.

Russian Tea, Pierogis, Coffee and Borscht

As far as I could tell this is an office of some kind, not a restaurant. And it has nothing to do with Russian food whatsoever, sadly...

Snowing again

Just when we thought this winter might finally be over, here it is again: snow.

And yes, that's an analog antenna up on the roof.

On the Way to School

She looks like she's about to try some weird kung-fu stuff on me.

Monkey Waitress in Utsunomiya

at an izakaya called Kayabuki:

And here's somewhat grainy video of a monkey monkeying around the restaurant:

More about our visit to Kayabuki - here.

Going Home

seen on Orion Dori

Route 119 After a Storm

Seen at work

in Moka Hikari:

This is a Ruby Tuesday entry. For more photos with red, visit here.

Badboy - and it's really bad

Seen on a kid in English class.

Lightsabers?

We went to a Shinto seminar in Ibaraki, and there was a martial arts demonstration as well.

To read more about the seminar, visit here.