Cherry blossoms are truly beautiful. They only lazy about a week at full beauty and I am very glad that I got out several times during that week to enjoy them.
This was my first weekend in Japan. I was out hiking with my coworkers we had hiked along a river and had come out on the country road where they were burning the rice stalks to help and fertilize the rice fields.
This is a bridge in Matsushima. This area is one of the top 3 places to visit in Japan and it really is as beautiful as the Japanese say it is.
This bamboo forest is also in Matsushima.
This is a picture from the best fireworks I have ever seen. There were 3 sets of fireworks each was about 20 minutes long and they were just fantastic!
This is Yamadera. It is a shrine near Yamagata (where I lived), and the first one I ever saw -- since then I have seen many of them. It is on a mountain (where most shrines are I have since learned).
This is Hirataka. He was my landlord in Japan and he is possibly one of the nicest men in the world.
This is the Japanese chess (Shogi) festival in Tendo. Tendo specializes in making shogi pieces and every year they have a big festival where people dress in costumes and they have a live game.
This is my sado (tea ceremony) teacher. These classes were great, I really enjoyed the meditative experience of making tea.
This is Lake Okama at the top of Zao mountain. I tried to get up and see this -- but the day I went up it was too foggy -- this is a friend's picture. Zao is famous for what they call snow monsters, trees fully covered in snow, which are beautiful, but I don't have any pictures of them.
These are some pics from the coolest festival I saw in Japan the Tokunai Festival. There were groups dancing all down the street. It was a really energetic and fun dance to watch.
This is the making of a giant pot of stew at a festival in Yamagata. It is tasty stuff -- but the festival is insane
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