Picture of the Week 42 – The view from Morisengen Shrine

Last week, I was walking around the Byobugaura Station neighbourhood in Isogo Ward, and came across Morisengen Shrine. To get there, I had to go under an expressway bypass, then go up a steep and long stairway. The shrine was quite nice, but on my way down, I had this view of the neighbourhood, looking toward Shin-Sugita.  You can see the torii near the bottom, and many buildings beyond.  This shrine is built at the top of a large plateau/bluffs area in western Yokohama that is just behind Isogo Station.  There used to be a very large hotel, Yokohama Prince Hotel, on this hill, but it was torn down a couple years ago.

Want to see more?  Check out “Show Me Japan” at Budget Trouble.  This post is taking part in the 15th weekly edition.

Picture of the Week 41 – Myohoji Temple’s Ibuki

I was in Sugita on Sunday taking photos for “Japan by Train” and visited Myohoji Temple (妙法寺), which has a very old tree. The tree is an ibuki, or Chinese juniper. It’s not impressively large, but it is incredibly old. According to the sign, it’s over 600 years old. I wish I could read Japanese better, so I’d know the history of the tree. But this is the kind of thing I like finding when I explore neighbourhoods.

This post is taking part in this week’s “Show Me Japan.”

Guess what! Snow again

It’s snowing again tonight. The snow has melted a bit, and it’s now a very wet slush. Very messy!

Snowy Friday in Japan

A few days after I posted pictures about palm trees and our subtropical climate in Kanagawa, we got a day of snow! All across the Kanto area, snow fell much of yesterday. It was very wet snow, and at first, it didn’t stay around on the ground or rooftops. However, some did accumulate. As of this moment, it has melted, and is currently raining. But, here are the pictures I took yesterday and one from today.

The snow is hard to see with an iPhone, but you can see the faint lines.

The snow is falling, and the rooftops are wet.

Look at that snow coming down!

The snow is finally accumulating on the rooftops.

The snow is sticking around for a while.

A bit later, in a slightly different direction, there's even more snow.

The roofs are all white!

On my way home in the evening, there's a closer look at the snow.

This was from earlier today, while I was going to work. This picture was taken from the train at Yumegaoka Station.

It’s now late at night, and all the snow is gone.  That’s pretty typical of the snow around here.  It snowed a bit today, but it turned into rain.  Tomorrow will be sunny.  This may be the last of the snow this year, but who knows?

This post is taking part in the weekly “Show Me Japan” at Budget Trouble.

Palm Trees in Japan

When you think of Japan, you usually think of Mt. Fuji, Tokyo, temples, shrines, cars, robots and sushi. But did you know that you can find palm trees in the warmer parts of the country? Kanagawa Prefecture is in a humid subtropical climate, and has very mild winters and tropical humid and hot summers. Palm trees thrive here, even though they aren’t native to this part of the country. The two pictures below were taken by the beach in the Kurihama area of Yokosuka. If you looked at them without knowing where they were taken, you might think it was Hawaii or California.

Picture of the Week 40 – Sakai River in Fujisawa

Earlier this week, I was out walking around Kugenuma in Fujisawa taking pictures for the Kugenuma Station area. This is a picture I took with my phone of the Sakai River. The green bridge is for the Enoden Line, and there are many boats, as well. Along this river, boat owners leave their boats tied up, kind of like it’s a marina. Like my earlier picture of the week of the small river, this shows that the banks are concrete. But it’s a much deeper and wider river, most likely with plenty of fish. It seems more like a canal, but it is a river.