January 2012: On January 23, we had rare snow in the southern peninsula of Izu. Snow stayed on the ground only for an hour, but then it snowed again and again. The same snow around our house in Hachioji, Tokyo, stayed for more than a week.

Our resort house in Izu commands a good view of a volcano island, Oshima, beyond the ocean. The volcano, Mt. Mihara-yama of 758 meters, was capped with snow for days. It was a rare view of the warmer island.

1月23日の雪で、伊豆大島三原山758米が冠雪し珍しい風景となりました。

Diamond Fuji

Dec. 2011: Again this year, Shig took pictures of the sunset on top of Mt. Fuji, called here "Diamond Fuji", at a location in the home town of Hachioji City in Tokyo.

The best location of watching Diamond Fuji is the summit of Mt. Takao on the winter solstice or plus minus three days. But this year, Mt. Fuji had clouds even on very fine days in Tokyo on and around the solstice. It was five days after the solstice that we could see clear Mt. Fuji. The mountain in silhouette in the right hand side is Mt. Takao. The difference of the angles partly reflects the five day difference. The more important reason for the angle differences is that the more distant Mt. Fuji appears lower and that the sun travels more to the north before setting.

Additional Diamond Fuji information is on another part of the domain.

今年は冬至前後に富士山に雲が掛り、高尾山頂からDiamond Fujiを見ることが（多分）出来ませんでした。5日後に八王子西部の某所からこの写真は撮影しました。近景右側が高尾山です。

Colorful Garden in Kyoto
November, 2011: We visited Kyoto on November 22 to see colored leaves. Due to warmer fall this year, coloring seemed delayed. So we chose to visit Shugakuin, a north eastern part of Kyoto in the mountain shadow. Our bet was right and we could see many places there with beautiful colored leaves.

In the garden of Enkoji Temple, we appreciated combination of many colors.

京都修学院の圓光寺の庭は早くも色とりどりでした。