A Letter from Blue Sky and Sea - Izu Shimoda Photo Diary

Yes, I am studying... .

Hello, I am Yuuki.

Today it was rainny in Shirahama, so I was in my house all day.

After school my sisters came back to home and teached me how to write on the paper.

At that time my sister said to my mother .........

 

A secret cave in Shirahama

Today it was very warm, so I went to this place to take a photo.

I walked down the small road in the bush from Route 135, there are big rocks and I can find this cave.

(You can see the photo of rocks and sea, that I took last January in the main page of our website.)

It is a really fantastic place here, but probably most travellers do not know it.

Do you know where it is?

Sakuraya's building will be under repair.

From tomorrow we will start to repair our building.

This time we will repair the roof, the walls outside and the walls of inside of Japanese style rooms.
So we can not be able to accept the reservation until March 20th.

But we accept the reservation of only February 10th, Friday and 11th, Saturday.

After all construction we are looking forward to meeting you again at renewed Sakuraya.

Please understand our situation. Thank you very much.

"Inubashiri" embankment in Shimoda harbor

Actually I went to take a photo yersterday and was going to post this photo last night.

But I had new year party last night and I came back to my home at around 1:30am.
Besides I drunk so much, so could not post this photo.

This place is "Inubashiri" embankment in Shimoda, near Shimoda blanch of Japan coast guard.
In Summer a lot of people come here for fishing.
There is a rental house of fishing tools, pole, food for fish, bucket and etc, so we can rent it 1,500 yen if we do not have any tools for fishing.

But this house was closed yesterday, probable they open it during summer.

When I went to this embankment one of them told me, "I could get a lot of sardines yesterday, but today ....... ."

Why don't you have a good time there when you come to Shimoda?

The pheonix palm tree and aloe in Shirahama, Shimoda

Today it was sunny and beautiful too, so I went to take a photo.
This is one of my favorite place in Shirahama, near the gate of Shimoda city, "Ogasaki Wing".

In my home country, Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu, we can see a lot of palm trees in many places, for example, at the main street of Miyazaki city, on the road from airport, along the river and etc.

I had been watching this scenery since I was born.

When I moved here 12 years ago, I found these trees at many places in Shimoda too.

That's why I love Shirahama and Shimoda.

Flower Field of Narcissus

My son Yuuki and me took a walk around our Pension  under the warm sunlight today.

After that we spend a time at the flower field of Narcissus "Suisen".

We found some melons, "Hayato Uri" in Japanese, that we cook it for pickles of Miso every winter in the field.

It was very slow time and slow day today.

Aloe's flower in Shirahama

Have you ever seen this flower?

Have you ever eaten it?

This flower is Aloe, very delicious flower!

As this flower has honey in each small one, it is very sweet. That's why many birds come to get it and we sometimes eat it as Tempura.

Now in Shirahama, the Aloe festival is held at Itado area.

Suisen Festval at Tsumekizaki cape in Shimoda

Since yesterday afternoon, it has been sunny and beutiful in Shimoda.
Today my son Yuuki, my wife and me went to Tsumekizaki in Shimoda to see "Suisen Festival", the flowers of Narcissus.

In this photo we can see the light house on the cape, small creek and Izu seven islands in Pacific ocean behind my son.
Suisen flowers are blooming but .......

Yes, beautiful day, Shirahama beach!!

I was looking forward to today's weather.

It was cloudy everyday last week, so I could not take a photo of the beach.

But I was very happy that I could do it at last.

Look on the top of that island!

 

It is very cold outside but my children are ....

Today it was very cold and rainny in Shirahama.

When I was watching TV news in this morning a lot of students were going into the gate of University to take the examination of Nation University through the falling snow.
In according to this TV news,  the English Listenning Test started from this year and all
of students who want to get into the National University have to take it.
I think that it is good for them but really hard for them and their parents.

I love this car!

Hello, I am Yuuki.

I am pleased with this my sister's car, and I sometimes play with it in the kitchen.
Especially, when my dad and mam are busy, I play alone.

Recently I can go ahead, and I often fall and cryed.  But I start to ride on the car again. Because I love this car!

Have you ever seen these dolls?

These dolls are witch, doctor, nurse, boxer, father and girl with bikini in the center.

These dolls are made of soil.

The height of these dolls are about 5 centimeters. If you drop it on the concret, it would be broken.

Do you know where these dolls are from?

Do you know the flower "Suisen"? - Shirahama beach in Shimoda

When I went shopping I went to Shirahama beach to take a photo of winter flower.
Do you know  this flower?  Have you ever seen it in Japan?

This flower is called "Suisen" in Japanese, it means Narcissus or Daffodil.
In Shimoda we have "Suisen Festival" in every winter at Tsumekizaki cape. (It takes about 15 minutes by car from Sakuraya.)
There is a right house on the hill and small creek in front of the flowers, so we can see and feel the beautiful Japanese local nature with Pacific Ocean and Izu seven islands, and  it would be good experience for you.
Please see the photos that I took there a few years ago.
Suisen Festival

Yuuki in Shirahama beach

It was cloudy today in Shirahama, but my son "Yuuki" and I went to the beach to take a walk.

Yuuki loves the sea and the water. When I took him near the sea, he suddenly started to walk toward the water.  I took  him back  but he  repeated  it again and again.

After that he found the cap of juice bottle and started to play with it lying on the sand. Lovely baby, Yuuki!

"Hello, everybody! My mother bought me this yellow cap. It looks good on me, right?!

"By the way my father posted the photos of Yunessun where we went 2 days ago into Sakuraya's Webpage. Please check it out. You can see the photos of my sister and me!"

Hakone Kowakien Yunessun

Hakone Kowakien Yunessun

On January 15th, I went to Hakone with my family to take a bath in Hakone Kowakien Spa Resort "Yunessun" in Kanagawa Pref.

After we parked our car at the 2nd parking lot we could get to the Spa building by shattle bus.

It was cloudy and cold there but very warm in the building. We changed the clothes in the dressing room and went into the Spa zone.

There are many kinds of Spa, the God's Aegean sea, Ancient Roman Bath, Turkish Hamam and etc inside the building, so we were able to be relaxing them with a variety of water massaging devices, and excited Dead sea Spa using salt imported from Dead sea in the middle sea. (But my children could not take this spa because they had pain on the skin.)

After luch we were going to outside, but we gave it up. Because it was really cold there. Actually we wanted to take Green tea Spa, Japanese Sake Spa, Wine Spa and etc, but we recommend to go to Hakone except cold season.

But we  could spend good time and experience there. My children could be excited. (The baby in diaper are allowed here. But please use the disposable and waterproof diaper.)

Next time we want to take another Spa "Mori no Yu"in this Yunessun Spa resort, the traditional Japanese style Onsen, sectioned into private areas for women and for men in beautiful natural settings outside.

P.S: I posted the photos that I took today into my webpage. Thank you.

Hakone Kowakien Yunessun

The present from USA, "Dream Catcher"

Last year, a couple from Oklahoma in the United states stayed at our Pension on December 1st.

And this time we were very surprised that we got the present with some cards and photo from them by mail.

This is a "Dream Catcher" which made by the Cherokee Nation Native Indians.
According to several native american tribes, Dream Catchers are believed to trap the evil which is floating around in the air, much like a spider's web snares everything in its path.

These our guest stayed at our Pension for only 1 ngiht, but they said in their letter,

"Thank you for being more than the perfect host, for also becoming our friends." or "Had to thank you for your wonderful hospitality."

We appreciated it very much and it is also our plesure.

Thank you very much, Doctor and Madam.

Dondoyaki in Shirahama

It was very warm today, so I wen to Shirahama beach with my son, Yuuki.

It was first time for him to walk by himself for the long time on the sand. He was very excited and had a good time, I guess.

By the way as you saw in this photo, there was a "Dondo Yaki" in the beach.

"Dondo Yaki" is the Japanese traditional bonfire performed at the beginning of New Year.

We, Japanese bring "Okazari" or " Shimenawa", the decorations  for the  New  Year  celebration, and burn it in the early morning.

The tradition says that the smoke of Dondo Yaki bring  good health and good luck.

I had seen it 3 years ago and took the phots. Please check it out. "Dondo Yaki" (Sorry, Japanese only)

I guess that we can not see this traditional event in the big city in Japan, but would you like to see it?

It will be held on Sunday, January 15th.  Good Luck with you!

From today .......

Thank you for visiting our weblogs.

Since July 2000 I had been posted a lot of photographs  in  our website, but I will try to introduce the photos of the beach, mountain, flower, my family and many kinds of things from today in this weblog..
Please visit our weblog again.
P.S
I took this photo 3 days ago. We could see the snow on Amagi mountains.
It has been very cold here in Shirahama in these days, but many surfers were in the sea.