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

A Sunrise in Shirahama beach, Shimoda

This morning I went to the beach to take pictures of sunrise in Shirahama.

When I got to the beach there had already been some people.

But it was very silence and I could take many sunrise's picture today.

The flowers are singing in Shimoda.

It was rainny yesterday and the day before yesterday in Shimoda.

We are very sorry that our guest could not see a beautiful sea and have a good time in Shimoda .

But some of our guests went to Mt. Nesugatayama by the cable car and said,

"We couldn't see seven islands from the top but there were a lot of beautiful flowers there.".....

Rape Blossoms and Bee

The day before yesterday I went to the mountain in Shirahama.

I could see a lot of rape blossoms there and found many bees that came here to get honney.

I was taking pictures very close by the flowers, but they, bees are not interested in me.

So I could take this picture without any danger.

Yes, she is very cute !!

Shimoda Shirahama Beach: Guest House Pension Sakuraya

A Beautiful Sunrise in Shirahama

When I was sleeping I heard a sound of something, puuuuuun, puuuuuuunn...

The clock said 4:30am. So I continued to sleep and then .....

"Oh, my gash !!"

Yes, I was bitten by mosquito.

"Where are youuuuuu !?"

While I was looking for this mosquito it made me waked up at last.

It was 5:30am.

But when I saw outside the sun was rising up on the ocean.

So I desided to go to the beach to take pictures. .......

Mt. Fuji and Rape Blossoms in Western Izu Peninsula

Today my wife had to do her job, so I had to be a baby sitter of my son, Yuuki.

I was thinking where we go.

As we had a strong wind I thought that we might be able to see Mt. Fuji from the west side of Izu peninsula today.

I reseached it in the web camera site ..... Bingo !!

So I desided to go to see Mt. Fuji with my son !!

When I was driving on the way of West Izu I could see Mt. Fuji,  I was very excited !!

White-eye on the plum tree and today's Shirahama

It was sunny today too in Shirahama.

The plum trees are fully blooming and the white-eyes came to this tree to get hunny.

We usually can find them two birds, they may be a couple.

This is a good season for them because they can find easily many kinds of flowers in our garden.

I am showing today's Shirahama beach .....

The color of the ocean

When I came back to Shirahama from Kawazu town I took this picture at "Ogasaki Wing"placed between Shimoda city and Kawazu town, where we can see Shirahama, Suzaki peninsula and Izu seven islands.

The time was 3:30pm.

The sun was going into the west mountain.

As you saw the color of this ocean is grey, but .....

Sea anemones on Shirahama beach

This is a picture which I took when my son and I went to the beach yesterday.

This place where we found  was on the left side of the beach.

There are some rocks and some of them have a small hollow on it.

And we can find sea anemones in this hollow. .....

A First Snow in Izu Peninsula

Before we came back from my wife's home to Shimoda we stopped at the parking area near Odawara city in Kanagawa Pref.

When I went to the beach I found the white thing in the middle of mountain.

Yes, it was a snow !

The day before yesterday we had a snow in Kanagawa and Tokyo.

So they had snow in Amagi moutains too on that day. ....

A lot of stars in the winter's sky in Shimoda

Wao ! This is a really black picture. Do you know what this is ?

(Click this black image to get bigger one.)

My wife said tonight,

"I could see a lot of stars in the sky outside !!"

Yes, this is a picture which I took the stars.

You can see it with clicking this picture.

Actually I could see the Orion and the other stars tognight. I am showing the picture zoomed up. ....

Sunrise in Shirahama

There was a little clouds in the sky this morning, but we could see a beautiful sunrise and Izu Oshima island on the left side.

We have only 10 days this year, we can see the TV programs which tell something about Chiristmas and New year holidays everyday.

I hope we will be able to see a beautiful sunrise like today on Jan 1st !!

 

Shimoda Shirahama Beach: Guest House Pension Sakuraya

Aloe's Festival in Shirahama

The Aloe's Festival started to take place in Shirahama yesterday.

The blooming of Aloe's flower is a little earlier than usual.

In this stage 70 or 80 % are bloomed.
The peak of blooming of these flowers will be in new year holidays, I guess.

Izu Oshima Island

Today we had a little wind but it was warm this afternoon.

How did you feel in your place today ?

By the way this is a view from 2nd floor of our Pension.
When I was cleaning up this room I could see Izu Oshima island over there, so I had a break to see it for a while.

As the air is very clear in the winter we can see Izu seven island.

I am going to show the view from same place after 3 hours. ......

The ocean of the cloud

It was actually the ocean of phantom, which appeared there suddenly.

The clooud was floating between rocks in the sky.

There were some ships were drifting toward the end of the world. .......

I was very surprised with this fantastic picture when  I saw it in my computer.

Yes, it seemed like one of scenes of movie......

Altocumulus clouds and sunset in Shimoda

Today it was very warm so my son, Yuuki, and I went to the beach.

After getting to "Shirahama Chuou Beach" which is next to Shirahama Ohama beach, we got into the beach and started to walk together.

When we were walking on the beach we found some branches of the tree and drew a big picture on the big cambus of the sand.

At that time my son found something in the sky ...... .

Small Green World - Water Drop on Aloe

How do you like this photo ?

I took this out of entrance of our Pension.

We had sometimes rain today, so that the leaves of aloe had the water drops.

When I saw this tree from a distance I couldn't know that this tree had these water drops, but I was surprised very much and pleased with it.

This color, "Green" gives us a fresh feeling and makes us happy, right ? ......

Rainbow over the ocean - Shirahama beach

Now I am writing this weblog at 11:30 in the night.
It is very cold outside, so I can not open the window tonight.

Today we had a strong wind from west and there were some ships in the sea.

Yes, this is a tipical scenery of winter in Shimoda.
That ship is staying in this area until the strong wind will stop.
Because they have very strong wind at the southmost area of Izu peninsula today and it would be 30 meters per minutes or more.

They can not go through this area because of its danger.

By the way, when my wife and I went to Shimoda we found the rainbow.

It was raining over that ocean, I guess, but in Shirahama ........

Aloe Field in Shirahama - the entrance of Shimoda city

Today we, the members of Shirahama Tourist association cleaned up the field of Aloe at Itado area in Shirahama.

Because we have "Aloe Festival " in this area from December 9th.

To clean up this field we got into the Aloe trees and cut the weeds.

It was cloudy today but it became a little hot for us cleaning up this area.....

The view of Izu Seven Islands from Shirahama

This morning it was very beautiful day, but the clouds came to Shirahama in the afternoon.

I went to "Ogasaki Wing", the spot where we can see Izu seven islands and Shirahama.

And I took this picture.

You can see the islands between the cloud and the ocean. ......

Blue sky in Shirahama

Today it was very beautiful day too !!

There was no cloud in the blue sky and we could see Izu Oshima island clearly.

Actually I wanted to go to the beach to take a picture but didn't do it because I had clean up the rooms today.

Some of our guests went to the beach to swim and read a book at the balcony outside.

When they came back from the beach I asked them about the water and they said,

"It was not cold and enough to swim !!"

How do you get to Shimoda from Tokyo, by train or by car ?

By train:

The best way would be taking Limited Express Train "Odoriko" by JR.
In this case you don't need to transfer at any station, it means this
train goes to Simoda directly.
And you had better take the reasonable Free Pass "Odoriko Minami Izu
Free Kippu" for this train.
You can get the informations in detail in the following webpage.
http://izu-sakuraya.jp/english/freepass.htm

The timetable for JR:
http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi

Please fill out the form as follows,
Start Point: Tokyo  Destination: Izukyu Shimoda

If you would like to take this pass you had better go to JR station to
book the seats as soon as possible.
The seats on the left side toward Shimoda in this train would be better
for you, because you will be able to get the ocean view from the left
side seats.

By car:

We have 2 ways to get to Shirahama from Tokyo by car.

<1>
Tomei Express way - Atsugi IC - Odawara - Atami - Ito - Kawazu - Shirahama

<2>
Tomei Express way - Numazu IC - Mishima - Shuzenji - Amagi mountain -
Kawazu - Shirahama

It takes about 3 hours, or 3 and half hours from Tokyo, if you don't
have a traffic jam.

Anyway, before coming to Shimoda, please check the map of Sakuraya with
photos in the following webpage and bring it to find our Pension easily.
http://izu-sakuraya.jp/english/mapwithpicures.htm

Before a storm it was the best blue sky today !!

Today it was a very beautiful day !

When I was working I found the blue sky, so I went outside and took this picture standing on the roof of Sakuraya's building.

Actually I wanted to go to the beach to take beautiful sea, but I was very busy today.

Our guest who came back from the beach said,
" It was excellent the blue sea under the blue sky !!"

In the summer we can not see a beautiful sky like today, because it is misty even if it is sunny.

By the way the typhoon is coming toward Japan, it  was a calm before  a storm, I think.

A Sunrise in Shirahama beach, Shimoda

At around 4:30am on July 13th, I could see a really beautiful sunrise at Shirahama beach.

Before coming to Shimoda I wanted to see this scine which I saw in Sakuraya's webpage.

We stayed in Shirahama for 4 days and could see it on a last morning at last because it had been cloudy for 3 days.

This place is behind Shirahama shrine, and there is a red gate "Torii" on the big rock.
We can see Izu seven islands from here, and this gate seemes like a  place to meet gods from these islands.

When I took this picture the sun had just been rising.

- - - - - - - - -

Actually I did not take this picture.
Our guest came from Tokyo went to the beach in early morning to take this picture, and sent us this picture to us later....... .

Light Pinkish Sky in Shirahama

Today, my daughters had a class of classical ballet in Shimoda.

My wife usually takes them to the school, but she was going to cook for dinner today, so I took my daughters to Shimoda.

This is a picture that I took at Shirahama beach in this late afternoon.

The sun made a sky light pink and the cloud seemed like a dancing whale. .....

Biwa time, now !!

Have you ever seen this ?
Do you know what this is ?

This tree is a "Loquat", "Biwa" in Japanese.

We, Pension Sakuraya has this tree in our garden.
When my uncle built out Pension, he found this baby tree in Sakuraya's field. So he moved it a little.

After that this tree grew up bigger and bigger, and now we can eat this fruit every June....

Sunrise in Shirahama

This morning I could see a sunrise after a long time.

I took this picture from the window of Western style room on the 2nd floor at 4:50am.

Do you think that I got up early in this morning ?

No, I didn't get up so early, to tell the truth I didn't go to bed last night until then.

Because my computer doesn't work well in these days, so I started reset-up it last midnight.
And it took a long time to do it and data recovery.

By the way after I took this picture I went to the other room to take it..... .

While cleaning up I found it !!

Today the members of Shirahama Tourist association cleaned up Aloe field in Itado area of Shirahama.

In the morning it was windy and cool, but after we started to clean up I became very hot.

When we finished to do it 2 hours later this field became very beautiful.

By the way I found something to see for the 1st time there .....

Exploring and Sea caving at Shirahama beach

From yesterday, the students who came from the United States are staying at Sakuraya.

Today, on a second day, they had Exploring and Sea caving at Shirahama beach.

So I got into their exploring in this afternoon.

They started to walk from south area of the beach.

In this picture the professor are explaining about the sea animals and the other things on the rock....

Students from Kanagawa Pref.

In Shirahama we accept a lot of students of Junior high school, who come to have experiences of nature of Shirahama every year.

Yes, this is similer to a summer camp.

Today, the first school of this year, 200 students came from Yokohama, and stayed for one night.

This is a picture that I took an openning ceremony in Itado area of Shirahama.

And they started to observe a sea after lunch. .......

Yuuki, it's a sunny day !!

How many days couldn't we get sunshine like today ?

It was good for my son to walk outside today.

I was going to take a picture of my son standing on a chair, and said,
"Cheers ! Yuuki !"
He made his face like a monster.
And his mother was watching him worring.

By the way I went to Mt. Takane in Shirahama today too.......

Spot lights on the sea / Mt. Takane in Shirahama

This morning I went to the school with my children after a few days.

On the way to the school I was thinking, "Well , where am I going today ?", and decided to go to Mt. Takane which is a highest mountain in Shirahama.

Then I changed my route and started to go up the mountain.

When I arrived at the top of Mt. Takane, I could see a beautiful view.

The sun lights were coming down from the sky and made the sea "Stage".

This stage with lights and shadows was really misterious. .......