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

2015/01/20 Shirahama Beach this morning

After I took my dauter to the school by my car I took this picture on the seaside road between Shimoda and Shirahama.

I took a monochrome picture of this scenery for the first time, but it's very interesting !!!

2015/01/19 Iseebi (Japanese Lobster) Fishing in Shimoda

When I was walking on the seaside road this late afternoon I saw fishermen were setting up the red nets into the water to fish Iseebi (Japanese lobster).

Winter is the best season for lobster fishing in Japan.

They may be able to get a lot of lobsters after hauling up the net tomorrow early morning.

2015/01/18 Shirahama Beach with my son

Where the strong wind yesterday has gone?

We had very strong west wind yesterday, but there was no wind today.

I went to the nearest beach "Shirahama" after a long time.

You can see 9 pictures on our Facebook page here.

2015/01/17 Rainbow by the sea spray

It was strong windy here in Shimoda today.

When we have strong west wind we can see rainbows by the sea spray in Shirahama.

You can see the other pictures on our Facebook page.

Click here !!

2015/01/12 Surfing at Kiami Oaham Beach in Shimoda

I went to Kisami Ohama Beach by walking from Shimoda yesterday morning.

We didn't have big waves here in Shirahama, but they had very good waves for surfing yesterday.

These two beaches are located in the same city, but the condition is different.

Here you can see 13 pictures on our Facebook page.

2015/01/09 Ogasaki Wing, One of Good View Points in Shimoda

Are you coming to Shimoda by car? or do you like walking?

It was very beautiful day again, so I walked on the beach and went to Ogasaki Wing.

This is a very good view points which has a gorgeous landscape with the Pacific Ocean, Izu Seven Islands, and Shirahama Beach.

It takes about an hour by walking from Pension Sakuraya.

If you take route #135, you should stop at this point and take a break.

You can see 14 pictures which I took today on our Facebook. Click here !!

2015/01/08 Walking to Mt. Nesugata

We had a little cold wind, but it was beautiful day again here in Shimoda today.

I walked on the seaside road and went to Mt. Nesugata in Shimoda after several months, and I took some pictures on the top of mountain.

This point has very good view of Shimoda harbor.

2015/01/07 Beautiful Sun Light and Izu Seven Islands

I took my daughter to Shimoda city by my car and took pictures on the seaside road.

And I walked along the sea this late afternoon.

I posted 8 pictures on my Facebook today.

Click here!!

2015/01/03 Hatsumoude - The first visiting shrine for the new year

After we finished cleaning the guest rooms we went to Shirahama shrine, just only 3 minutes by car from Pension Sakuraya.

At the beginning of new year many Japanese go to shrines to make wishes for the coming year.

As it was very beautiful day there were a lot of people in the shrine field and on the beach.

2015/01/01 Happy New Year!!

We have  very cold west wind here in Shimoda today.

I took this picture several dayas agao.

2014/12/30 Shirahama Shrine and Beach today

I went to the nearest shrine "Shirahama shrine" this afternoon.

They had already been ready for the new year.

A lot of people come to this shrine during new year holidays to pray happiness, joy and good luck.

By the way, we were taken care of last year.

I hope the new year finds you in excellent spirit.

2014/12/28 Daffodil (Narcissus) Festival at Tsumekizaki Cape in Shimoda

I went to Tsumekizaki-cape yesterday, where the daffidil flower festival has been taking place since December 20th.

We had very strong north wind there but we could see the beautiful scenery under the blue sky.

The daffodil blooming is now about 50%, and it's much earlier than usual.

The good time to see the flowers is usually after the middle of January, but the next new year holidays will be the best timing, I guess.

2014/12/25 Christmas Card from abroad

When I was cleaning the guest rooms this late afternoon I found out the clouds in the east sky was getting colored red at the sun set time.

So I went to the beach to take pictures in a hurry.

Then I was able to see the gorgeous sunset today.

By the way, I got a Christmas card 3 days ago from our friends who live in the United States and stayed at Pension Sakuraya just once several years ago.

Actually this is the only one Christmas card that we got this year. Because most of us, Japanese don't have a custom like this and because we have to prepare the new year cards in this season every year.

We are appreciated very much....

2014/12/24 Shirahama Beach this morning

We didn't have strong wind and it was very warm this morning.

I was able to see the beautiful sunrise here in Shimoda.

2014/12/22 Shirahama Beach today

As we had a little strong west wind it was cold here in Shirahama today.

But the sea water was very clear and we could see Amagi mountains and Izu seven islands clearly.

I walked along the seaside this afternoon.

The shadow was appeared in my pictures in this season, it was only around 2:30 PM though.

2014/12/21 Beach Cleaning on Shirahama Beach

The beach cleaning was taken place by the local community of Shirahama from 6:30 AM this morning, so I went to the nearest beach.

After that, I remained on the beach to take pictures of the sunrise and the surfing.

We didn't have strong wind and it was very warm today.

2014/12/17 Wasabi Field in Amagi mountain in Izu peninsula

Have you ever seen this?

I took these pictures in Amagi mountain in Izu peninsula in the rain yesterday.

For us Japanese Wasabi is very important to eat Sashimi.

They were just harvesting Wasbi in the field when I went to Amagi mountain yesterday, so I asked them to take pictures of Wasbi.

2014/12/15 Early blooming of Sakura tree in our garden

When I came back home after shopping in Shimoda I found out small blossoms on the tree next to the entrance of Pension Sakuraya.

I didn't know when it started blooming.

By the way, It had been almost sunny here in Shimoda today.

I could see Izu seven islands on the ocean clearly this morning.

2014/12/14 Japanese style room

My wife started changing the papers of the paper sliding door, "Shoji Screen" of the Japanese style rooms several days ago.

This is one of Japanese customs before the new year.

It was sunny and we could see the seven islands on the Pacific ocean clearly. There were some ships on the sea to protect themselves from the strong west wind.

2014/12/13 Shirahama Beach today

It is sunny but we have very strong and cold west wind today.

There was no surfers on the beach because they don't have good waves for surfing, but there were some life savers.

2014/12/12 Izu Oshima Island on the ocean

When I got up and saw the eastern side through the window I could see Izu Oshima island between the clouds and the ocean.

It had been cloudy all day today.

2014/12/06 Shirahama Beach today

We had a little cold wind, but it was very warm here in Shirahama today.

There were some ships on the sea to protect themselves from the strong west wind.

2014/12/02 Sunrise at Shirahama Beach

After I took my daughter to the train station I wen to the beach to take pictures of the sunrise.

We had very strong west wind, but it was really beautiful sunreise this morning.

2012/12/01 Blue sky after the rain in Shimoda

It was rainy this morning, but the blue sky came bach with a rainbow in Shimoda this afternoon.

The weather forecast says it will be colder tomorrow.

2014/11/29 Shirahama and Shimoda today

It was rain almost today and we sometimes had heavy rain until around 3:00 PM.

But the blue sky came bach this late afternoon in Shimoda.

 

2014/11/28 Japanese style room of Pension Sakuraya

It was very beautiful this morning, but it became cloudy and we had a little shower this afternoon.

I took this picture this early morning.

This is a Japanese syle room which accepts 5 or 6 people in busy season has both a sea view and a mountain one.

Even in winter it's very warm in this room because of the sun light through the window, so we can have a very good afternoon nap.

2014/11/27 Two kinds of birds on the beach

When I walked on the beach I found out 2 kinds of birds, great egret and grey heron are on bad terms with each other, I think.

2014/11/24 Shirahama Beach today

When I was walking on the seaside road I found some sparrows looked like musical note on the fence.

The narcssus has already started blooming in our garden.

2014/11/14 Shirahama Beach today

It was sunny today again.

We could see the ships on the sea for the first time this season.

They stay there to protect themselves from the strong west wind until the wind stops.

By the way the sea water was very clear today.

If we didn't have cold wind I would want to get into the water with a wet suit.

2014/11/14 Aloe Flowers in Shirahama

As we will have the Aloe flowers festival next month the local community had a work of weeding at the Aloe field at Itado beach in Shirahama this morning.

Today it was very beautiful, but we sometimes had a little strong west wind.

The aloe flowers have already started to open!