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

2011/12/03 Jumping in the dining room

Last week we cleaned the dining room.

After I put the tabels and the chairs out of dining room my son came back from school.

"Wao!"

He was excited and started to run around and jump in this room.

Pension Sakuraya in Shimoda, Japan

 

 

2011/11/10 Small blossoms in our garden

Do you know what kind of blossom this is?

I took this picture through the window of room #104, the Japanese style room.

I think those who stayed in this room have seen these in early summer.

It will be a fruit in every June.

The answer is loquat.

I show you the picture of this fruit......

2011/10/26 Blooming out of season

This afternoon my wife said,

"Look at this. This sakura is blooming!"

There are some Sakura trees in our field, and this is "Kawazu Sakura".

This tree blooms from the beginning of February, but it has some blossoms.

It's too early, see you again in next February!

2011/10/15 Water drops on Aloe

It was rainy here in Shimoda today.

When the rain was stopped around noon I went out to take pictures.

I found out the water drops on the Aloe near Sakuraya.

This aloe became fresh after the rain.

Pension Sakuraya in Shimoda, Japan

2011/10/07 Fresh Toilet?

I have been wonderting this since long time ago.

These are the slippers for the public toilet in Sakuraya.

I have never heard that the slippers are fresh.

I think this is wrong English....

But is it possible to use "Fresh"  in this case?

Click here to see the other photos of these slippers.

Pension Sakuraya in Shimoda

 

2011/10/06 Lobster season!

This is a Sashimi combination which our customers ordered on last weekend, and we provided this Sashimi with Ise-ebi Lobster.

In Izu peninsula the lobster season has already started from the middle of September, and we can get it until May next year.

Fresh lobster is tasted a little sweet and very delicious!

When we have a order of Ise-ebi Lobster we can cook it as Miso-soup for breakfast if the customer like.

Why don't you try Lobster in Japan?

2011/09/25 Thank you for staying with us this summer!

My daughter may caught a cold and has a fever around 37 degrees.

Because it had been really hot here in Shimoda until last week, but in these days it has been very cold every morning and evening.

Please be careful, everybody in Japan.

By the way all customers checked out this morning, and the long summer season was over.

After May 11th we have been worrying about this summer because of the earthquake and the nuclear accident, but we could have a lot of customers from all over the world during this summer and didn't have any troubles at Sakuraya.

Thank you very much for staying with us this summer.

Anyway, this morning we started to do a general house cleaning after the long busy season.

First of all, as we don't have any customers on these weekday we washed all bed covers and mats of the Western style rooms and dried them in the dining room!

Black out

There is nothing to do.

2011/09/20 Thank you for your stay.

They came from Tokyo and stayed at Sakuraya for 2 nights.

During their stay they went to the beach, Shimoda Aquarium and some places in Shimoda.

As it had been sunny and very hot here in Shimoda, they could have a great time.

When they checked out he said,

"We came here for our 2nd wedding anniversary.!

Congratulations!!

And thank you for choosing our Pension for your memorial trip!

2011/09/09 Guests from Australia

They came from Australia to Japan for the 1st time and stayed with us for 5 nights.

On 1st and 2nd day it was rainy here in Shimoda, but it had been sunny after that.

And they could have good time on the white sandy beach.

I asked them about Shirahama Beach and they said, .....

2011/08/29 Amazing!! Sakuraya's Website in Russian!!!

At the beginning of this month a couple, who is from Russia and live in Tokyo, stayed at Sakuraya for the 1st time.

When they checked out he said,

"You have the website in English and Chinese, right?"

"Yes, I made English site by myself, but our costomer who came from Tiwan made Chinese site for us." I answered.

"OK, I can translate your website into Russian. And I will send you by e-mail."

"Oh, really?"

As he told us he sent an e-mail with a file after that.

Yes, he translated our website into Russian and made html.files for us!!

Sakuraya's website in Russian

I don't know why he made it for us, but we appeciate very much and are very very happy.

Thank you soooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!

Pension Sakuraya in Shirahama, Shimoda city

2011/08/09 Thank you, Grandpa!

This afternoon we got a box by delivery service.

It was sent by my father lives in my home town, Miyazaki Pref. in Kyushu.

We opened it and found out grapes and pears.

My son, Yuuki loves them very much and was excited.

It was very sweet and delicious!!

Thank you very much.

Click here to see the pictures which I took today.

2011/08/06 Blue sky and sea were back in Shirahama.

Summer came back to Shirahama again.

In these days it had been cloudy, rainy and windy here in Shirahama, but we could see the blue sky and sea today.

I went to the nearest beach "Shirahama" with my son, Yuuki.

We still had big waves, but there were a lot of people on the beach.

The weather forecast says we will have a shower in early morning tomorrow, but it will be sunny and hot after that.

It's a good news for us and our customers.

By the way I show you my son after long time .....

2011/08/01 Access Counter says 500,000 over!!

We got into August today at last.

This afternoon, when I checked our website I found out that the access counter said 503,103!!

I made this website by myseld and started to run it on March 1st 2000.

So I have been runnning our site for more than 11 years.

Thank you for coming and visiting our website.

I am going to post various information and photos into our site.

Click here to see the pictures which I took on the nearest beach today.

Pension Sakuraya in Shimoda, Japan

2011/07/01 We got into July! Summer season!

Today we had a sunshine in the morning, but it became cloudy after that.

But the temperature was not of high, so it was a little comfortable.

This afternoon I went to the sing board on the corner of Road #135 to mow the grasses.

After an hour the sign board appeared, and our customers will be able to find it out easily.

After that I went to the beach......

2011/06/19 My children's pictures

In these days it has been cloudy and sometimes rainy here in Shimoda.

It can't be helped because now we are in the rainy season in Japan.

If we don't have rain in this season vegetable and rice will not be glown well.

So the rain is very important for the plants and us.

By the way I show you the pictures which my children drew.

The first one is drawn by my son, Yuuki, the day before yesterday.

He is interested in drawing picutre basically, and he is getting better day by day.

This time he drew the scene which he and his sister were having the hotcakes in the kitchen.

There are hotcakes on the table, window, clock, calender, fridge, thermos and etc...

I show you the next one....

2011/06/03 Loquat in our garden

Have you ever seen this?

This is called "Biwa" in Japanese.

It is called "Loquat" in English, right?

Today, when I got into the Japanese style room to clean up I found out this tree has a lot of yellow fruits like this.

This tree is 24 years old or more and is getting bigger over the roof of two-story house......

 

2011/05/30 Picking up my son and Yamori at Sakuraya

Last week the #2 typhoon was coming to Japan from philippines area, but it was become to the extratropical cyclone before coming to Shimoda yesterday.

We had a lot of rain here in Shimoda last weekend, but it was not huge damage.

My daughters expected that the schools would be closed due to typhoon, but they had to go to school at last because there was no heavy rain and strong wind this morning.

As usual I went to the shop on the way from the elementary school to pick my son up, and we came back home together.

By the way I show you the photo which I took in our kitchen tonight.

But if you don't like the reptiles you should not see any more....

2011/05/20 It looks like a skin head of Namihei!

Yesterday morning, as we had customers and had to prepare their breakfast, I was not be able to walk wth the children.

So I went out the building to say "Take care" to the children.

When I was waiting outside a 6th grader boy said,

"Hey, look at this! It looks like a head of Namihei!"

I didn't understand what he said at first.

But ......

2011/05/15 The students of my old university & My son today

They are 3rd grade in Nihon University.

Yes, they are my junior in the international relations school, and are members of the seminar of Professor Yoshida.

Professor Yoshida took his students many times since 15 years ago.

Afte dinner I drunk with them and talked about a lot of things.

I could have a great time with them.

Thank you for staying with us, and we look forward to meeting you again!!

By the way after they checked out .......

2011/05/08 Koinobori - - Carp shaped flags were swimming in the blue sky!

Today it was very beutiful day here in Shimoda.

And it was getting hotter around noon but we had a strong wind.

Koinobori flags were swimming in the blue sky and they made us very happy.

The weather forcast says it will be sunny tomorrow as well, and will be rainy after that.

My son's Koinobori flags will go to bed until next April.

*Do you know Koinobori? Check it out here!

 

2011/05/03 Koinobori, Carp shaped flags for my son!

In Japan, we, Japanese set up "Koinobori", Carp shaped flags, from April to the early month of May.

Koinobori are flown traditionally to celebrate "Children's Day" takes place on May 5th.

We, Japanese decorate Koinobori to pray that sons or grand sons grow up healty and strong.

According to the story of china, when the carp finishes climbing up the waterfall it become a dragon at the dragongate.

So Japanese parents hung Koinobori up in the sky for children rise up like a dragon in the future.

Yesterday my son, Yuuki and I set up Koinobori in our patio together.

You can see the other photos which I took yesterday here.

2011/04/04 Japanese orange called Natsu-Mikan in our garden

It was windy, but very beautiful day in Shirahama, Shimoda.

My son and I picked oranges called Natsu-Mikan in our garden.

This orange is a little sour taste but very delicious.

We make a home made wine with this orange every this season, and serve our customers as an aperitif.

Here are some other pictures which I took today.

2011/04/01 Spring, Spring, Spring in Shimoda, Japan!!

We got into April at last.

In our garden in front of Pension Sakuraya a lot of flowers started bloom.

We can see many kinds of color, pink, yellow, blue, orange and purple under the sunshine.

Yes, now we are in Spring in Japan!

This afternoon I went to the beach to take pictures after shopping.

2011/03/23 Niwa-Zakura - - Blackout in Izu Peninsula

Today we had a blackout for the seconde time due to the electric power cut scheduled.

After the massive earthquake and nuclear accident TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) has been putting power cut into operation to save the electric power.

It was started at 6:20 PM this evening, and I went to the road on the seaside after that.

There were some cars running on the road, but it was pitch dark without the power.

As I had the strong wind by the sea it sometimes rocked my car.

The black out was finished at 7:50 PM.

Today's picture is what I took in our garden. This is called Niwa-Zakura in Japanese, and it means Sakura in garden. But it is a different kind of tree from Sakura.

It has been still a little bit cold in these days, but spring is coming little by little here in Shimoda.

2011/03/12 After Earthquake & Tsunami warning in Shimoda, Japan

Yesterday massive earthquake hit North-Eastern Japan, and a lot of places and people were affected.

The coast in Shimoda was warned against Tsunami in the afternoon yesterday, and we had Tsunami only 80 centimeters in Shimoda harbor.

But Tsunami warning was cancelled today.

I went to Shimoda downtown for shopping and took some pictures on the way.

This is Shirahama Beach in Shimoda, and there was no damage there.

We had a lot of messages and e-mails from all over the world since yesterday, but we all are safe!

Thank you very much, everybody!!!

Look at the pictures which I took this afternoon on my Facebook.

2011/03/11 Earthquake and Tsunami hit Japan - - No problem here in Shimoda

Today a huge earthquake and Tsunami hit North-East part of Japan at 2:46 PM.

After that I went to the nearest beach "Shirahama" in Shimoda city, Izu peninsula, to check it out, but there was no problem here.

And all of my family are Safe!!

Here are the photos which I took on the Shirahama beach on Facebook.

In addition, you can watch TV news through the Internet.

 

 

2011/02/28 Rainy day with cold wind in Shirahama, Shimoda

Today it was the last day of February.

We had the strong wind and the heavy rain here in Shirahama.

I hope it will be warmer tomorrow for our customers who stays at Sakuraya.

I took this picture at the entrance of Sakuraya building this afternoon.

2011/02/23 Kawazu Sakura trees welcome you at Pension Sakuraya in Shimoda!

On the way to Pension Sakuraya from Route 135 on seaside we can find out Sakuraya's building.

I took this picture at the entrance of Sakuraya building.

In these days the Sakura trees which are fully blooming welcome us.

Almost of every customers are surprised and pleased with this......

2011/02/18 Thank you & Good bye Ceremony at Shirahama kindergarten

This morning we had a strong wind and a rain here in Shirahama at around 6:00 AM.

But it was changed, and it became sunny at around 9:00 AM.

Today my wife and I went to Shirahama kindergarten with my son, because they had a ceremony for children.

It is called Owakare-kai in Japanese.

It means a ceremony which the children say thank you and good bye to the children finishing kindergarten....