We started our camping trip last week, May 1st, heading out at about 11am for what should have been about a 3.5 hour drive. Unfortunately, there was some kind of parade that caused the road I happen to have taken to be intermittently closed, turning roads in eastern Kyoto into a parking lot. It took 20 minutes to go half a mile. Not a good start.

Having gotten past that, I thought things would be smooth sailing, but quickly ran into heavy traffic again. I took some side streets and eventually got through the city. What should have been 15 or 20 minutes had taken an hour, and the bulk of the trip lay before us.

At this point, just as we're starting to move freely – I kid you not – comes the first “Are we there yet?” from Anthony. It was not his last.

Once I got out of the city and onto the Kyoto Tanba Expressway, traffic was eerily light, and we made excellent time. Despite having stopped once to eat, we arrived to the campsite at about 3:30.

One thing that I noticed during the drive was that the price of gas was higher than it had been recently. Premium gas was running at $6.40/gallon, while it had been only $4.84 for much of the previous month. A “temporary” gas tax created in the 70s that had been extended ever since was allowed to expire last month in what as best I can tell was muscle-flexing by some minority politicians. Of course, in Japan as anywhere, the phrase “temporary tax” is a euphemism for “permanent tax that we're trying to slide in there under the radar” because once it's been levied, “temporary” or not, that income stream becomes a vested right in the eyes of the politician.

Anyway, I guess ruling party got around to reinstating the tax, and thus the price of gas went up just in time for Golden Week, perhaps the busiest travel week of the year.

So, we arrived at the Kotobikihama Kakezuki Campground and looked for a spot.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 32 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
We'll Put the Tent Here

I had bought the tent the day before, so lugged it from the car and opened it up the first time where I intended to erect it. It was huge. Some of the poles, when put together, were 17.5 feet long. It turns out that the spot I picked was just large enough for the tent, but didn't really allow enough room around the tent for me to put it up. It was a challenge, to say the least.

I was also shocked at how much pollen came off the pine trees if you brushed against them. Huge clouds of yellow erupted with every little movement, quickly coating everything in a layer of yellow dust. And as I found out later, the “yellow dust” was not the least bit water soluble, which made for an even bigger mess when it got wet. At least neither of us were allergic.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 32 mm — ¹/30 sec, f/4.2, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Checking Out the Inside

My only prior experience with camping is a couple of two-week long trips 15 or so years ago, bringing a tent and whatever else I could carry on my small motorcycle (a Honda CBR250RR), riding around the back roads of Honshu (Japan's main island). I would be sure to stop by a convenience store each afternoon to pick up dinner, then ride into the mountains and find an old overgrown access road (there are plenty left over from the copious dam construction that permeates Japan), and take that further into the wilderness. I'd try to find a flat spot, and set up camp for the evening.

The campground for the current trip was much less “wild”. It cost $30/night (plus $10/day for parking, so a one-night stay is $50!), but they provide bathrooms, cold running water, a place to dispose of trash, and vending machines with cold drinks. There's no hot shower, but one can be had by making a 10-minute walk down to the neighboring beach, to what amounts to a stand-alone coin-operated shower standing at the edge of a big parking lot, with the size, shape, and general décor of a porta potty.

All in all, not very rough.

So after having set up the tent, Anthony and I took a short drive to the nearest town to find a convenience store, and on the way back as we passed the porta-potty showers, we came over a rise and was greeted with what turned out to be the nicest sunset of the whole trip.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 170 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sunset, Day 1

As it came into view, even five-year-old Anthony exclaimed “wow.” It wasn't particularly spectacular – no huge fireworks of color – but it was nice and a wonderful subtle color permeated the scene.

After returning to our tent, we set up our chairs next to each other and had our first camping meal together, a not-very-good convenience-store bento (boxed lunch). I then pulled out my tripod and took the shot shown at the top of previous post.

We went to bed soon after...

Continued here...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — 10 sec, f/3.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
First Evening
Half an hour after sunset.

I mentioned the other day that I was going to take Anthony camping for the first time, and I did. We just got back this afternoon.

I'll write more about the whole experience another day (one that I don't wake up at 5am), but the location was a campground on a cliff overlooking Kotobikihama beach (map) about three and a half hours away by car, in the far north-western corner of Kyoto prefecture.

I took the picture above on our first night, about half an hour after sunset. It was so dark that I could barely see anything (including how tilted the camera was), although the 10-second exposure compensates to allow the photo to show much more than could be seen. The light in the tent was from a single small candle (safely parked in a candle lantern).

Five-year-old Anthony enjoyed the moment, mostly because of his all-his-own kid-sized camping chair with drink holder. I'd bought it the previous day (along with the tent, my chair, and a bunch of other stuff for the trip).

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Final Evening
A few seconds before sunset

You can actually see a few pixels of sun on the horizon in the picture above, just left of center. It's as “the moment of sunset” as I could get, during a fairly drab sunset. Some of the other sunsets were more drab, and some much nicer. I have shots of them all, of course :-).

Continued here...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1000 — full exif
Tent Practice

Fumie grew up going camping several times a year, and has fond memories of it. We're not really the “outdoorsy” type, but we thought it'd be nice to give Anthony the same experience, so we're heading camping for a few days. We borrowed her folks' tent, and her dad and I (and Anthony, of course) practiced setting it up in the living room....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1000 — full exif
Doing His Part

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1000 — full exif

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1000 — full exif

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/90 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1000 — full exif

I went to Costco yesterday – there's one an hour south of Kyoto – to get some supplies, but ended up buying a tent. It cost only $120 but is about the size of Rhode Island. The company that makes it (Northpole) has horrible reviews because they apparently make crap, but it only has to last a few days. We'll see.

We're heading out in a few minutes; I won't be posting again until next week.

Continued here...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/7.1, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Vistas
Furano, Hokkaido, Japan
( one year ago, today )

“Golden Week” is about to start here in Japan, a bunch of national holidays in short order that, along with a weekend or two, gives people willing to use them a long vacation. I work for myself so it doesn't matter to me on that level, but now that Anthony's in school, we have to match our travel to the national schedule. (For a laugh, see this humorous but sadly accurate description of Golden Week.)

We had been planning to bring Anthony to Tokyo Disneyland today, but that plan got scrapped with recent events, so instead I'm showing some pictures from the first full day of last year's Golden-Week trip. All the pictures on this post were taken one year ago today.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/10, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hokkaido Countryside

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/180 sec, f/11, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wide
Wider view from the same location as the previous picture

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rumbling Along

The trip was the source of a lot of nice imagery, including Pretty Fields in Biei, Abandoned Houses in Hokkaido, More Biei Countryside, Furano Wine House Park, and Yet More from Picturesque Biei, among others. All the related posts are listed in my Furano/Biei Post Category.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Snowball Fun

We saw a bit of snow on that last day of April, but the next day we found tons of snow.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125 mm — ¹/350 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Our Hotel
New Furano Prince Hotel

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sunset over the Valley
from the hotel window

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 30 mm — ¹/90 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Keihan as Served
Local Amami-Ooshima Specialty

Fumie's grandmother was born and raised on Amami Ooshima, an island far in the south of Japan, part of a long drawn-out chain of islands that delimits the boarder between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The island's main local specialty mean is keihan, a shredded-chicken rice/soup dish.

Fumie's grandmother lived in the Kyoto area for 50+ years after WWII, but she kept her Amami roots and continued to prepare keihan for her family when she had one. Her daughter, then, having grown up with the dish, continued to prepare it for her own family when she had one. And thus, her daughter – my wife, Fumie – grew up with it.

As such, when our first trip to Amami was being planned, trying lots of authentic keihan was definitely on the itinerary. In fact, once we landed, we had it even before checking into the hotel.

(These pictures are from the next day's keihan, because the pictures came out better in the 2nd day's more photogenic setting)

Keihan is a soup, but it is served in its component parts. If you look like a tourist (and I think my camera pretty much made that clear), they'll ask whether you need instructions for how to eat it.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Toppings
shredded chicken · scallions · shredded egg · dried seaweed · shiitake · mikan powder · etc.

You start with regular Japanese sticky white rice in a bowl, then add the toppings in whatever proportion you like. Then add soup...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/125 sec, f/2, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Add soup

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ready to Enjoy

There is ample variation in the toppings among restaurants, but the real difference is in the soup. Sometimes it's great, and sometimes it's great.

In most of Japan, and especially in the Kyoto/Osaka area where I live, the most common word pronounced “keihan” is 京阪, meaning “Kyoto and Osaka” in general, and more specifically, it often refers to the Keihan Railway Company, one of the train companies that provides service between the two cities.

This was the only meaning for keihan that I knew until I became acquainted with Amami. Amami's keihan is 鶏飯, literally meaning chicken meal.

Enjoying the chicken meal is such a big part of our visits there (including one last meal at the airport restaurant, where the keihan is surprisingly good for being, well, in an airport) that it takes a bit of getting used to all the “Keihan” signs (in English letters) everywhere here that have nothing to do with food.