Yesterday's post about the views from Shogun-zuka (将軍塚) overlooking Kyoto reminded me of when I was last there, with Anthony and some friends, KFC and Verena. Anthony didn't really care about the view, but he did find a butterfly....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/400 sec, f/9, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Checking Out a Butterfly
(on the post in front of his face)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/160 sec, f/9, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hmmm, Will It Move?
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Moving Closer, with Caution
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/1000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Detailed Inspection
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm, cropped — 1/750 sec, f/4.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Finally Seeing Eye to Eye
Later, KFC took a picture of the butterfly himself. That photo didn't make the cut to his web gallery, but a shot of me taking the pictures above did.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/1500 sec, f/3.2, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kyoto From Shougun-zuka
(Kyoto Japan From “Shogun Hill”)
I woke up this morning to find an exceedingly pleasant day, partly sunny, with a mild breeze. It was very disappointing.
The forecast had been for typhoon #4 to blast right into us at about 9am, which would have made for quite a bit of excitement. Having grown up in Midwest America, I enjoy a good thunderstorm or the frenzied winds of an occasional typhoon. Sadly, it sped up and went way to the south, leaving its last rain in our area at around midnight. Sigh, we never get any fun.
Kyoto is normally hazy (often exceedingly so), but it's generally gloriously clear and pleasant after a typhoon blows through, so today was nice.
On the way back from an afternoon trip to the library, we decided to take a side trip up to Shougun-zuka (将軍塚), a small mountain overlooking Kyoto, just east of the Kiyomizu Temple. It has a nice observation area from which you can normally see Kyoto in all its hazy glory.
The view from Shougun-zuka provides limited views to the north, but great views of central Kyoto and areas south. (For reference, the views from the top of Mt. Daimonji and from the Daimonji Fire Pits that we've recently seen are more of the northern half of the city.) Also, Shogun-zuka feels more like you're in a tall building than on a mountain, so it's an intimate view.
Looking at the pictures in the links in the previous paragraph shows how hazy Kyoto normally is, but because the typhoon blew through last night, today's view was breathtaking. There were some low fast-moving clouds that made for some really dynamic views, but the air was clear (not hazy) and so you could see forever. I'd been up there many times and had never seen anything like it. I'd never known, for example, that you could see the skyscrapers in Osaka 30 miles away, much less feel that they seemed close enough to touch.
It was one of those amazing moments where you instinctively reach for the camera, thankful that you brought it. At least, you'd feel that way if you'd actually brought it. I hadn't.
The wind was brisk and so Fumie got cold quickly, so we hightailed it home where I picked up my gear and returned. (According to my GPS track log, it takes 4 minutes 30 seconds to get from the observation area at the top down to the entrance of our building, after having subtracted the 30 seconds I had to wait at a traffic light.)
Upon return, it had clouded up for the most part, and the amazing view was gone. It was still much better than I'd ever seen, but was nothing like before. Oh well. It's on my list for after the next typhoon.
Still, I hung around for a while, and got some nice pictures, I think....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 95mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Patch of Sun
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/125 sec, f/7.1, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Blue Clouds
At one point for about 15 minutes, there was a very eerie cloud effect I'd never seen in my life. Some clouds turned a very pronounced, very rich blue/purple color. These colors were very strong, like the deep reds you see when a setting sun lights the bottoms of the clouds for a moment before it disappears. But this was blue, applied only to specific clouds (the border between blue and not blue was fairly clearly defined), and overall, it was very, very odd. It did not seem natural at all, but more like part of some huge man-made light show.
I can guess that it had to do with the relative thicknesses of the clouds, where the blue areas were much thinner than the surrounding clouds, but I don't know whether that's correct, nor why I wouldn't have ever seen this phenomena before.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — handheld 1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking South-West Toward Osaka
The buildings on the horizon are 30 miles away
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102mm — handheld 1/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kyoto Tower, Kyoto Station, and Friends
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — handheld 1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Taking a Few Snapshots
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 130mm — handheld 1/15 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Best View in the House
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 320 — full exif
Melon, Strawberry, and some Cookies
(Breakfast of Champions)
Lately, it seems we're on the receiving end of gifts of upscale edibles. On the heals of yesterday's matsutake mushrooms, today we enjoyed the cantaloupe we received from Nils' mom when I visited her house in Miyagawa-cho the other day.
(At least I think the English translation is “cantaloupe.” It has green flesh like a muskmelon, but a webbed outer rind like a cantaloupe.)
Fumie has a knack for pleasing presentations (such as these strawberries), and she didn't disappoint, preparing it nicely, adding a few strawberries for color, and some cookies around the plate for balance. Anthony had the idea to break the thin cookies and add them to the edge, so he did that. I then took the picture above.
But he wanted to add more cookies, so in the picture below, the hand attached to the child is actually adding cookies to the scene....
He soon did his part to remove them to his tummy, as did both Fumie and I.
We'd had a regular supermarket melon just the other day, but this melon (from the very upscale Takashimaya) was far superior. Yum! Thanks Nils' Mom!
We've been a bit much on the receiving end of these culinary delights, so to balance things out, Fumie has prepared a small fortune worth of Japanese cookies for my upcoming trip to my folks' place in Ohio. But the problem I face is that I'd like to bring back some really fine foods as gifts when I return to Kyoto, but what on earth can I get in Ohio? Cheetos? 🙂
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/350 sec, f/3.2, ISO 800 — full exif
Priceless Matsutake Mushrooms — 松茸
Matsutake mushrooms more commonly
look like this
A friend of ours is a professional chef of the highest order (such that we can't possibly afford to eat at his restaurant), and today he unexpectedly gave us an amazing gift: two huge matsutake mushrooms.
Unlike the wild (and possibly poisonous) mushrooms we saw the other day, matsutake mushrooms are a rare delicacy, perhaps along the line of truffles in the west. Normally, they're tiny little stubs like those shown at right, which would take a good dozen just to cover the bottom of the basket we received.
Yet, even those little stubs are about $50 each, so it's not really possible to place a value on the humongous basket-overflowing specimens he gave us. We're really at a loss for words over this amazing gesture. (We may have to gesture back our firstborn or a couple of kidneys just to try to start to show our appreciation.)
I tried to refuse them, telling him over and over that such high quality would be wasted on us. He insisted, so I brought them home to a shocked Fumie.
We tried one right away.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 40mm — 1/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — full exif
Arranging Them Just So
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — full exif
Huge Chunks of Matsutake
It's really not possible to overemphasize how completely gluttonous and excessive this is. I can't speak to how the $500-per-person restaurants might serve these mushrooms because I don't eat there, but an expensive bowl of Matsutake soup at an upscale restaurant might contain four or five very thinly sliced pieces that total a third of one of the chunks shown here.
Particularly when cooking, their smell was exquisite, and it filled the house.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 38mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — full exif
Snack is Served, Your Highness