{"id":522,"date":"2007-07-16T01:06:54","date_gmt":"2007-07-15T16:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-07-16\/522"},"modified":"2007-07-16T01:06:54","modified_gmt":"2007-07-15T16:06:54","slug":"views-of-kyoto-from-shougun-zuka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-07-16\/522","title":{"rendered":"Views of Kyoto From Shougun-zuka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1500 sec, f\/3.2, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nKyoto From Shougun-zuka<\/span>(Kyoto Japan From “Shogun Hill”)\n<\/div>\n\n

I woke up this morning to find an exceedingly pleasant day, partly sunny, with a mild<\/span> breeze. It was very<\/span> disappointing.<\/p>\n\n

The forecast had been for typhoon #4 to blast right into us at about\n9am, which would have made for quite a bit<\/span> of excitement. Having grown up\nin Midwest America, I enjoy<\/span> a good thunderstorm<\/a> or the\nfrenzied winds of an occasional typhoon. Sadly, it sped up and went way to\nthe south, leaving its last rain in our area at around midnight. Sigh, we\nnever get any fun.<\/p>\n\n

Kyoto is normally hazy (often exceedingly so), but it's generally\ngloriously clear and pleasant after a typhoon<\/span> blows through, so today was\nnice.<\/p>\n\n

On the way back from an afternoon trip to the library, we decided to\ntake a side<\/span> trip up to Shougun-zuka (\u5c06\u8ecd\u585a),<\/span> a small<\/span> mountain overlooking\nKyoto, just east of the Kiyomizu Temple<\/a>. It has a<\/span>\nnice observation area from which you can normally see Kyoto in all its hazy\nglory.<\/p>\n\n

The view from Shougun-zuka provides limited views to the north, but\ngreat views of central Kyoto and areas south. (For reference, the views\nfrom the top of Mt.\nDaimonji<\/a> and from the Daimonji Fire Pits<\/a> that\nwe've recently seen are more of the northern half of the city.) Also,\nShogun-zuka feels more like you're in a tall<\/span> building than on a mountain,<\/span>\nso it's an intimate view.<\/p>\n\n

Looking at the pictures in the links in the previous paragraph shows how\nhazy Kyoto normally is, but because the typhoon blew through last night,\ntoday's view was breathtaking<\/i>. There were some low fast-moving\nclouds that made for some really dynamic views, but the air was clear (not\nhazy) and so you could see forever. I'd been up<\/span> there many times and had\nnever seen anything like it. I'd never<\/span> known, for example, that you could\nsee the skyscrapers in Osaka 30<\/span> miles away, much less feel that they seemed\nclose enough to touch.<\/p>\n\n

It was one of those amazing moments where you instinctively reach for\nthe camera, thankful that you brought it. At least, you'd feel that way if\nyou'd actually brought it. I hadn't.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The wind was brisk and so Fumie got cold quickly, so we hightailed it\nhome where I picked<\/span> up my gear and returned. (According to my GPS track\nlog, it takes 4 minutes 30 seconds to get from the observation area at the\ntop down to the entrance of our building, after having subtracted the 30\nseconds I had<\/span> to wait at a traffic<\/span> light.)<\/p>\n\n

Upon return, it had clouded up for the most part, and the amazing view\nwas gone. It was still<\/span> much better than I'd ever seen, but was nothing like\nbefore. Oh well. It's on my<\/span> list for after the next typhoon.<\/p>\n\n

Still, I hung around<\/span> for a while,<\/span> and got some nice pictures, I\nthink.<\/span>...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 95mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f\/6.3, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nA Patch<\/span> of Sun<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 17mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f\/7.1, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBlue Clouds<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

At one point for about 15 minutes, there was a very<\/span> eerie cloud effect\nI'd never seen in my life. Some clouds turned a very<\/span> pronounced, very rich\nblue\/purple color. These colors were very strong, like the deep reds you\nsee when a setting<\/span> sun lights the bottoms of the clouds for a moment<\/span> before\nit disappears. But this was<\/span> blue, applied only to specific clouds (the\nborder between blue and not blue was fairly clearly defined), and overall,\nit was very, very odd. It did not<\/span> seem natural at all, but more like part\nof some huge man-made light show.<\/p>\n\n

I can guess that it had to do with the relative thicknesses of the\nclouds, where the blue areas were much thinner than the surrounding clouds,\nbut I don't<\/span> know whether that's correct, nor why I wouldn't<\/span> have ever seen\nthis phenomena before.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 200mm — handheld 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>30 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooking South-West Toward Osaka<\/span>The buildings on the horizon are 30 miles away\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 102mm — handheld 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nKyoto Tower, Kyoto Station, and Friends<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — handheld 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>30 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTaking a Few<\/span> Snapshots<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 130mm — handheld 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>15 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBest View in the House<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I woke up this morning to find an exceedingly pleasant day, partly sunny, with a mild breeze. It was very disappointing.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

Kyoto is normally hazy (often exceedingly so), but it's [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}