Rice is almost ready to harvest

Fukiya (Blowdart)

Ashikaga Fireworks Festival (Hanabi)

The first Saturday of August is the Ashikaga Fireworks festival. It is 2 hrs of fireworks. It rained for the first 30 min and slowly cleared. We went up to the shrine (Orihime) on the hill overlooking the city and watched from there. The smoke was drifting toward us so sometimes it was difficult to see. I think this was not as good a show as in the past (probably due to the economic situation). After we went to get some yakitori (grilled chicken) and beer at a small but great place near the bridge. I took the train to and from to avoid the traffic.

Hiking Mt Akagi

It was hot and humid on the Kanto plain Sunday so we headed to the mountains. This is on the way to Nabewareyama, one of the peaks of Mt Akagi that we can see (in clear weather) from Ota. Prof. Masuda is the hiking buddy. At this point on the way down we were chased by approaching thunderstorms which hit just after we got to the car.

Shinrin Park

Shinrin Park is a national government park about 1 hr away in Saitama prefecture. It is a large park 1x4 km with many walking trails, bike trails, gardens and special areas. It is the start of the season for Yamayuri flower (a type of wild iris). It is native only in the eastern part of Japan. They were only a few blooming but they are very unique. See it in the 1st photo and some other interesting views of the flowers and gardens.

"Furoshiki"=square of cloth used for wrapping

These wrappings are used to carry items to people, especially to people's homes. A square can be any size, and sometimes combined, (i.e., with 2 pieces of square cloth) folded and tied together--not sewn. The cloth can be untied and used again."Click" on the image to see detail.

Nagusa Rocks

Nagusa rocks is an unusal group of large granite rocks in a mountain valley near Ashikaga. At the top of the valley, there is a small shrine sitting on top of the rocks. The largest one is 36 feet tall and 33 yards in circumference. There are no other rock formations like this around the area.