Photo of the day - 23 Feb 2017

February 23, 2017

Among the tall buildings in the Shiodome area of Tokyo. At center in the distance, the WINS Shiodome building - a facility of the Japan Racing Association for off-track betting on horse races. Beyond it, the brown and green René Partile Shiodome apartment complex [prices start at about USD $2400/month for a 700 sq ft apartment - $350 more a month for a parking space for your car]. At right, the triangular Park Hotel Tokyo building.

Photo of the day - 20 Feb 2017

February 20, 2017

Golden Tracks

Near Hygiene, Colorado on a January morning.

Photo of the day - 19 Feb 2017

February 19, 2017

Sunrise through the fog

The sun rises over the Salt Valley, Arches National Park, Utah.

Our national parks, considered one of America's best ideas ever, are under threat of destruction by the current administration and its allies in Congress and the energy sector who stand to profit by drilling, digging, and otherwise defacing some of our most pristine wilderness areas.

In a decade where renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy are creating jobs, decentralizing control of energy, and are poised to provide for the country's energy needs, the dying fossil fuel industry continues to try and preserve dirty sources of energy by pouring dirty money into the pockets of politicians. In return, the current Executive Branch and Legislature are working to dig for coal and drill for oil and dump the resulting pollutants into our water and air.

And Congress has just confirmed Scott Pruitt, an adversary of the Environmental Protection Agency as the agency's head.

We need less and less fossil fuels and we need to accelerate the development of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

Source: https://energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources/renewable-energy

We need to reduce the atmospheric pollutants from combustion of petroleum products that have been identified as a primary driver of climate change.

We need to improve the quality of the water we drink and the air we breathe.

We need to preserve wilderness areas, including our National Parks and National Forests.

Want to help do something about it?

You can join your neighbors and make your voice heard by your local politicians.

Photo of the day - 18 Feb 2017

February 18, 2017

Mossy trunk

In a pine forest in the Otways above Lorne, Victoria, Australia.

You can find many more photos in my on-line photo galleries.

Many new photos released

December 30, 2016

From early August through December 2016, I have released over 2000 photographs, many of which have never before been published. Below is a partial list of subjects and some examples. Be sure to visit galleries.intsysint.com to browse all of the available images.

Nikko, Japan

The massive shrine complex at Toshogu, where the Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, is enshrined and entombed is a World Heritage site. It was originally built in 1617 during Japan's Edo period and lies at the edge of the mountain town of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture, also famous for its autumn leaf viewing.

Of particular interest is Yomeimon [陽明門] Gate, one of Japan's official "National Treasures". Yomeimon is a two-storied sangen-ikko [三間一戸] gate with a hipped roof on all sides and gables in every direction. Yomeimon has copper-tile roofing and more than 500 carvings of historical anecdotes, children at play, wise men, dragons, and more.

My high-resolution image of Yomeimon measures 15,487 x 13,004 pixels and can be printed large enough to see every detail of the gate. Here is a preview of the full image with the area highlighted by the red box shown in the image below it - click on the lower detail image to view a somewhat larger version.

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The photos just published include many close-ups of the amazing sculptures that cover Yomeimon and other structures in Toshogu and other shrines in the area.

There are also images from so-called "Oku Nikko" ["inner Nikko"] in the mountains above the city including Senjogahara [戦場ヶ原, "battlefield moor"], lakes Yunoko [湯の湖] and Chuzenji [中禅寺湖], and waterfalls Yudaki [湯滝] and Ryuzu [竜頭滝, "dragon head"].

Here's a small gallery - to see them all, visit http://galleries.intsysint.com/Japan/Nikko/.

Yomeimon Gate

With more than 500 sculptures covering its surface, Yomeimon is also called "higurashi" gate - meaning there is so much to see you can stare at it until sundown.

Three Wise Monkeys [三匹の猿]

The three monkeys in this carving in Toshogu Shrine embody the proverb "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".

The three monkeys are Mizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil.

The wise monkeys are one of eight panels at Toshogu Shrine carved by Hidari Jingoro.

Shinkyo bridge [神橋]

The Shinkyo [神橋, "sacred bridge"] ]spans the river between the town of Nikko and the nearby shrines and temples, and technically belongs to Futarasan Shrine. The bridge is ranked as one of Japan's three finest bridges.

The current Shinkyo was constructed in 1636, but a bridge of some kind had marked the same spot for much longer.

Nagahama Hikiyama Matsuri

The Nagahama Hikiyama Festival is said to have its origins around the time that Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Japan's great warlords, died in Nagahama, a city in Shiga Prefecture.

Huge ornate wooden floats are dragged around the town and at various locations, and boys aged 5 - 12 years old perform so-called "kids kabuki" plays on their elevated platforms.

To view the complete gallery, go here: http://galleries.intsysint.com/Japan/Nagahama/