If this couple’s marriage is filled with as much warmth as the weather managed for them on their wedding day, then in no time at all they will definitely have more than a few good memories to go with to this one.
Traditional temple wedding togs
Tranquil time out #73
The simple serenity of sauntering around a shrine on a sunny day whilst surrounded by azaleas.
A thousand volcanic thoughts
The grey and sulphur smelling slopes of Tochigi Prefecture’s Chausudake volcano are slightly otherworldly to start with, an almost lunar-like landscape that the famous haiku poet, Basho, when describing the area around what’s known as the Killing Stone, declared that so many dead bees and moths were scattered about that the colour of the sand could not be determined.
And yet otherworldly quickly turns into wondrous when one sees the jumble of daintily-bonneted Jizo dotted amongst the debris.
Figures that, whilst more often than not have a decidedly melancholy meaning, are here somehow transformed into a spectacle that is really rather soothing.
A conversion that could well have something to do with the sheer number of them.
Or maybe it’s because they look so serene.
I simply don’t know.
Fishing fashion
When it’s particularly hot out, and a full day of fishing is favoured, fending off the sun rather than any foray into fashion has to be to the fore.
Japanese workers working (the fields) #27
Quite how the regulations are dealt with I don’t know, but starting work as a Japanese farmer appears to require one to be at the very least a septuagenarian, although ideally it would seem they’d still prefer someone a little more senior.
And yet despite their advanced years, these ageing agriculturalists have the mindboggling ability to bend down for periods of time so prolonged that afterwards someone more than half their age would seriously struggle to stand up — let alone straighten up.
