It's Almost Spring

 Okinawa Got Warm

To long-term residents of the island, anything below 70 degrees is freezing.

We get temperatures in Celsius. 70 F would be over 21 C degrees for me.

Sumba Falls

Here's an iPhone 13 image shot while traveling up north near the end of February.

It felt so warm, I took my jacket off and left it in the car.

For folks back in NY  State (where it snows) I screenshot this chart.

It was 20 degrees C at this waterfall. That's 68 degrees Fahrenheit!

Well, the warm temperatures lasted a few days. Now, I'm wearing a jacket again.

But, the weatherman says this week it will get warm again.

Springtime is coming!

Waterfall Therapy

 Only 92 Steps Away From Parking Area

There's only room for 2 or 3 vehicles to park and it's along a winding stretch of road.

Folks like to speed on this highway so, I wouldn't bring pets or wild and crazy kids.

Water cascading through the forest makes some soothing sounds.

Location: Sumba Falls in Kunigami

Okinawa - Months of the Year Memories in Photos

 Who Needs a Calendar?

Today, I randomly selected photos from each month of the year for publishing.

Next, I fooled around with different calendar-making tools found on the internet.

And, that's what convinced me, I DON'T WANNA MAKE ANY DAMN CALENDARS!

Someone else might enjoy making calendars from my photos so, here ya go.

JAN: Sea Glass Beach in Nago

FEB: Trail in Mountains of Ogimi

MAR: Grey Heron in Kin Town

APR: Nanataki Falls in Ogimi

MAY: They Flew Together in Kin Town

JUN: Teru Teru Bozu: Seen anywhere in Japan

JUL: Ie Island from Motobu

AUG: Cinnamon Bittern in Kin Town

SEP: Eastern Spot-billed Duck in Kin Town

OCT: Beach at the Mouth of Ie River in Sosu

NOV: Grey-faced Buzzard in Kin Town

DEC: Heart Rock on Kouri Island

Words for Calendar Makers

Those who may be ambitious enough to create calendars may download these photos.

The images are copyrighted and saved at internet resolution but, may be printed.

For your personal use only. Do not try to profit from someone else's photography.

Print and hang your calendar or, give them away for free to friends and relatives.

Curious About Locations?

Links below each photo should give an idea of where these photos were taken.

They'll give an idea of locations on Google Maps.

Have a safe and healthy Holiday Season. Hopefully, next year will be more enjoyable!

Todoroki (轟の滝) Waterfall During June 2018

 Back on the Travel Maps as an Attraction

Last year I visited this site along with a friend, who was touring Okinawa.

It was a big disappointment and, we didn't bother taking photos. The falls were bone dry.

The falls and surrounding area have changed drastically and, are a must-see spot, now.

In the near future, some photo of the remodeled site will be posted.

Some typhoons and tropical storms have been replenishing the water supply.

Hopefully, the waters will start raging again, like they did in 2013.

Visit Todoroki Waterfall

Travel Photo: Nanataki Waterfall

Camera:  Pentax K5

Lens:  Sigma 10-20 at 13MM

Exposure:  f/16   1/4   ISO 100

Location:  Kijoka, Ogimi, Okinawa, Japan

Date and Time:  APR 22  2016   10:59 AM

The Japanese Omelete Known as Omurice

Fried Rice Wrapped in Eggs

 

 

Here's a meal the Japanese invented for Western customers.

It's popular with many people in Japan and some restaurants specialize in making the dish.

 Omelete rice (オムライス) is easy to prepare at home and some recipes will be posted.

The dish above, was listed as pineapple omurice on the menu at a cafe.

There was a chunk of pineapple in the salad and, it was tangy.

The meal was way more than what I would normally eat for a lunch but, I ate it all.

Looking for recipes, I also ran across one variation of the dish that's new, to me.

Somebody invented Taco-omu Rice ! 

That's a meal, I might have to sample someday but, I'll wait for awhile and see.

The Irish in me says, be patient and maybe, they'll come up with something better.

Corn-beef and Cabbage Omelet anyone ?

 To make your own Omurice, checkout these Easy Japanese Recipes.

Or, go visit Cooking with Dog and learn from the video:

  The feast, pictured at the top of the page was prepared at Tachigaa Waterfall Cafe.

Travel Photo: This Waterfall Was Just a Trickle Last Week

Located in Ginama, Kunigami, Okinawa, it wasn't much to see.

Some waterfalls, are so well concealed, you hear them before, seeing where they are located.

Rainy season has started and, that gives me an idea.

We need to go back up north and, see what this one looks like when it's roaring with water.

Photography Tip: Evaluate the Scene Before Shooting

This is a photo of Hira Taki, a waterfall in Okinawa, Japan taken back in July.

Just going through old files of undeveloped shots, I wondered why I even composed it that way.

Then, I remembered.

I got the bright idea to start doing some DOs and DON'Ts in my Photo Tips.

DO: Evaluate the scene before you click the shutter.

DON'T: Allow distractions to take the viewer's eye away from the subject.

By changing my position for the second photo, I made a more interesting composition.

The vegetation in the foreground of photo #1 is gone.

The shoreline and one branch of the plant, now point the viewer's eyes towards the subject.

MORE PHOTO TIPS

Photos: Editor's Picks for the Month of July 2012

These are the Editor's Picks for July 2012.

Left Hanging Out to Dry

Lens: Sigma 50-500mm

A Waterfall Named Hira Taki

Lens: Sigma 10-20mm

Amasagi: The Cattle Egret of Okinawa

Lens: Sigma 50-500mm

The type of photography I do requires a sturdy, lightweight tripod.

Most of the shots I take are with a MANFROTTO.

Thursday's Travel Photo: Another Waterfall in Okinawa

There are still a few hundred more photos of this waterfall waiting for developing.

The name of the place is Hira Taki (waterfall) but, don't ask me how to get there.

Map It Okinawa will be doing his GPS magic for travelers going off the beaten path.

He's the guy who got this stupid, dead tree off my back after it landed on me today.

Not to worry.  I'm not hurt.  

It would be nice if the government donated a helicopter and pilot to get us around.

Heck, we keep finding all their hidden waterfalls for people.

It just takes a toll on the old hiking shoes, sometimes.

But, getting to them and back is half the fun. Hah !

Coming back down from this one, I got lost.

The Map It Okinawa Dude found me and saved me a few more hours of being...

LOST IN THE JUNGLE

If you decide to go to this waterfall after RyukyuRu gives directions, remember this:

Don't go bumping into dead trees. They fall on you.

Travel Photo: Hiji Falls in Kunagami Okinawa, Japan

This is the most famous and the largest waterfall on Okinawa.

It's been a few years since I hiked up that trail to get photos.

So, I've been thinking about getting back up to Kunigami Village and shooting some more.

Probably, a rainy day, would be best.

When it rains, nobody else goes on the trail and I get to see more wildlife.

Hah !

We just got done with rainy season and I'm looking forward to the next rainy day.

Here's a YouTube Video of Hiji Falls

If you are planning to visit don't go on a rainy day.  OK ?

 
Visit my website for today's Feature Photo

Okinawa's Fukugawa Waterfall (Photo) An Editor's Pick

The judges over at Better Photo chose this shot of Fukugawa Waterfall as an Editor's Pick while I was out chasing cherry blossoms, again today.

Things have been fairly busy around here because it's Sakura Season so, I didn't enter many photos in contests for the month of January.

In fact, I just got back from shooting on the southern end of the island and learned the Sakura Matsuri I went to was already over !

But, I got some photos to show you, later.

Right now, I'm getting ready to head way up north to see if I can catch one of the festivals that has the cherry blossoms lit up at night.

Editor's Picks (Photos) for the Month of December 2011

Here are the Editor's Picks selected by the judges at Better Photo for December 2011. 

STAIRCASE MADE OF LOGS

SUEYOSHI WATERFALL NAHA OKINAWA, JAPAN

RED DRAGONFLY

AZAKA WATERFALL

Instead of the  Photo of the Day, today I'll just leave you with these Editor's Picks.

Let's go visit SANTA GIRL and listen to some of her tunes before she disappears, again !

Today the Dragonflies Came in Red, Gold and Blue (Photos)

Today I was off  Okinawa proper and hit some of the outer islands.  The camera is downloaded and recharging for the next trip and there are a few hundred photos waiting development. 

I'll just post these three dragonflies in the order they were photographed.

The photos were taken at the base of a waterfall on Miyagi Island.

The red dragonfly showed up first.

Then, the gold one.

Last but, not least the blue dragonfly posed for me with the water in the background.

If you had to choose a color for a dragonfly which one would you go for the red, golden, or blue ?

Editor's Picks (Photos) for the Month of October 2011 + A Hint

These photos were selected as Editor's Picks by the judges at Better Photo for the month of October 2011.

Todoroki Waterfall

Momohara

When It's Wet in the Forest

Shimahigiri

Sunflower on a Stage

HINT:  ALL OF THESE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN USING A TRIPOD.

Photo Essay: A Ryukyu Mike Sunday. Can You Hang ?

Here's a photo shot from the doorway of My Place 12:08AM Sunday of an Eisa Group doing what they'd call Bon Odori up in mainland Japan. 

Here, in Okinawa it's called Eisa Dance and it can be seen anytime of year, not just during Obon season.

We also have this custom in Okinawa where Saturday night doesn't end until you go to sleep.  So, this photo was taken Saturday night, as far as I'm concerned.  There were a few of us drinking beer and running out in the street everytime we heard the drums of the Eisa Dancers nearby.

Lucky for me, a guy I'll start calling RyukyuRu volunteered to be my driver for Sunday.  That way I got to consume all the beers I wanted and wouldn't have to worry about driving under the influence, which happens to be  A SERIOUS CRIME IN JAPAN.   I was home sometime early in the morning.  I remember, it was daylight after I walked the dogs.  So, I turned off the porch light and ZZZzzzzzzz....

By 9AM or so I was in my office chugging iced coffee and doing my Homepage Photo of the Day, blog post and groaning stuff like "I'll never drink again until next time".

Around noon RyukyuRusty and RyukyuRu were here and we goofed off for awhile before heading out to try and pinpoint the exact location of this waterfall.  This shot was taken at 2:41PM from a bridge along an expressway where people drive like they own race cars.

Rusty had to go do Obon stuff with RyukyuRusty's fiance so he left.  I was convinced, if we took some of the backroads and looked around for access roads and trails, we'd find a way to get closer to that waterfall.  

We discovered a trail, alright.  It lead us through the woods, buzzing with mosquitos, up to this place where someone was raising honey bees.  So, I shot this photo at 3:33PM and we got the heck out of there.

RyukyuRu started up a site called MAPITOKINAWA and it's attracting quite a following, so he's always looking for off-the-beaten-path locations. 

I had plenty of time to kill because the main event I needed to shoot wouldn't happen until 8 at night. 

As long as he was driving I figured we'd hit some of the places in Yomitan that I'd already been.

The blog post I did on this Buddhist Statue was probably the most controversial one I've ever done.  I guess it'd be a toss up between the Buddhist Statue of Shinran Shonin in NYC and some comments I made about a Gal who wants to be President of the USA shooting mooses.

This photo was taken at 4:45PM Sunday.  I think I'll just be a cameraman and leave the politics and religion stuff to other people who think they're smarter than me.  Hah !

At 5:27 I took this photo.  That's three times in about a week I've been to this site but, Ru had never been here before and this is definitely an out of the way location which isn't on the beaten path.

It was 5:43PM when I took this shot and to tell the truth, we were lost when we discovered it.  I'll take a wild guess and say it's probably an UTAKI.  RyukyuRu can do the research and pinpoint the location. 

I just love getting lost on Okinawa.  It's an island so, sooner or later, some road will lead to the ocean !

We got to Zakimi Castle, the UNECSO World Heritage Site just as the sun started getting low in the sky. 

I've never been here at sunset so, I was having a blast looking at the way the light fell on the castle walls from different angles.  It's 6:26PM in this photo.

Not much of a history fan when I was growing up this kind of stuff would bore me.  Now, I'm older and wiser.  If you went this way to attack the castle back in the old days, you were in for a surprise.  It leads to a dead end.  The defenders of the castle, from the walls above, would simply drop rocks on your head.  When I was a kid I liked throwing rocks.  Teachers just didn't know how to make history fun. 

Oh, almost forgot, it's 6:31 in this photo.

Once we got inside the castle I got on top of the walls and looked for places where you could catch the low rays of the setting sun.  Time: 6:57PM.

This shot was taken with my back towards the ocean and the sun setting behind me at 7:12PM.

Here's where you'd go if you wanted rocks dropped on your head during an attack on the castle. 7:14PM.

The moment I was waiting for happened in this photo at 7:18PM.  No tourists moving in the scene, just a guy and his beer cooler watching the moon rise over Zakimi-jo Castle in Okinawa, Japan.

For a parting shot, I like to get in a position and take a photo that gives a sense of how it might appear to a resident of the castle, centuries ago.  No cellphone towers, tourists running around with their cameras, just a simple view of the moon rising outside a castle wall.  Feel the quiet.

RyukyuRu had to be awake at 4AM to get ready for work so we headed back towards Kin Village.  We stopped near this Lady Liberty Statue because I'd heard of a place we might get to see some Seaturtles hatch and make the mad dash for the sea.  This photo was taken at 8:53PM.

It's not like this every Sunday, only when it doesn't rain.  I could use a few more backup drivers for Ryukyu Mike Sunday's if anyone is interested.  The pay is just job satisfaction.  Can you hang ?