Tree Lovers, Here's Fukugi Trees from Okinawa Just for You ! (Photos)

There's a small village in northern Okinawa named Bise.  They have trees called Fukugi up there and all the travel agencies promote Bise and the Fukugi trees.  I just had to go and find out what the big deal is and what's special about a tree named Fukugi. So, that's what I did.

Yesterday, I wandered around with my camera to shoot all the photos I wanted pretty much undisturbed by any humans. I figured, on a weekday, there wouldn't be a bunch of tour busses dumping tourists off in the woods and I could set up my camera and tripod in the middle of the narrow streets to shoot a series of photos for any tree lovers out there who never saw a Fukugi tree.

It was cold, windy and most of the day pretty cloudy so, the only people out in that kind of weather had to be pretty much idiots, cameramen, intoxicated or maybe, tourists from Hokkaido.
Folks from way up in northern Japan, where it snows, probably think it's warm down here, not me.



Once you get off the narrow, one-lane paved road there are a couple of side streets heading towards the ocean that are just natural, a mixture of sand and clay. You don't see any litter in the streets; they are kept clean and you can tell someone rakes the sand daily. It's always clean.

As you walk farther into the tree-lined streets it gets a bit darker. The Fukugi trees pretty much block out the sun. Where you see bright light ahead lets you know how far it is to the next intersection.

There are about 250 homes in the village of Bise.  I deliberately composed these photos to eliminate them from view. This post is for tree lovers so, that's all I'm showing you, today.



A cloudy day makes it ideal for taking pictures. I've visited here many times in the past when it was sunny. The sun shining through the dark shadows these trees create make some awful high contrast photography.



This scene was shot from the outskirts of town as I was leaving. There is much more shade covering the streets the deeper you go into the interior of the village.

For the true afficionado of trees (I think that's a tree lover) I shot a close up of these leaves. I don't like to post things here and end up misidentifying trees, birds or anything. So, just in case I couldn't find the correct infomation, scientific name, common name and all that jazz, for the Fukugi tree, I'd have this shot to show and maybe, some scientist or tree lover could help me.

It's a good thing, too. After three hours online, trying to ID this tree, last night, I gave up.

Somewhere, I found out it was called a Garcinia. Well, all the searches I did showed me there were anywhere between 150 to 400 kinds of Garcinai trees. They have them all over the world and people claim these trees do all kinds of stuff, from making medicine to talking to the gods.

Now, don't get me wrong. I believe in freedom; freedom of speech, worship, free parking and keeping the internet free. Free stuff is good. There's just way too much on the internet today.

It sure would be nice if they had, like, some kind of special place for idiots to post their stuff on the internet so I wouldn't have to waste so much time sifting through garbage to find out the truth.

Couldn't somebody create a special internet for idiots and liars where they could post their stuff without aggravating the rest of us?  I'd be willing to pay. It'd be like a rodent control tax, yeah!

Oh, back to the trees. This morning, with the proper level of caffine in my body, I found what I wanted to give the tree lovers.  They are  Garcinia subelliptica and are planted around homes in Bise Village to shield them from typhoons.

PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: SHOOT CHILDREN WITH STEALTH

Child Photography takes patience; more patience than Wildlife Photography if you ask me.
The secret to capturing a great photo is to use stealth.
Now, I'm not going to try and give you tips on how Studio Photographers shoot kids, that's a whole different form of art.

I'm talking about catching candid shots of the little critters when they're outdoors and um, pretty much like wildlife because that's what I do.
It's just children are a little more of a challenge at times.

Like a bird may look right into your lens when you're composing a shot but, he probably won't skrunch up his face and stick his tongue out at you.
Children, well, they do whatever kids will do.

Get them used to seeing you around with a camera.
Point it at them enough so they become accustomed to it.
Make sure there's nothing hanging or dripping from their noses, no chocolate on their faces.
Walk around pretending you're shooting other stuff.
Soon, they'll think you're ignoring them.
They'll start ignoring you back. That's where the stealth part comes in.

When they act natural, which children have a habit of doing, sometimes, move to where the light is best for you, frame the shot carefully and quietly: SHOOT THE CHILDREN WITH STEALTH !

Wildlife Photo (Bird) Grey-faced Buzzard Eagle in Flight

 The Grey-faced Buzzard Eagle (Butastur indicus) is a medium-sized raptor which breeds in East Russia, Northeast China, Korea and Japan during the summer. It migrates to South East Asia from autumn until spring.

They only visit Okinawa from November until March so I have to catch as many shots of them in flight as I can while they're hunting rodents and reptiles. A shot like this one where I caught the bird circling overhead on a sunny day is rare. They usually perch in a tree where they can observe a field or open space below. When they spot a snake or mouse they will swoop down with such speed there's no time to focus.

More of Okinawa's Wildlife Here.

Wildlife Photo (Bird) Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinera)

The Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinera) is an insect-eating bird found in marshes and wetlands, streams and riverbeds. This shot was taken in November 2008 at a drainage canal in Okinawa, Japan.

New Year 2011 Bamboo, Girls and Fortunes in Okinawa (Photo)

After waiting in a long line at the Buddhist Temple in Kin Village Okinawa, Japan to get their fortunes for 2011 on a slip of paper these girls tied the paper to the bamboo growing on the Temple grounds. That's what lots of people do. They tie the things on anything they can reach.

Not me, though. After I stand in line for an hour and pay my nickle for a fortune, if it's a good one, I take it home with me and hang it on the fridge with a magnet so I can read it every once in awhile. It's not really a nickle; it's five yen. I guess that's a bit more than five cents these days.

Now if the thing says I'm going to have bad luck in the coming year, I'll stick it in a tree. Then, get back in line at the Temple and keep spending nickles until my luck improves. It beats gambling and you don't suppose a Buddhist Temple would be trying to scam folks, right?

When those girls hang their fortune in the bamboo, I'm not so sure they know what they're doing. Either that, or they really know what they're doing. Like, maybe their boyfriends have lots of nickles. Or, maybe, they just don't have a fridge to hang the things on. What do you think?

SEE MORE OF OKINAWA, JAPAN ON MY WEBSITE