With Kyle in California, Nicolai on Martha’s Vineyard, and Maya returning from her ballet intensive in Philadelphia, Jeanine and I made a visit to the Butterfly Garden in Westford this afternoon. We had a great time appreciating these wonders of nature.
For almost a decade now we have enjoyed the Fourth of July at the home of my high school friend and wrestling partner, Tom Metzold. Karen and Tom throw a fantastic party and this year they were giving away babies. Jeanine grabbed this one during the dessert buffet.
Our flight back to Boston is not until this afternoon leaving us the morning to explore Kobe on foot. The Ikuta Shrine is thought to be one of the oldest in Japan dating to the beginning of the third century. Our walking tour covered about four miles and included a lovely park near the waterfront where we met a Japanese woman who was all too happy to guide us in my pursuit of some ice cream.
My body clock had me up very early this morning and as soon as the sun rose, I decided to explore the area around my hotel. Less than half a mile away I found the lovely Takushima Central Park. There are few things I find more relaxing and pleasing to my senses than a Japanese garden. I share this passion with my mother who created an exquisite version of her own in the backyard of my childhood home. I was able to spend 2 hours exploring the park before returning to the hotel and preparing for my business meeting.
I don’t often feature stylized photos on this blog but am making an exception for the one below. Somehow this version conveys the feeling of the place more genuinely than the more accurately rendered original.
Examples of fine Japanese woodworking and design aesthetics were to be found at every turn. I took hundreds of pictures despite the gray skies and poor light.
After completing what proved to be a very fruitful day of business, all but one of my colleagues headed off in different directions. My traveling companion and I were chauffeured to Kobe where we would spend the evening before traveling on to Osaka for our flight home tomorrow. We arrived with just over an hour of sunlight remaining and decided to make a quick tour of the Nunobiki Falls, a short walk from our hotel. In Japan, Nunobiki is considered one of the greatest “divine falls” and includes four separate falls: Ondaki (top fall pictured below), Mendaki (bottom fall pictured below), Tsusumigadaki, and Meotodaki.
I am in Japan to meet with battery vendors and to learn how both nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries are made. After completing today’s meeting in the Shinagawa area my colleagues and I flew to Takushima for our meeting tomorrow. The flight took us past Mount Fuji whose peak could be seen poking through the cloud cover and over an oil tanker which was being docked to an off-shore depot pipeline.
At 2:30 AM I emerged from my cocoon and had a small breakfast before preparing for the final stage of my climb. The temperature at the summit is just above freezing so proper clothing is critical. I was on the trail by 3:15 AM equipped with a headlamp to illuminate the path. The trail grows progressively steeper and narrower as you approach the top which inevitably results in a traffic jam among the many climbers hoping to see the sunrise from the summit. My timing was perfect and I reached the top with 20 minutes to spare and even had time for this pre-dawn photo with the highest gate.
The morning air was crisp and clear offering a magnificent view of the sunrise as the sun broke through the sea of clouds which completely encircled the mountain.
Just as with Kilimanjaro, Fuji is a volcano with a tilted rim. To reach the actual summit you must circumnavigate the rim to the high side. This excursion adds another 90 minutes to the climb but is well worth the effort as it is mostly level. I am pictured below with the actual summit marker at the Kengamine peak which sits adjacent to a structure which appears to be a weather station.
Although my ascent and descent are both through clouds, I am lucky that conditions at the summit are crystal clear. Looking down upon the clouds is a rare and beautiful experience that I can recommend to anyone who questions why one would seek to climb high mountains.
During most of the year the top of Fuji is covered in snow. The climbing season of July and August is generally accompanied by an absence of snow but even now one can find plenty on the mountain. My descent took about four hours with last three spent in the clouds again. When I reached the fifth station I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I returned to Shinzuku to pick up my business gear and then took a train to Shinagawa where I rendezvoused with colleagues for our business meetings which start tomorrow.
Although I am in Japan for business, I have added two days of vacation so that I can fulfill a lifelong aspiration to climb Mount Fuji. A 7:40 AM bus from Shinjuku Station has me to the Fifth Station of the Yoshida trail by 10:30 AM. This is the most common starting point for the climb and sits at an altitude of 7,500 feet, roughly 5,000 feet below the 12,388-foot summit. Technically, the 2 month climbing season does not begin for another 2 days but as is evidenced by the photo, there are nearly one hundred other climbers that I will be sharing the trail with today. During peak times, as many as 10,000 people attempt the climb each day.
The photo below was taken with the camera level and shows the effects of massive winter avalanches on the vegetation on the lower part of the trail.
As is common at this time of year, much of the ascent is through a layer of clouds which renders visibility quite limited. With only one stop for lunch, I made a continuous climb of about 6 hours before reaching my destination for the evening, a mountain hut at the 8th station. I prefer a slow steady pace with no stopping to greater speed and frequent breaks (which other hikers seem to favor). I must admit that the climbing was harder than I anticipated and with limited visibility it was also quite unrewarding photographically speaking. The trail is an unrelenting ascent. If not for the numerous mountain huts starting after the seventh station there would not be a scintilla of level ground to be found anywhere.
The Japanese custom is to pause at one of the mountain huts for dinner and a few hours of rest before leaving early in the morning so as to time your arrival at the summit with the rising of the sun. A typical mountain hut includes a small dining area with tables and a common sleeping room. I had a reservation for space number 24 and it was as comfortable as a five-star hotel bed after the day’s climb. 24 is also the number of inches separating me from my fellow guests.
After a few hours of sleep and a hot shower, I took to the streets in search of dinner. The Shinjuku train station is Tokyo’s largest, serving as the main connecting hub for rail traffic between central Tokyo and its western suburbs on inter-city rail, commuter rail, and metro lines. The station is used by an average of 3.8 million people per day, making it, by far, the world’s busiest transport hub (and registered as such with Guinness World Records). Putting this into perspective, about one-quarter of the population of Tokyo moves through this station each day. Naturally, the area surrounding the station is unbelievably crowded with 100-foot-wide cross walks to accommodate all the pedestrians. It is also packed with great places to eat and shop. I must confess that I stopped in one of Japan’s mega camera stores for more than an appropriate amount of time. Fortunately, prices were high enough to keep me from making an impulse buy.
The Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. At 2,080 feet high, it is the tallest tower in the world and the second tallest structure in the world after Burj Khalifa. I passed it while on the express train from Narita Airport to Shinjuku Station. Combining the 16-hour journey with the 13-hour time zone shift it is actually Friday in Japan when this photo was taken. I spent the evening at the Shinjuku Prince Hotel where I rested comfortably before readying myself and gear for a climb of Mt. Fuji.
I was delighted this morning to find our baby robins being cared for by both parents who alternated bringing food to the nest. I set up my long lens and comfortable seating on our sun porch so I could observe the feedings which happen every five to ten minutes. By the time I returned from work, they all appeared to be quite strong. The big one, however, can reach up higher than his siblings and seems to be getting more than his fair share of the “food”.
I leave for Japan tomorrow morning and will probably not post again until my return on July 3rd. I have business in Tokyo and Osaka next week and am leaving early so I can spend the weekend climbing Mount Fuji (snow conditions permitting).
While a couple of Yard Dogs were trimming back creeping vines from the side of our house they discovered a robin’s nest with four newborn chicks. Jeanine had them stop work to preserve the nest and pointed it out to me when I returned from work. I found the chicks extremely weak and with no parents in sight. I decided that the extremely high temperature and loss of shade on their nest had left them dehydrated. I used a straw as a pipette to give them each some water. They all perked up and I was able to get this close-up of one of them. Hopefully, their parents will return and they will still be alive tomorrow.
With the super moon still nearly full, I planned to frame it directly behind the First Parish clock tower this evening. I have an iPhone application that gives me the exact location, trajectory, and timing of the sun and moon rising and setting. I drove downtown after 10 PM and set up in exactly the right spot. With any luck, I would have an 8-minute window to get the shot I was after. Unfortunately, the moon was masked by cloud cover and I had to settle for a much less artistic photograph. I have not had great luck when it comes to rare astronomical events and clear skies. I will simply have to persist.
Jeanine hosted a book signing party this afternoon for an author friend which drew about 40 people. No sooner had it ended, when 50 or so of Nicolai’s friends started arriving for his graduation party. It featured his band performing an outdoor concert followed by a dance in the basement and a brief interlude to witness the supermoon rising.
My day was filled with less reason to party. My soccer team lost our first match of the season in a penalty kick shootout in the divisional championship match to a team that we beat twice earlier this season. I played well despite the 100F temperature on the synthetic field (90F elsewhere) and ended with a respectable six goals on the season. Despite the bitter loss, our 11-0-1 record was enough to secure promotion to division one for the fall season.
We are fortunate to live so close to Verrill Farm. In addition to enjoying field to table produce for much of the year there are a number of festivals that bring the community together. Today was the Strawberry Festival and I found this little guy sampling the goods while his mother was nearby picking significantly more ripe specimens. I couldn’t interest anyone else in the family to join me so I stopped in for a quick lunch and picked up a quart of strawberries to bring home. Maya requested dinner at Not Your Average Joe’s for her family birthday celebration. There she opened presents including a 14-piece lock pick set with a book and DVD on lock picking from her father. Lest you think I am trying to guide my daughter into a life of crime, I should point out that this item was on her birthday wish list. Movies like the Italian Job and TV shows like Elementary have sparked her interest in the art of lock picking. To be successful one must truly understand the mechanics of a lock and I am thrilled she has developed this interest. When we returned home, Maya and I watched the video chapter on pin and tumbler locks. We then set out to pick our first locks. Within 10 minutes Maya picked her first lock. She then defeated another three in less than five minutes each. I was also successful but not as fast as Maya.
Jeanine alerted me to a great photo opportunity with the full moon rising over the Concord Fair. I quickly drove to the exact vantage point she described in time to capture this image.
