Toyohira River Fireworks Display

Bre and I went to the Toyohira River Fireworks Display on 7/27.  The fireworks are launched from the park along the Toyohira River.  You can read more about the fireworks show in Japanese here, and in English (thanks to Google Translate) here.

We have not been able to figure out why the fireworks display is held.  If any of our readers knows the reason why please let us know.

We found a spot near the river just north of where the fireworks were launched to watch.  There were lots of people everywhere.  If you look closely at the photo you can see the giant crowd of people sitting on the retaining wall below the buildings.

The fireworks begin!  If you look closely at the crowd you may see some of the women are wearing Yukata, a casual summer Kimono.  We also saw men wearing Yukata, but I did not photograph them.

The fireworks show was very different from the 4'th of July fireworks that I am used to in the US.  There are a number of breaks in the show.  They would launch fireworks for a few minutes and then stop.  The breaks between firework launchings were a few minutes each.  It make the whole show last longer and it felt more leisurely.  I liked it.  The show was just over one hour long due to all these breaks.

Between our observation spot and the fireworks there is a bridge crossing the Toyohira River.  I like how the crowd of people on the bridge are silhouetted on the bridge by the fireworks.

I moved the camera near the end of the exposure creating this streak effect.

Most of the fireworks photos were taken with my wide angle lens which is how I was able to get the bridge, crowd, buildings and fireworks all into one photo.

Bre's favorite fireworks are this type, possibly called Time Rain.

At the end of the fireworks show there was so many fireworks going off that they created a giant smokescreen.  We were downwind of the fireworks so all the smoke drifted by us.  It got so smokey you couldn't see the fireworks clearly at the very end.  I like the effect of all the illuminated smoke in the photograph.
We were also sitting just the right distance down-wind of the fireworks for the fallout to rain down on us.  We slowly became covered in firework ash as we watched the show. 

That's all for now.

Kyle (and Bre)

Rafting on the Lower Salmon

This post isn't from our adventures in Japan-- instead it's from Idaho.  Perhaps it is cheating to write about post not about Japan, but I figure that y'all will still find it interesting.

Kyle and I just came back from our trip to the U.S.  I was there 2 weeks and Kyle 1 month.  While there, we went on a 4 day white-water rafting trip on the Lower Salmon River.

 

 We took 2 boats for 8 people.  Kyle rowed one boat and his brother, Jared, rowed the other.  We started out at Pine Bar.  It was very quiet at this put in place and we could take our time inflating and packing the rafts.  In the picture above, we've finished inflating the boats, but nothing has been loaded.

 

Here's a picture of the boats partway packed.  No personal gear yet though.

It was really hot the day we put in: ~100ºF, ~38ºC.  We repeatedly jumped in the river to stay cool.

 

We camped on sandbars along the river.  The first night was a lovely spot, but there were a large number of ticks.  I think we managed to avoid most of them.  The spot was unnamed, I think because it was relatively small, so we named it "Tick Beach".

 

Jared and Callie made dinner for us the first night... very tasty and photogenic macaroni and cheese.

 

And excellent salmon.

Kyle picked out the following pictures as ones he particularly liked of the trip.

 

Dave swimming with the raft.

 

Kyle swimming with the raft.

 

Karen rowing the raft.

 

This is one I took from the back of the boat as we were finishing running a small rapid.  Kyle's rowing (in the straw hat) and Dave and Nathan are sitting in the bow.

 

Here is a movie I took of one of the last rapids on the Lower Salmon River before it joins the Snake River.  I think it is Sluicebox Rapid.  It was a rapid with a lot of small waves, but no dangerous obstacles. Kyle likes this movie because Dave and Nathan get really wet near the end.  

 

Here is the exact point where the Lower Salmon joins the Snake.  The Lower Salmon (left) has about 1/4th the water that the Snake does.  Once we were on the Snake, the rapids  became mostly big waves, without any rocks to avoid.

 

Kyle's favorite waterfall on the trip.

 

The group picture.  

From upper left to right: Deb, Nathan, Dave, Jared, and Callie.  

Lower left to right: Karen, me, Kyle.

 

On the last full day on the river, we had a number of thunderstorms come through.  One particularly wet one arrived just after dinner.  Kyle and Dave were washing dishes, and I hid under the table to chat with them instead of sitting in my tent.

 

Callie and I model our rain gear.  Mine is from the 100 yen store and worked quite well... although I don't know how long it would have lasted if I had to wear it many more times.

 

A group panorama... notice the two Nathans... my camera is not that talented at putting panoramas together.  Now that I look at the photo more closely, we all look silly, except maybe Callie.

In this photo we're playing cards, like we did every night.  Most nights we played a game that Kyle's family calls "Forehead" but that my family calls "Oh Hell".  It was a relatively easy game to play without a table, so it worked well.

 

Callie shuffles the cards in the evening light while Jared and I watch on.

 

Sunset on the last night.

That's all for now.  Next time-- Japanese pictures and adventures, I promise...

-Bre (and Kyle)

Mystery Parade

I'm headed out to join Kyle for 2 weeks in Idaho, but I wanted to write a short post about a mystery I ran across last night.

I went out to the grocery store after work to buy some food for dinner.  On my way there, I thought to myself, "boy, there sure are a lot of people going into the high school", but since I didn't remember biking past the high school at that time of day, I really thought nothing more about it.

Until my way home from the store.

The people weren't going in to the high school... they were standing around on the street.  And there was a policeman directing traffic at the intersection between my apartment and the high school.   It was very mysterious to me until I saw what was happening just behind the school in the athletic fields

There were tons of hand built floats and teams of students!  It was fascinating.

Nothing looked like it has started yet, so I ran off to my apartment and got my camera.

Just in time because the parade started not much later.

The floats were really creative.  And they looked pretty cool too.  I think they were all made of wire mesh, and then covered in paper.  Inside each float was a light, so they were all glowing... even though you can't tell in the photos.

Because of the lights, the students had to push a generator on a dolly to provide power.  I thought that was pretty funny.

It was a very interesting parade, and I have no idea what it was about.  I didn't stay very long.  I was hungry!

That's all for now

-Bre

Minami Shokan-betsu-dake

Kyle is out of town for a while, so last weekend I had an adventure without him, thanks to the Hokkaido International Outdoor Club and friends.  We went to the Uryu Wetlands and Mt. Shokanbestu- an area famous for its beautiful wildflowers in summer.  I'm sure Kyle would have loved it because I had a great time.


We met Saturday morning and drove basically due north for a few hours.

We drove through farmland almost the entire way there.  Most of the farms were rice fields, although we saw a few other vegetables that we couldn't identify.

At the end of the road is a well-maintained camping area and lodge.  The facilities were very fancy. 

I stayed in the lodge since I had no tent.  While it was an interesting experience, I think next time I'd try to camp.  But of course, if it was raining I would have a different opinion.

When we arrived, we set up a camp and BBQ area.

Leon made dough for pizza and bread that he cooked in the dutch oven (my pictures didn't turn out of the pizza, or I'd show you that too).  Very impressive.

We barbecued all sorts of tasty things.

I think Olga and I are trying a grilled mushroom in this photo.

Scallops, pineapple, and corn on the grill.

On Sunday, I went on the middle-distance hike with Rick, Rob and Masami.  We went to Minami-Shokanbetsu, the shorter mountain next to Shokanbetsu.  If I remember correctly, it was a 17-18 km hike, with ~800 m elevation gain.  We left at 8 and made it back at 3, but we took a 1 hour break for lunch and walked slowly through the Uryu wetlands on the way up.

There was some nice geology while we climbed up the river valley to the wetlands.

The undergrowth at the beginning was pretty intense.  There were a lot of plants I recognized from Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, including all the poisonous ones (just talk to Jessica about her adventures in the nettles).

These flowers looked almost like Mountain Laurel, but without the pentagonal symmetry.

After climbing steeply up 300 m, the ground very suddenly flattened out.  It was very exciting because the hike up was very humid and hot with still air.  Suddenly there was a breeze and we weren't going up anymore!

Rick found this crazy caterpillar mass.  I'm not sure what was happening here, but it was cool.

Here you can see Shokanbestu in the distance through what I called the "bamboo Serengeti".  There were few isolated trees, with a mass of bamboo underneath.  However, you can't just walk through bamboo like you can through the grasslands of the Serengeti. 

Here you can start to see the Uryu wetland in the middle-distance.  It was very exciting when we got to this point.  The Uryu wetlands is pretty big for being nestled in a mountain range.  According to the internet, it's 4 km east-west and 2 km north-south.

The peak on the right is Minami-Shokanbestu, the one I climbed.

Skunk cabbage and purple irises.

Japanese trail engineering.  Actually, it worked quite well to cross.

The wetlands!  So pretty.  According to Rick, there were not nearly as many wildflowers as normal for this time of year because this part of Hokkaido had a lot of snow this year.  So everything was late.

Here's both Minami-Shokanbetsu (left) and Shokanbestu (right and snowier).  Jessica and Olga climbed Shokanbestu (and Minami-Shokanbestu because the trail connects the two).  They had to hike for more than 10 hours round trip.. they left at 4:30 am to get there and back!

More bamboo Serengeti.

I bet everyone who comes here has this photo!

A purple marsh flower that I recognize, but I can't remember it's name.  Jody, do you know?

Masami walks between two lakes that are at completely different elevations.  It looked trippy.  I think it means that the lakes are fed by artesian springs.  

A lily with a spider in it.

Here is a skunk cabbage with a purple brown flower.  I had never seen one like it before.  We were half-way up Minami-Shokanbetsu by this point... no longer in the marsh.

It was weird walking through a birch forest with bamboo everywhere.

Lots of impenetrable bamboo.  It meant there was no going off the path and getting lost!!  But also no going off the path to go pee.

Such different vegetation than what we started with.

Everyone takes a photo of Shokanbetsu.

At the very top, we found a melting snowfield... The source of the little stream that had been using the trail to work its way downhill.

The view from the top was beautiful if somewhat hazy.

There's the peak on the right that Olga and Jessica made it to!  Very impressive.

You can just barely see Jessica and Olga in this picture.  They are not too far from entering the forest.  We waited for them at the top of Minami-Shokanbestu.

It was nice to sit for a while.

Jessica made it!

Olga made it!

Here's the marsh from above on the way back down.  You can see where the marsh drains out.  The trail follows it.

Whew...  made it back to camp only a few minutes later than the meeting time.  Everyone was very tired after the hot day.

Afterwards, we went to an awesome onsen (hot springs-bath house) for some relaxation and dinner.  I think I would have fallen asleep in the onsen if I stayed in any longer!

Here we are crammed in Leon's car.  Clean after the onsen!

That's all for now!

-Bre (but not Kyle)