One of the best places for sakura in Kobe (especially during the night) is Oji Zoo (王子動物園).

It has 480 cherry trees and it is open during the pick of sakura season until 9:00 p.m (last entrance 8:30 p.m.).

The easiest way to reach it is with Hankyu (Oji Zoo station) or JR – Nada station (there is still around 10 min. walk up the hill though).

This is the street leading from Nada station toward Oji Zoo (cherry trees already here) .

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We were around 8:00 p.m. yesterday in the Zoo and there were definitely many people but nothing extreme in terms of crowds. Actually some areas (like the entertainment section with the carousels) looked almost deserted in comparison with the day. Still you could feel the sakura even there :)

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Further the road – the white magic continues:

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A second attraction (apart from sakura) are the young maple leaves. They are really beautiful – aren’t they?

Just in case you want to see how Oji Zoo looks during the day – here is a link to an old page I created with a few photos.

Anyway – Oji Zoo is a great place to be (especially if you are with kids) at any time of the year.

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Dear All,

I am sorry for my long absence. I had to prepare projects for my new job application and to pass a job interview. I got the position (I am starting the new job at 1st of April). So now I have again more free time for the blog.

I am glad to be back :)

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What happens with the persimmon tree during the winter if it is still full with fruits? Birds feast of course.

These are the pictures from yesterday (the tree was in the yard of a very small temple not far away from Nishinada Hanshin station):

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Not only sparrows were feasting. The Japanese white eyes were also participating actively:

By the way Japan is the only country where you can see the Japanese white eye free in the wild. The only other place is Hawaii but they were artificially introduced there.

A short movie (you can not see the main participants of the feast but you can here them):

And here comes the “Snowball Sakura”:

I do not know what kind of tree is this but from far away it really resembles blossoming cherry trees. From close though the difference is obvious :)

Here we met two more representatives of the Japanese flying fauna. The Grey Starling (first picture) and the Turtle Dove (second picture):

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The Grey Starling is typical for East Asia. During the winter it migrates to warmer places so the one on the picture most probably comes from northern China or even Siberia.

Just one more picture – the flying dove and the “snowball sakura”:

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Just two photos of a Japanese ornamental Kale I took today.

First – the pink(u) one:

And the white one:

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Started work on a new website – chottomatte.net but it will take another 2-3 months before it is completely functional.

It will be something like an extended version of this one. Better structured posts and more easily accessible. Some news sections also for shorter posts.

By the way my latest post there is about giant Velociraptors promoting home and furniture shop in Kobe :)

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Knowing that we not gonna be able to visit “our” shrines during the New Year eve (as we did an year ago) we decided to visit them instead  during the day and to see all the preparations for the New Year.

First we visited our Shinto shrine – Minumeyashiro. It is relatively small one located just a few minutes walk from Iwaya station – Hanshin or 5-7 minutes walk from Nada JR station. Actually it is somewhat hidden in the shadow of BB plaza office building.

Already at the main entrance there were new blue banners:

This is the main building. To the right you can see the fire place:

In the fire place you can see the old tools from the small spring of the srines. The spring itself is with new bamboo and tools:

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You can clearly see that it is the Tiger new year coming (look behind the shisa):

Here are and the rest of the photos:

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This is a small red shrine close to the main gate. It is really very pittoresque:

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Here comes and the second one. It is really very, very small. I have no clue whatever about its name and I can not decipher the kanji on google map. It is a Buddhist one. Here is the google map – may be somebody knows this temple or at least can read the kanji (on the map it is just to the right of Minumeyashiro Shrine):

View Larger Map

This is the information table at the entrance:

The temple has many strange statues. The first time we found it was nigh and we were alsmost scared. It looked most like a pagan temple.  Here are the photos:

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Today we visited Suma beach. Many things could be said about this beach and the surroundings (Sumadera, Suma aquarium and many more)  but today we gonna make mainly a photo trip so all the useful tips and information will have to wait for some other time (I started to work on a website just about such kind of stories but it is at too early stages of development right now).

It takes around 20 minutes to reach it from Sannomiya, Kobe or around 50 if you take the train from Umeda, Osaka (you must change the train from rapid to local at certain point as only local trains stop at Suma station). First tings first – the Suma station (a view toward Akashi – the first photo and a view toward Kobe – the second one):

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And here is the video (it is taken from the station):

NB! There is no elevator on the side of the beach and the stairs are quite long and steep so if you have small kids with strollers just take the elevator on the other side of the station and walk around 100 meter just next to the railways direction Kobe. Sooner or later you will reach the passage:

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And finnaly at Suma (or almost):

Akashi bridge in the distance:

And bushes in front:

A “karavane” of ships (a giant tanker in front):

More ships in the distance:

The neko-chan:

Believe it or not there are still surfers at Suma beach:

The rest of the gear is also there and ready for action:

The “Fishing Park” in the distance (it is really taken with big zoom). Behind is Awaji island:

More Akashi bridge:

The sun was going down:

Abandoned fishing boats (I wonder if this qualifies me for a haikyoist. Most probably not but I’ll still give it a shot:)):

We were not the only one collecting shells:

Documented even on video:

There are still fishermen around. On this construction they hang their fishing nets:

The sun was going down behind the clouds and Awaji island – time to go home (or rather local (Suma) ryokan:)):

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I do not know what is the reason – a mutation, a special microclimate or a result of the global warming but Sakura is back in Kobe this year. We found the flowering trees by pure chance (we even didn’t know there is a park at the end of HAT Kobe) but there they were twenty or so at different stages of Sakura.

Here are the videos:

and the second one:

Sakura usually comes in Kobe in mid-April, so late December Sakura is definitely a little bit early one. I know there are plum trees (ume) which usually flower in January but the one we saw were cherry trees (as far as I can say). Here are the pictures so you can verify on your own:

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The park is localized at the very end of HAT (Happy Active Town) -Kobe next to a small harbor land. You can come and verify on your own in the existence of the phenomenon. I wonder if the outcome of Copenhagen Climate Change conference would be different if I uploaded the images (and videos) a few days earlier? :)

I promise to visit the park in few days again and take more pictures. I definitely expect to see some fully flowered Sakura trees.

These are just two photos of the park with sakura trees:

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Merry Kurisumasu!

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A great news for all Studio Ghibli fens leaving in Kobe and Kansai region – Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art will host the  “Kazuo Oga Exihibition”. Kazuo Oga is the art director of many Studio Ghibli movies as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Pom Poko and Princess Mononoke (my favorite). Here is a list of all the movies in the creation of which he participated.

As you can see from the poster the exhibition will be opened from December 8th (2009) till February 7th (2010). There will be around 600 pieces of art from the famous Studio Ghibli anime movies.

The access to the museum is very easy – just take JR or Hanshin railways to Nada or Iwaya stations respectively. Than go straight down toward the sea and there is no way you’ll miss the building.

The access information on Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art official  website is actually quite comprehensive:

http://www.artm.pref.hyogo.jp/eng/access/index.html

And here is the main webpage of the museum:

http://www.artm.pref.hyogo.jp/eng/home.html

Just one more note – the architect of Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art is Tadao Ando – may be the most famous Japanese architect. The building is worth viewing even if you are absolutely not interested in the expositions inside it (I definitely should create a separate post with photos from the museum)!

Chottomatte.net crew is planning a visit to the exposition in a very near future so please stay tuned for first hand impressions from the Studio Ghibli anime art collection :)

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