Skunk cabbage

Precisely,this is not a skunk cabbage but a off-spring of a skunk cabbage (large one).
"Hime-zazen-so" is the Japanese name for this flower.
 Hime means "a princes. In this case, it stands for "little", I think.
"Zazen" is "zen-sitting" and "so" is a monk.
Totally, "a little zen monk sitting in a spathe" is the name for this flower.
This flower grows in wet area.
This web site has good information for "Skunk Cabbage".
.Skunk cabbage is really a strange name.

Tokyo toy show

Cool ?

"Project E5" is the Shinkansen Robot , transformed from a bullet train called Shinkansen of Japan Railway company(JR for short).
A subsidiary company of JR made this .

This "International Toy Show" was held at Tokyo Big Sight.

A local restaurant at old house

When you visit around Ome district, I want you to drop by this restaurant.

Home made Japanese noodles are served here.

Map is here.

Rikugien

Located in the central Tokyo and established in 1702.
It was established in the middle of Samurai period.
But nice to see this kind of a garden surrounded by many tall buildings in Tokyo.

Witch hazel

Chinese fringe flower or Witch hazel.

It's name came from , I think ,long thin petals.

SAKURA

Full marathon again

It was held under clear sky with warm air.
The course was along the river called ARAKAWA river to the Tokyo Sky Tree, 42.195 Km.
Approximately 17,000 people gathered to run.
So I went through the start gate 18 min behind the front runners.
The course was flat and easy to run ...... until 30 km.
After 30 km, my right calf muscles were getting weak and I felt pain there.
But I continued to run to the 35 km aid station with low speed.
After that another myself started to whisper "stop and walk,stop and walk".
Wow the bad time had came, I thought.
I needed to fight against another myself and the calf pain.
Last 2 km was worst, I had repeated to run and walk.
But finally ,I made it. I went through the goal gate with the time of 5 hours 34 minutes.
It was very hard for me to run the full marathon.

Next time ? Not soon but I will !

At a fish market

Nakaminato  fish  market .

3rd time snow

Snow scene

2nd snow

It's snowing again.

First snow

We have the first snow this year.

Plumtree

The flowers of a plumtree here have started blooming,suggesting the warm season is coming.

Full marathon

My D day was over.
I have to tell the truth...........that I was failed to finish 42.195 km.

It was unusually clear day, no clouds at all, the best day to run.
At 9 am, the 16,000 runners started running.
There was the long line to run through the start-gate.
Due to the long line, it took more than 10 minutes for the runners at the end of line to run through the gate.

At the same time, the time-counter (6 hours) to stop closing the road started count down.
They considered nothing that there was the extra time for the runners at the end of line, comparing to the runners at the top of the line.
This means they need to run faster than the runners at the top of line by approximately 10 minutes more.

In addition to the 6 hours at the finish-gate, there were the 5 gates to stop the runners who failed to pass through within a time set by the organizer.

So, I , as a runner at the end of line, was failed to pass through the 3rd gate ( 3 hours 18 minutes was the time you need to pass through within)

The 3rd gate was 30 km away from the start-gate.  My time was 2 minutes longer (3 hours 20 minutes ).
If they subtracted only 10 minutes from my time, I could pass through the gates.

But the result was the result. I don't want to say more.
I hope I could run faster next time.

D day is around the corner.

My D day (the day to run full marathon) is around the corner.
On 24th, November, I am going to run around the lake Kawaguchiko and saiko.
It will be my first full marathon.
Trial run, 41.5 km was 5 hours and 48 minutes.
I need to run faster in order to clear the limit ( 6 hours).
I can not say what will happen to my body but I will do my best !

The season's 18th storm

It is called Man-Yi this time.
The season's 18th typhoon.

The agency issued flood, mudslide and heavy rain and wave warnings for areas along the Pacific coast.

“Please keep yourselves updated on the latest weather information and, if necessary, evacuate before the weather gets really rough,” senior weather forecaster Hiroyuki Uchida said.
(quoted from Japan Times)

Nebuta

Nebuta(1)

Nebuta(2)

Mr.Socks ? Oh, Socksssss.

Nebuta(3)

Tanabata festival

This TED is ... weird !

Oyster

These oysters are for eating raw.

Dragonfly

Golden Flangetail

Scientific name is the Sinictinogomphus clavatus.

Before recently, their habitats used to be the south of Kyushu, Shikoku.

They are now found in Tokyo area due to the green house effect.