Ema Boards

Visited this shrine for a happoyoke ceremony, which is to rid ourselves of bad luck and to bring fortune and good luck to one's home and family.

寒川神社の八方除け。Samukawa Shrine for Happoyoke Ceremony.

Nikon D3100, AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18-55 mm, 1/250 sec., f/8, ISO 100

寒川神社の八方除け。Samukawa Shrine gate.

Nikon D3100, AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18-55 mm, 1/125 sec., f/5.6, ISO 250

寒川神社の八方除け。Ema boards.

Nikon D3100, AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18-55 mm, 1/200 sec., f/7.1, ISO 100

寒川神社の八方除け。Lion-like guardian and ema boards.

Nikon D3100, AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18-55 mm, 1/125 sec., f/5.3, ISO 400

寒川神社の八方除け。Votive tablets with written prayers or thanks.

Nikon D3100, AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18-55 mm, 1/125 sec., f/5.6, ISO 110

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Happoyoke

We are attending a purification ceremony at a famous Shinto shrine about one hour from home. Now we are just waiting for our number to be called to participate in ancient ceremony.

Although we got here before noon, we are already in the 18th group to participate. Each group consists of about 30 or 40 people each.

During the ceremony they will call out our names, address and birthdate, and pray to the Gods for us according to our specific wishes that were written on a special card.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Cheap

Got a Nike FuelBand on sale at a recycle shop today. It was still new and dirt cheap! The band doesn't have Japanese support--only English--which is perfect for me! Hopefully the band will help me to stay motivated to get back into my old groove!

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Dale 1st Snow 2014

Although we didn't get much snow during the first snowfall of this winter here in Yokohama, there was barely enough for Dale to enjoy trying to catch snowflakes.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

House of Clouds

A beautiful and amazing video made by an amateur photographer!

As the saying goes, location, location, location!

A Good Guy

I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast today during my commute to and from work. Act I of the podcast was especially touching. Glad to have had the chance to listen to such experiences.

Night Trail

Both of these shots were taken with an iPhone 5S during a night-time dog walk. We visited a local park that has a huge forested hill on top of it. I tried to get the mood of the soft fallen leaves covering the path that is lined with huge rocks.

The rocks that are protected in the shade during the day are able to grow moss on them. I love moss in all forms. After taking the shots, used software to bring out colors and increase contrast.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.