The Jike countryside and around, northern Yokohama on October 6, 2020. 

October 5, 2018

This is an unmanned weather radar station atop Mt. Kuruma (1,925 m high), Nagano prefecture. Ski lifts will take you to the top in ease.

Nearby is Kirigamine highlands, which are a mecca for glider enthusiasts. Japan's first Glider flight took place there in 1933.  I used to be a glider pilot myself and it was a delight to visit the hunger which houses a museum for gliders. Some flight records were made at Kirigamine: the longest flight duration was over seven and a half hours, the longest flight distance was more than 500 km, the highest altitude attained 8,000 m +.   

October 11, 2018

An event for crime prevention activities attended by local volunteers, northern Yokohama. Here junior high school kids played brass band numbers.  

October 13, 2018

Sports day for my grandson at the local primary school, northern Yokohama. The photo shows a tug of war match.

October 18, 2018

After the rice harvest in the Jike countryside, northern Yokohama.

October 19, 2013, a visit to the former residence of Nobusuke Kishi (1896-1987), prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960 

The residence, which had been donated to the local municipality, is located at a villa area in Gotemba, near Mt. Fuji. Kishi was an intelligent and ambitious bureaucrat and became a government minister during the world war II period. He narrowly evaded being a war criminal but was barred from taking any public office for the first seven years after the war. During his premiership, he managed to revise the Japan-US security treaty (effective today) against  strong domestic opposition. Kisi happened to be the grandfather of Shinzo Abe, the present prime minister of Japan on his mother's side.     

October 30, 2018, Odawara castle

The Odawara castle keep was first erected in 1633 and was rebuilt in 1706.  The present one was built in 1960, not surprisingly as an RC structure. Odawara is located some 70 km south west of downtown Tokyo facing the Pacific Ocean. One of the photos shows a banner saying that the city of Odawara with a population of 192,000 will host the Australian rugby team, the Wallabies, as their camp during the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.  

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