Yesterday(May 28,2025), I went to Tamana City, Kumamoto Prefecture. It's the season when Japanese irises bloom, so I stopped by Takase Green Park to see them. The 33rd Iris Festival is being held at Takase Green Park from May 23rd to June 7th. Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NZeiUcythYvr1mT59 Iris flowers belong to the Iridaceae family. The flower language is "elegance." As I looked at the flowers closely, I felt that this word really suited this flower. In addition to "elegance," irises also have the flower language of "happy news." If something happy happens to us, it would be good to use irises to express it. The main event of the festival is scheduled to take place this weekend, but the flowers are not even half in bloom yet. Although it wasn't yet the peak season for the irises, I encountered many people strolling through the park admiring the irises. I frequently went to Tamana City for work from 2010 to 2023. I also visited the Iris Fest...
I retire at the end of March 2024. During my current position, I have been blogging and documenting my laboratory for about 20 years. From April, I will start to introduce Kumamoto City and its suburbs by writing this blog with photos and videos I took during my walks. April 1, my first day of retirement, was a beautiful sunny day. I took my grandchildren to Mt.Kinpo-san. Location of Mt.Kinpo: 32.813766575749796, 130.63864097027087 Many people climb the mountain on foot, but since we had small grandchildren with us, we drove to the top of the mountain. There are parking spaces for about 20 cars near the summit. View from the summit. Clear skies. Unzen Fugendake could be seen over the Ariake Sea. I have been using peanuts to interact with (wild) small birds. It was more than 20 years ago that I learned that the small birds on Mt. Kinpo-san perch on human hands for peanuts. Today, the little birds came again. In the photo, can you see the little bird trying to get the peanut on my h...
Hitoyoshi Station, located in Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture, is home to a railroad museum named “Mozoca Station”. The steam locomotive “SL Hitoyoshi”, which was in service until March 2024, has been on display here since November 17, 2024. Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Yg2totaW5Xd7UTrm9 On weekends, my wife and I used to watch the SL Hitoyoshi from the window of our house as it ran, whistling its whistle and belching smoke. When we heard that the retired SL Hitoyoshi was now on display at a museum, we went to see it together on a trip. The locomotive number was “58654” and it was indeed that SL Hitoyoshi. The following is a video (in Japanese) of the SL Hitoyoshi taken in September 2023, when the train was in active service. The driver's crew was very service-oriented and waved at us as we took pictures with our cameras. The wheel looks the opposite of a modern machine combined with delicate electronic components. It is precisely because of such a rob...