Exploring Kumamoto, Japan

Suna-Yakushi Slope in the San-nomaru area of Kumamoto Castle, Japan. At the top of this hill is the Kumamoto Castle Plum Garden. A clear morning on March 10th, 2025. I walked under the plum blossoms in the garden, which was wet with morning dew. A group of small brids(white-eyes) came by. The plum garden seems to be a breakfast spot for the birds. There were probably more than 10 birds there. They stayed for about 10 minutes and then left the breakfast area. It was my first time to observe small birds eating nectar up close. It was a very cute breakfast scene. Plum blossoms in full bloom and small birds(white-eyes) having breakfast (movie). The best time to see plum blossoms is coming to an end.

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...