Hiking through Nishizawa Ravine

[CDNSushi]

We live in a magical place (to use a Steve Jobs term)... Some of the hiking within an hour of our house is just awesome. The weather here in Japan has just finally started to cool off, making autumn excursions the first priority on the weekend agenda.

Here is a pic from an area called Nishizawa Ravine. It's about a four-hour hike, much of which is a trail that winds around innumerable waterfalls in some lush forest. A link to the rest of the photos (mostly non-kilt photos) is available on my website. http://zayith.com/photos/Nishizawa%20Ravine%202010/

[GMan]

Beautiful pictures!

[Alan H]

I am intrigued by your Remembrance Day at Yokohama album... details?

[Macman]

That IS a magical place! What a wonderful place to go for a hike. Thanks for the link to the photos. Excellent photography too!

[CDNSushi]

I am intrigued by your Remembrance Day at Yokohama album... details?

Hi Alan.

Every year there is a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Yokohama War Cemetery. It is the final resting place of many Commonwealth soldiers who died in the Pacific theatre. Canadians, Brits, Australians, New Zealanders, and Indians. Each has their own section and epitaph.

The various embassies take turns at hosting the event, which includes prayers by Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu ministers, and laying of wreaths by many different local and international bodies. (Two of my photos show Tokyo's only rabbi (to my knowledge) and Muslim Imam). The Americans are also invited and several servicemen attend, and there is a bugler and bagpiper.

There are then several, brief ceremonies at each of the national epitaphs, usually with a fair number of active servicemen from each country. What you see in some of my photos is the Canadian ambassador and some other dignitaries marking the occasion of a new tree being planted in the Canadian section of the gardens.

After the official activities, tea and refreshments are served by the hosting nation, which was Australia last year. I wore my Black Watch kilt to the event, and my wife joined me in a couple of the pictures. Aside from the bagpiper I was the only one kilted, but didn't get a second look, only a few polite compliments.

Did that cover it?

[Alan H]

Excellent....thanks for that explanation!

[SmokinScotsman]

That place is beautiful. Love the pics!

[Santa Wally]

Some of the waterfalls remind me of waterfalls in Watkins Glen State Park (Watkins Glen, NY). But Watkins Glen doesn't have the lush foliage. Thanks for posting the photos.

[MacBean]

Some of the waterfalls remind me of waterfalls in Watkins Glen State Park (Watkins Glen, NY). But Watkins Glen doesn't have the lush foliage. Thanks for posting the photos.

and so it should! The thin coating on the earth surface that gives it much of its quality (the vegetation), is very similar between the eastern US and Japan\China - one of the well-known and puzzling phenomena of plant distribution. Maples, pines, rhododendron\azaleas, and I'm sure much else are shared.

[kennethrmc]

Thanks for sharing a lovely place and hike. And the saffron seems just right for the occasion.