Spring Saturday at Arisugawa Miya Kinen Kōen

This past Saturday, my daughter and I spent a fine spring afternoon looking for tadpoles at Arisugawa Miya Kinen Kōen with one of her school friends. The previous weekend we had found hundreds if not thousands in a pond at Sarue Onshi Koen in a Koto-ku. Too bad for my daughter's friend, they were given away several days ago and we couldn't find any here. Anyway, the park and beautiful spring green leaves were a wonderful oasis in central Tokyo.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f4.0, ISO 100, 1/20 sec.

281_Anti nuke spotted in Harajuku

During the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Harajuku this year, I spotted another new piece of protest street art from 281_Anti nuke along Omotesando in Harajuku. In light of the recent news of the drone landing on the Prime Minister's office, this protest art is even more important. Hopefully, it does more to raise awareness, spark dialog and constructive discussion of a important issues.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF @ 200 mm, f4.0, ISO 100, 1/320 sec.

Baseball Under the Skytree at Sarue Onshi Koen

Last weekend while at Sarue Onshi Koen I watched a little of an afternoon baseball game under the watchful gaze of the Tokyo Skytree. This appeared to be one of the many amateur leagues enjoying a cool but overcast spring day.

By the way, it was a strike and the next pitch too!

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f4.0, ISO 100, 1/400 sec.

Spring Tulips at Sarue Onshi Koen

After the drama with the sparrow, we entered Sarue Onshi Koen and were greeted by lovely spring tulips in full bloom.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f4.0, ISO 100, 1/500 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f5.6, ISO 100, 1/100 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f5.6, ISO 100, 1/100 sec.

Dead Tree Sparrow

My son had a computer club activity this cloudy Sunday morning at HP's Koto-ku Office. While he was computing and being mentally engaged, the rest of the family visited the nearby park, Sarue Onshi Koen. Although it's not a famous park in Tokyo, it has some beautiful green spaces including a small pond and wetland area teaming with frogs, tadpoles, crawfish and other avian and aquatic life. The park has an abundance of cherry trees and looks like it would be a good place for a Hanami picnic.

As we were entering the park, my daughter spotted this sparrow that appears to have succumb to a untimely demise. If she hadn't alerted my wife quickly, it would have been squashed under her shoe. Taking pity on the poor creature, we slid it into a small envelope and buried it under some composite in the park. It seemed to be a better fate than being trampled by a random pedestrian or cyclist.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f5.6, ISO 100, 1/160 sec. Cropped and desaturated using Nikon CaptureNX2.

Aoyama Bochi Sakura Tunnel Animated GIF

This is my first try and creating an animated GIF. I thought that a few of the shots that I took last night at the cemetery would work well, but I probably needed a few more shots in the loop and a few more experiments to get it right. If you are trying to make an animated GIF, the tutorial located at the 99designs.com has simple easy to follow instructions.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f5.6, ISO 800, 1/3 to 1/10 sec.

Nighttime Sakura Tunnel at Aoyama Bochi

Last night I took a walk through Aoyama Bochi to visit the sakura tunnel that goes through the center of the cemetery. The sakura or cherry blossoms peaked early list week in Tokyo. Today was quite windy and the petals were falling with in the breeze blanketing the street, walking path and the stone monuments with splashes of delicate pink.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f5.6, ISO 800, 1/8 sec.