空 - Sky

野良猫 - Feral Cat

 A rather intense feral cat in the neighborhood.  Very striking eyes.

Huzhou and Hangzhou

I spent Golden Week, a series of national holidays in Japan, visiting relatives in China. Much of China is undergoing rapid development and the cities of Huzhou and Hangzhou are no exception. More projects had been completed since my last visit to the area.

The first series of photos are from a historically themed park area in Huzhou.

An actual historical temple, built to house engravings from previous dynasties.

Hangzhou is a large city with many modern high rises.

Hangzhou also has 西湖 or 'West Lake' a popular tourist destination at which a glimpse of what China looked like can be seen.

鯉 - Koi

This absolutely beautiful fish was swimming in the local stream; likely it has escaped from someone's pond.

Another interesting thing that I have noticed after seeing a few of these colourful koi in the stream is that the fish are somewhat territorial or at least stay in the same area for some time. It's not something that you would notice with the regularly coloured koi as they are a uniform black with a silvery underside.

亀 - Turtle

This rather large turtle wasn't going any where, even though it's riding the bicycle.

Sakura

Spring has brought warmer temperatures;

the cherry trees have started to blossom.

Tsuruhashi

Tsuruhashi is the center of Korean culture and food in Osaka and the best place to get authentic Korean food outside of Korea. There are also busy markets specializing in fresh fish, kimchi and other delicacies. Though in the evening most of these were closed down for the day. The maze of covered streets gives a somewhat underground atmosphere as well. I went there with my friend Zach to take some shots, give/take some advice and experiment with the cameras a bit. It was a great location with many interesting scenes to shoot.

Lighting technique: a bare fluorescent tube about 30cm away.