A New Series for the New Year!

 








Happy Holidays!

I hope you have been having a nice holiday season!

To celebrate a wonderful year in Japan, I am going to do a five part series on this blog. The five parts will include the following:

  1. Information about our most recent trip. 
    1. Photo focus: animals.
  2. A summary of the reading I have been doing. 
    1. Photo focus: landscapes.
  3. An update on my job and my plans for the future. 
    1. Photo focus: Water and sunrises and sunsets.
  4. My current perspective on climate change and the environment. 
    1. Photo focus: Osaka Castle.
  5. A summary of the personal development areas that are my current priorities. 
    1. Photo focus: Hikone Castle.

All of the photos for this five part series were taken  during our recent trip to Lake Biwako. 

It is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, with a circumference of 146 miles. 

It is a beautiful lake that offers many interesting sightseeing places. Highlights for us included Hikone Castle, the Prince Hotel in Otsu, the Osaka Castle, Ishiyama-dera Temple, and Nara. 

All of the animal pictures were taken with my professional Canon gear. The evening pictures and some others were taken with my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I took close to 4000 pictures in 5 days!

It is not very often that a trip will include all of the different types of photography I enjoy: animals and birds, gardens and landscapes, mountains, sunrises and sunsets, and water. This trip truly had it all! 

The first two nights we stayed at the beautiful Otsu Hotel right on Lake Biwako.

The next two nights we stayed at the Hilton Doubletree in Osaka.

The last night we stayed at the Nara Hotel.

I did not realize that Japan is home to two of the largest cities in the world. 

  1. According to Wikipedia, Tokyo is at the top of the list with a population of 37,468,000. 
  2. Osaka is number 10 with a population of 19,281,000. 
  3. Portland, Oregon: 652,503.
  4. Otsu, Japan: 344,00. 
  5. Fuchu, Japan (our home town): 260,508.
  6. Eugene, Oregon: 176,654. 
  7. Springfield, Oregon: 61,851.

I do miss the lower population density of Lane County!

Again, Wikipedia lists the following populations for these countries.

  1. China: 1.4 billion
  2. India: 1.4 billion
  3. US: 340 million plus
  4. Japan: 124 million 
 Thank you to Setsuko for being the best tour guide around!

All the best,

Bob


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