Sudden weather changes

We've had Indian Summer since Thursday in Tokyo - had a lot of sunshine so we could shed our coats during the day. The weather man said that the temp. level was that of late March!

Below are photos of the moon seen on Thursday night and Friday morning - nothing to do with the topic of today, but I think these photos turned out nicely, so am positing them.

The moon seen in the evening of Thursday

(high in the eastern sky).

The moon seen in the morning of Friday

(setting in the western sky).

Our stock of firewood is diminishing.

The plum flowers have bloomed in our yard - very pretty.

But in PM of today, northern wind is back and it became a VERY windy/gusty day - brought a lot of ceder pollen as well as yellow sand dust from China. Not at all a nice day for allergic person like me.

Tokyo Marathon 2008

Second Annual Tokyo Marathon was today. Although it was cold, unlike last year, the sky was clear and beautiful. Unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky ones that made 1-in-5 chance drawing (For 30,000 runners that were allowed to run, over 150,000 applied this year).
With my daughter, I went to cheer for my wife who ran the 10K part of it - i.e., from the start in Shinjuku and finish at Hibiya Park.
I could at least feel the excitement of it by being at the start and greeting her at the 10K finish.
Now, my wife and I are talking about challenging full-length marathons (42.195Km).

今日、2回目の東京マラソンが開催されました。寒い日でしたが、昨年とは違って青空の広がる日本晴れでした。残念ながら、私は5分の1の確率の抽選に当たらなかったので走れませんでした（3万人の定員のところに15万人を超える応募がありました）。私は娘と一緒に10K（新宿スタート-->日比谷公園フィニッシュ）を走った妻の応援に出かけました。妻とはフルマラソンにチャレンジしようかと話をしています。

An ad for the Marathon at a train station.
国際展示場前駅に張ってあったマラソンの広告

Runners at 10:24 by Hibiya Park.
10:24の日比谷公園横を走るランナー達

Hibiya Park as the finishing point for the 10K.
10Kフィニッシュ地点となった日比谷公園はこんな状況でした。

Mt. Fuji and Shadow Play

Last Friday, I ran about one hour later than usual - it was light already. I climed up on our roof and to my delight, very snowy Mt. Fuji was cleary visible!

金曜日には普段より1時間ほど遅い時間に走りましたので、既に明るくなってきていました。自宅の屋根に上ると、真っ白な富士山が見えました。

The Sun came up as I ran - here are pictures of my shadow projected on the riverbank and on a tree - making interesting scene.

走っている間に日が昇ってきました。下の写真は川岸と木に移った私の影です。

Snow, Stars, and Plum Blossoms

Last Sunday, it snowed and snowed all day. This photo is of a park near by.

It doesn't look like Tokyo, does it?

Nice treat for children but is sure has been cold!

We did have clear days after that, and on Thursday, Orion was very visible in the southern sky.

Although the winter weather remains, some hint of spring is showing with the plum blossom.

I also encounterd a white heron in a nearby river.

Having seasons can be tough, but fun!

Morning stars and the Moon

As I jogged, two bright morning stars (actally planets - Venus and Jupiter) in the east greeted me this week. In the southern sky shined the moon.
I love to run before the Sunrise - the air is crispy and the orange of the dawn grows as I jog in my neighborhood.
In the past week, I saw the Moon thin away as the two planets got closer together.

The Moon around 5:30 of Jan. 28.

Venus and Jupiter around 6:15 of Jan. 30.

The Moon around 6:15 of Jan. 30.

The planets were very close to each other around 6:00 of Feb. 1.

今週は、宵の明星が２つありました。東の空に金星と木星が輝いていました。南の空の月はだんだんやせてゆきました。２つの惑星は毎朝近づきました。この時期は明るくなる直前の時間帯が私のジョギングタイムですが、暗闇から東の空がだんだんオレンジになってくるのがとても気持ちいいです。