In this week’s video of landscape photography in Japan, we visit Oishi Park on the coast of Kawaguchi Lake in Yamanashi Prefecture near the base of Mt. Fuji.
Among the various cosmos flowers, the park has many summer cypress plants, which are used as an ornamental plant. In Japan, the plant is known as either “kokia” (コキア) or “houki-gusa” (ほうき草 lit. broom-grass) since the plant is used for making brooms after the dead plant dries out. The plant also seems to be known as fireweed, kochia burning bush, summer cypress, ragweed, and several more names.
Info on how to access Oishi Park:
Oishi Park is located 117 km (72.8 mi.) west of central Tokyo:
Depending on the season, there can be as many as 100,000 flowers in bloom throughout Oishi Park. On a clear day can be seen rising up over the lake.
Summer Cypress
Used in this garden as an ornamental plant, it is known in Japan as either “kokia” (コキア) or “houki-gusa” (ほうき草 lit. broom-grass) since the plant is used for making brooms after the dead plant dries out. The plant also seems to be known as fireweed, kochia burning bush, summer cypress, ragweed, and several more names.
Summer Cypress and Lake
This area of Oishi Park has many summer cypress planted here so that visitors can enjoy the plants in the foreground with Mt. Fuji in the background just across the lake. Unfortunately, Mt. Fuji was tucked behind thick cloud cover at the time of this photo shoot. Will definitely try to visit this location again in the future.
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Pacific Ocean during blue hour. Shot taken from the Miharashi Hiroba parking lot near Shirahama Beach in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Outcrop as Sun Rises over Pacific Ocean
Warm streaks of light hit the weather-worn foliage jutting out into the ocean on a steep outcrop as the sun slowly rises over the horizon. Shot taken from the Miharashi Hiroba parking lot near Shirahama Beach in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture.
The last three shots were taken at Shirahama Beach:
English Address:
Shirahama Beach, Shirahama, Shimoda, Shizuoka 415-0012
Small waves crashing onto shore where geometric edges of the rocks have eroded over time to become slippery and smooth.
Gate and Rope on Shoreline Rocks
The torii gate that sits atop this huge rock is a part of the Ikonabi Hime Shrine, whose founding dates back to over 2,400 years. The shimenawa rope “weds” the two rocks together and sets the boundary between the world of man and the sacred world of the kami, which extends from the two rocks to the shrine located inland.
Torii Gate to Shinto Shrine on Shore’s Edge
The torii gate marks the transition from “man’s world” to the sacred. This torii is painted in the traditional vermillion red, but I wasn’t able to capture the color with the sun in the east.
Torii Gate & Ocean
Long exposure of a torii gate facing the Pacific Ocean with the island of Oshima in the distance.
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The lake was formed after the eruption of a volcano over 3,000 years ago. The lake is popular for fishing, sightseeing, and is home to many historical sites:
There are many more attractions in the area around the lake including hot spring resorts, famous restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, western hotels, Japanese style inns, museums, ropeways, and much more.
The cedar trees lining the route to the shrine are about 350 to 400 years old. A wide angle lens in a portrait orientation is needed to capture the full height of these trees. This was the widest I could get without including distractions on the sides using a standard kit lens. I chose an aperture of ƒ/25 to maximize depth of field while trying to maintain a minimum amount of sharpness. The smaller aperture combined with a cloudy sky right after sunrise necessitated a 30-second exposure.
Staircase to Shinto Shrine
Early morning view of staircase leading to Hakone Jinja (箱根神社), which sits halfway up the side of a large hill that borders on the water’s edge of Lake Ashi (芦ノ湖). Originally founded in 757, the current site dates back to 1667. My favorite parts of this shrine are the rows of huge, majestic cedar trees that line the staircase and the line the old Tokaido Highway that runs nearby.
This shot did not turn out as I had expected. I chose a larger aperture to soften the tree in the background which introduced too much light from the sky behind the tree. In hindsight, I should have used an ND filter or at least an 8-stop ND grad.
Stone Lantern at Mountain Shrine
A common feature at Shinto shrines are the stone lanterns that guide visitors to the shrine. Less common are stone lanterns that have wooden parts or have parts painted in vermillion. This particular design of lantern with a square opening is called the Kasuga Style (春日型 lit. spring-sun-style), however, this lantern is bit more refined in that it has a vermillion wooden frame fit into the opening called a higuchi (火口 lit. fire-mouth) where a flame is traditionally lit.
This was another shot that proved disappointing as well. I think the original concept was good, but there were too many objects along the edges of the frame that were blurred by the breeze, the autumn colors were dull, and water surface reflected too much light in spite of using a circular polarizer. This photo was heavily edited in Lightroom. Pixel peeking will review the the awful results. Photo is OK I guess if viewed on a tiny mobile screen.
Volcanic Crater Lake and Early Autumn Foliage
Early morning shot of far coastline of Lake Ashi (Ashinoko), a lake formed by two major volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago. This shot was taken along a path that was once part of the old Tokaido “highway” linking Kyoto and Edo (former name of Tokyo).
This shot was taken at a different angle in relation to the sun, so the circular polarizer was much more effective at cutting reflected light. Unfortunately, if you zoom in on the shot, you'll notice that the foliage is not sharp since this is a 30-second exposure, which softened the water and clouds, but there was a light breeze that shook the foliage on the right.
Early Autumn Foliage
Long exposure shot in early morning at shoreline of Lake Ashi (Ashinoko). Mid-October is still a bit too early to see bright autumn colors in the Hakone Mountains.
I struggled with this composition. I wanted to convey the age of this historical building and felt that the mist in the mountaintop added to the mystery or mood of the building. Unfortunately, I don't think this emotion is conveyed to the viewer. This photo just might appear to be some random old building to the viewer. Maybe if I should have zoomed in on a particular architectural element, such as one of the lamps hanging from the corners of the roof eaves.
Historical Hot Spring Resort
View of the southern wing of Ryuguden, a hot spring resort built in 1938 as a guest house for high society visiting the shores of Ashinoko Lake, which was only accessible by boat. Now, it is open to the public and accessible by bus and car. The resort is known for serving exquisite traditional Japanese dishes and is famous for being the only resort where you can simultaneously enjoy a view of both Ashinoko Lake and Mt. Fuji while soaking in hot springs.
Finally, this is probably the only photo I feel good about from this photoshoot. The sun had risen to a height and angle that allowed the polarizer to do its job at cutting out reflections of light from the water surface. Although there is a lot of noise in the top of the frame, photo most closely expresses the ethereal emotion that this scene invoked in me.
Lake Ashinoko Shoreline
Moody and peaceful early morning long-exposure shot of a moss-covered stone on the shore of Ashinoko Lake in the mountains of Hakone, Japan.
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We arrived at Odaiba Park around 3:30 a.m. Although a couple of hours before sunrise, the sky was actually quite bright due to a a waxing gibbous moon, and the ambient city lights reflecting off of the scattered cloud cover.
Access by car (from Nihonbashi) is a 22-minute drive via normal streets or a 14-minute drive via the expressway to the Municipal Parking Lot closest to Daiba Park.
For this photo shoot, I wanted to capture nightscape/cityscape compositions without the fuss of worrying about blocking tourists and local families living on the island with my camera gear (cameras and tripods).
Fortunately, I did not see any other people at the parks, beach, or tourist spots until about an hour after sunrise.
First shot was taken on the edge of Daiba Park almost directly under the Rainbow Bridge. Tokyo Tower, a lattice tower whose design was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, is the 2nd largest tallest structure at 332.9 meters (1,092 ft). A beautiful symbol of Tokyo that has been around since 1958. Buildings surrounding the tower were softened in post processing to help the tower stand out from among the glare of so many lights and reflections.
The second shot was taken from the beach looking towards the shoreline. Tokyo Rainbow Bridge connects Minato Ward, Tokyo with the Odaiba waterfront development district—a man-made island sitting in the middle of Tokyo Bay. The bridge uses solar panels during the day to “paint” the bridge in red, white, and green every night. The sun had just risen at the time this shot was taken. Streaks of light were able to break through the clouds and shine on the high-rise apartment building in the distance. A grad filter was used for the upper portion of the shot (to increase contrast) and a reverse grad filter was applied to the bottom portion of the shot to decrease contrast and increase exposure.
The original 14-ton 22-meter tall statue titled “Liberty Enlightening the World” (aka Statue of Liberty) was donated to France by American expats in 1889 to commemorate the French Revolution. In 1998, the statue was shipped from France an put on display in Tokyo to commemorate 100 years of French-Japanese relations. After the statue returned to France a year later, a replica was built and placed at Odaiba Island in Tokyo Bay. This shot was taken at a distance of only 44.43 ft. (13.54 m) from the pedestal of the statue with the shortest focal length possible with the lens I was using.
Blue hour view of Tokyo Tower as viewed from Daiba Park, part of the waterfront development district—a man-made island sitting in the middle of Tokyo Bay. Positioning of the camera for this shot was almost the same as the shot above. Post processing of this image aims to subdue the tones of all other structures to help the tower stand out without too much difference with the surrounding structures.
View of Rainbow Bridge from Daiba Park. The park is actually an island that was built in 1854 as one of several batteries built for coastal defenses after the arrival of USN Commodore Perry in 1853. Remnants of stone cannon pedestals, ammunition storehouses, and barracks can still be seen at the park. The shot aims to focus on symmetry. Post processing was minimal, so this image is close to the RAW file that came out of camera.
