Try to taste new species of strawberry!! It's so sweet and juicy!!

Try to taste new species of strawberry!! It's so sweet and juicy!!, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

Four pieces of large strawberries in the photo above are new species of strawberry named Skyberry that has been developed by the Agricultural experiment station of Tochigi Prefecture.
The newly developed species of strawberry is two or three times bigger than normal and usual strawberry as you can see in the photo above, and it contains more Brix (sugar) and moisture than normal one. Therefore, new one is very sweet and juicy.
The Skyberry is now under trial sales at the pilot shop of Tochigi Prefecture located in the Soramachi of Tokyo SkyTree.
By the way, the production of strawberry in Tochigi Prefecture, where I live, is ranked at the top in Japan.
The photograph compares the normal one, called Tochi-Otome, with the new strawberry.

A small temple where women pray for an easy delivery.

A small temple where women pray for an easy delivery., originally uploaded by photoholic image.

This small temple is dedicated to Goddess of Mercy and it is called "Kan-non-do San-no-miya　(観音堂産の宮）" commonly known as "Kyosha-do(香車堂）" among local people.
You can see so many pentagonal shaped wooden pieces on which two characters are written like "香車" saying "Kyosha" that is one of pieces of Japanese Chess called Shogi. The chess piece of Kyosha can move straight forward only so that people thought it can be associated with an easy delivery.
An old tradition in this region has it that pregnant women have an easy delivery of a baby if they borrow any one of pieces of Kyosha from here and bring it back to their home.
After the birth of a baby, women come back to this temple to return the piece of Kyosha with new one as a thank to the deity. Therefore, number of piece of Kyosha are increased gradually.

An excellent car of the good old days running in Tokyo!

An excellent car of the good old days running in Tokyo!, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

taken by Olympus Pen E-P3 with Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

Be careful about burns on your fingers when you set off firecrackers!!
The city government of Beijing has urged the general public to refrain from firecrackers because of the worst air-polｌutions, newspapers reported.

This year is the year of snake according to the Earthly Branches (十二支) developed by the ancient China.
It is said that the year of snake is to be good business year and people have luck with money matter. For the proof of that, the stock prices have increased gradually and reached the first highest value since the Lehman Shock at Tokyo Stock Exchange last week.

Is it omen with unexpected earnings? Because, I had a dream about a white snake last night that would be an anticipation of coming some money into my purse. If so, I would buy a new camera, and same time, I have to be prudent about losing money in horse racing. LOL!!!

For your happy weekend!

For your happy weekend!, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

When I bought this potted cineraria, a florist taught me that the cineraria's language of flowers are "cheerful" and/or "joy".
So I hope you spend this weekend cheerfully!!
Thank you for viewing.

looking up to wintersweets under the blue sky and waiting for spring

looking up to wintersweets under the blue sky and waiting for spring, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

Today, it was still very cold even after the sun reached and crossed over the celestial longitude of 315° that means after the day (Feb. 4th) of Risshun (立春） or Lichun in Mandarin. Risshun (立春） means the first day of spring in the traditional calender common in the East Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China. In Taiwan, the cherry blossoms are at their best and it is the climax in spring that can be seen on many wonderful photos uploaded by flickr friends in Taiwan.
However, at the place where I live, it is still mid-winter. I have to wait another two months for the cherry blossom.

Thank you for looking and wishing you all a happy Friday and weekend!!

ready for bloom?

ready for bloom?, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

Flowering of Japanese cornel is later than usual this year, because of a bitter winter.
However, buds swell out day by day.

Carps that waiting for feed

Carps that waiting for feed, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

As the weather forecast reported last night, it started to snow from early this morning. I found my garden covered with snow when I awoke this morning. This is the second snowy day in this year. I hope that public transportation does not stop at the heavy snow like before. Because, I have an appointment with dentist in this afternoon.

Camaras on display at PENTAX booth

Camaras on display at PENTAX booth, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

The display appealed color variations on camera body at the PENTAX booth.
These are newly released of Pentax Q10 Model.

The photo above was taken at the Camera & Photo Imaging Show 2013 (CP+) held from Jan. 31st to Feb. 3rd at Pacifico Yokohama.
The CP+ is one of largest camera and photo imaging exhibitions in Japan.
Unfortunately, I did not have any new topics in this show.
I wish you all a peaceful Sunday.

A flower of midwinter, Sasanqua

A flower of midwinter, Sasanqua, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

I remember the song of Sasanqua (山茶花) sung by Teresa Teng (鄧麗君) whenever I see this flower. This song was very popular especially among girls when I lived in Kuala Lumpur (KL). Many Chinese-Malaysian girls sang this song at the Karaoke pub in KL. One of my friends in KL, who was also Chinese-Malaysian (her ancestor came from Fujian province 福建省 in late 19th century）, sang this song very well in both Mandarin and Japanese that is one of my sweet memories in Malaysia.