Playing Fireworks

Dumplings

Dumplings, as defined in a standard English dictionary, fall in two main categories: these are either "piece[s] of dough, sometimes filled, that are cooked in liquid such as water or soup" or alternatively "sweetened dough wrapped around fruit, such as an apple, baked and served as a dessert."[1] More generally, dumplings may be any of a wide variety of dishes, both sweet and savoury, that are not necessarily dough-based. There are varieties of dumplings made from bread, potatoes, or matzoh meal, with or without filling. Dumplings are made from balls of dough, crumbled bread, or mashed potatoes. Alternatively, they may be fashioned as small parcels of food encased in dough, batter, pastry, or even edible leaves. Once the filling is put inside the ball or is encased in a pocket, dumplings usually undergo further treatment by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. Before the discovery of the New World dumplings did not contain potatoes, but instead were typically made with meat, fish, or sweets.

(source: Wikipedia)

Chinese New Year Decor - 2

Chinese New Year Decor - 1

Fireworks - 4

Fireworks - 3

Fireworks - 2

Fireworks - 1

Ski Ropeway/ Gondola

Frosty Trees

Urasa Ski Resort

Urasa Ski Resort

View from the top of Urasa Ski Resort

IUJ Research Institute

Sunny Day in Winter

Full Moon

Grilled Orange

Ever eaten grilled orange? This guy is grilling orange.... I wonder how it tastes!

Guardian Angel

Grill Cuttlefish

Japanese Zither - Koto

The koto is a Japanese zither, that descended from the Chinese zheng, but over the years took on its own distinct characteristics. Made from Palownia wood, the koto is approximately two metres 6 feet in length, with thirteen strings originally made of silk but now made of plastic. Traditionally, the koto was played seated on the floor with the end of the koto either resting in the players lap or on a small stand in front of them. It is played with three ivory picks placed on the right thumb and the first two fingers.

There are a number of schools of koto in Japan each with their own individual methods of playing, string types, shapes of picks, etc. Perhaps the most exciting is the Sawai style founded by Tadao Sawai and now led by his wife Kazue Sawai. The Sawai style takes the koto out of the quiet sedate world of Japanese traditional music and flings it well into the contemporary world.

Kazue Sawai's teacher Michiyo Miyagi changed the world of koto by inventing a 17 string bass koto as part of his koto large ensembles to mimic the western orchestra. Now there are a wide variety of koto, including a 20 string, 21 string, 23 string and a 30 string. The latter is a very powerful instrument although very heavy and hard to travel with. The world of koto continues the change with solid body electric koto and even digital koto.

(source: http://www.asza.com/ikoto.shtml)