Amami Superman Photography

After checking out the gift shop, we decided it was time to head out again. But before we did, we stopped by the petting zoo to check out some of the animals they had roaming freely. They had a couple of vending machines that dispensed treats you could give to the animals. Jade bought hers and headed straight for the calf.



She stuck the treat in her pocket, but that didn't stop the calf from looking for it. It could smell it on her.













That was our short visit to Takachiho Farms on the Ebino Plateau. Although we didn't get to ride the ponies or do some of the other fun stuff they had, it was a fun experience none the less. It will be fun to come back here when the weather isn't so crummy.

We still had a big portion of the day ahead of us so we made our way to the car and headed to downtown Kagoshima to city aquarium.

After we finished going around and checking out the cows and horses we decided it was time to grab some grub. We were close to the barbecue restaurant they had and the smell of grilling beef was calling to our hunger so we made our way there.

They didn't have a huge menu to choose from but they had a few sets to choose from. Once we made our order we received a card with a number on it. When our order was finished, they called our number and we picked it up at the window.



It was a simple meal, but I have to say, barbecued beef makes the cold rainy days go away. I had a ravenous hunger and it was all I could do to keep myself from wolfing down the cubed steak. A regular Japanese barbecue usually uses thinly sliced beef where this was cubed and it's been a while since I've had thick barbecued steak like this.







They also had other things on the menu like different kinds of pizza and icecream. The pizza cheese and icecream are all made from the milk they produce there at the farm. They also had a fondue hot dog. It had hot melted cheese on a hot dog with some tomatoes, a bit of cabbage and some mustard. After enjoying some juicy steak, this hot dog just didn't quite make the cut.

Jade wanted to use the binocular device they had nearby while we finished our lunch so we let her go while we kept an eye on her. I finished my lunch and I decided to try and sneak up on her.








After we finished our lunch we visited the gift shop and then we went to the petting zoo they had. they had some sheep, cows, rabbits and some other animals roaming around in a small enclosure they had near the parking lot. I'll save those photos for another post.

One of the things we did for our trip to Kyushu was take Jade to the Takachiho Farms. Takachiho Farm is a dairy farm where they raise dairy cows for milking and cattle for beef. They also have pigs I believe and make their own pork products such as sausage.

We arrived at the farm a little after 11:00am on Sunday. We hurried to get in line for a cow milking event they had that started at 11:3oam. We were the first ones there so Jade got to be the first one to milk the cow.

As the children were milking this cow, one of the men talked about the importance of milk. As he spoke, he reminded me of this quote, "I guess cows aren't into the four food groups, especially when they are two of them." ~Anthony Clark

After that we headed to the horse stables. They usually have times set aside for pony rides but the weather was bad and the corrals were too muddy so they canceled the rides for that day.


Now, I've never seen a halfling pony and I didn't imagine them to be quite this big. They are smaller than regular sized horses, but bigger than I expected. They are also quite shaggy beasts. I could picture this halfling being ridden by Samwise Gamgee from one of Tolkien's books. I remember a pony my grandmother had with her other horses. We called him "Tidbit". He was a shorty too.



They had ropes around these guys so we couldn't get close enough to take regular photos. But I did want something to remember this by so I had Jade just stand there and smile.

After that we made our way around to where the housed the cows. We first walked past the calves and then on the the bigger adults. Jade got a kick out of that. I expected her to be more scared of them, but she didn't seem to be that much.







It was well into the afternoon by then and we still hadn't eaten lunch so we went to the outdoor barbecue area they had to get us some grub after that. I'll post those photos in the next post.

On our trip to Kyushu, as we were making our way towards Takachiho Farms on the Ebino Plateau, we stopped to take some photos of some deer on the side of the road. It was cold and after getting back into the car and heading out again, Jade mentioned she had to use the restrooms. So we stopped at a public restroom just down the road. As the girls were in the bathroom doing their thing, I got out to read some of the signs they had posted nearby.

As I was reading the signs I noticed off to the side some trees that had a bunch of fungus growing on them. I took a moment to take a few shots of this.

I wish I could be as artistic as nature is...

In my mind, when I think about Kirishima, I think about its onsens. As I was trying to find out more about Kirishima, I came across loads of information. Here is a quote from japan-guide.com.

From japan-guide.com
Kirishima is an active volcanic mountain range that lies on the border between Miyazaki and Kagoshima Prefectures. It is made up of mountains, highlands, volcanic lakes and hot springs and offers good hiking through beautiful mountainous surroundings. Although geographically separate, Kirishima and Yakushima Island make up the Kirishima-Yaku National Park, one of Japan's oldest national parks.

The mountains of Kirishima play an important role in Japanese mythology. They are said to be the site where the god Ninigi no Mikoto, grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu, was sent to rule over the earth and establish the lineage of Japanese Emperors. At the top of Mount Takachiho-no-mine you can see the spear sunk in the mountaintop, which Ninigi no Mikoto used to descend to earth.

Ebino Kogen and Kirishima Onsen are the two most prominent resort towns in the Kirishima area. Ebino Kogen on the Miyazaki side of the border, is a small village with a couple of hotels in a highland area surrounded by mountains and volcanic lakes. On the Kagoshima side is Kirishima Onsen, a more developed hot spring town with good baths and nice views over Kagoshima Prefecture.

You can find this page here at japan-guide.com

So there we were driving through a volcanic region and this is one of the sites we saw off the side of the road. It's a place where the hot water just runs out from the rocks on the side of this mountain.


I wanted to walk down and take some other photos, but it was raining and wet and I didn't feel like getting drenched while walking down through this grass.


The air was thick with the smell of sulfur. The rotten egg smell almost made Jade vomit when she got out of the car.

The more I read about Kirishima, the more I want to go back there. I feel with our tight schedule, I missed a bazillion photo opportunities. Maybe next year in the fall we'll go back there and spend a few days.

On our trip to Kyushu, after arriving in Kagoshima, driving to Fukuoka and spending the night in a hotel, we woke up early the next morning and headed back to the Kagoshima Prefecture.

We had planned out some places to take our daughter Jade. The first place we planned on going was the Takachiho Farms. They have a few events that only happen at certain times of the day so, again, we were pressed for time. Takachiho Farms is actually in Miyazaki I believe, but it's very close to Kagoshima on the Ebino Plateau. We got off the freeway at the Ebino JCT and headed over the mountains towards the Ebino Plateau.

On our way, we came across the Kirishima-Yaku National Park. As we were passing one of the many parking lots there, my wife points out some deer in one. Not wanting to scare them away, I pulled the rent-a-car off the opposite side of the road. As I started to snap shots off, I thought it would be cool if we could get Jade in some of these photos. I told Jade to move very slowly towards the deer so I could get a photo of her. It took a minute or two for her to finally get close and when she turned around, I took as many shots as I could. Then the cars started to roll by.

As the first car stops off the side of the road right next to the deer, I was screaming in my head, "You're going to scare them away! IDIOTS!" But to my surprise, the deer didn't run away. More cars came and stopped and soon the side of the road was full of people and cars and a good photo opportunity turned sour.

These are some of the photos I was able to take before everyone showed up.

I read somewhere that Kirishima was used as a filming location for the James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice. I've seen the movie, but I'll have to watch it again to see if I can recognize where was filmed.

After returning back to Amami last week, I've been devastated again by another cold. It's tough for me to take off work, especially during this time of the year. Today was the first day I felt halfway decent enough to get out of bed and get some thing done on my computer. Good news is my ear infections are better and my ears are clearing up day by day.

Jade ran a 1k race last week. She took 5th place out of close to 40 other girls. Although I felt like I was on my deathbed, I went out to cheer her on and try to take a few photos. It was a cloudy day with breaks of sunshine but for the most part, cloudy. I decided to try to take photos using manual setting. I had it all set up and took some nice photos up until Jade's race. As her race began, the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. I, being the enthusiastic encouraging father I am, was yelling at the top of my lungs while taking photos and completely forgot to compensate for the bright sun. I pretty much ruined every photo of her race. I wanted to kick myself. As the saying goes, we learn from our mistakes...