November
23
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Bolt from the blue
I’ve previously said that Tsu and Mie are on the cleaner side, environmentally speaking by Japanese standards, but I didn’t think the centre of Tsu was this clean. Recently, I stopped by Tsu Castle to check how the autumn colours were progressing. It’s one of the best places in Tsu to see them even though the park is only tiny. As I parked my bike, I spied something blue in the cherry tree beside me. To my utter disbelief it was a kingfisher. Though not rare in Japan, kingfishers are said to only make their homes along very clean, slow moving stretches of water. Tsu Castle has a moat around it that’s clear enough to spy the giant brightly coloured koi (鯉 – Japanese carp) cruising the green depths, but I would ever have considered it terribly ‘clean’. I don’t mind being proved wrong in this way one bit.
Tsu Castle’s resident kingfisher.
inaka biking 
Kingfisher watch update: I’m managing to get closer to him but he still flies off when he hears my shutter click. Check out this photo from Saturday: https://inakabiking.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=1430