Yesterday at the Sunsports grounds just outside of Hirafu village a local 5-a-side soccer comp was held with 7 teams competing for the title.
昨日、倶知安町サンスポーツグラウンドにて、地元７チームによる、１チーム５人制のサッカー大会が行われました。
Probably buoyed in part by the awesome summer weather [27℃] – the teams whipped themselves into Hirafu World Cup fever!
夏の陽気がそうさせたのでしょうか ー 選手たちは自分たちにムチを打つように、ヒラフワールドカップを楽しみました！
Lots of local companies banded together to support the event and fancy footwork and shirts off weather prevailed – the teams put on a real treat for the crowd who turned up to watch the action.
たくさんの地元の会社によるイベントへのサポート、選手たちの軽快なあしさばき、そしてシャツを脱ぎだしたくなるような天気 ー そのすべてが、集まった観客たちを魅了しました。
The final game came down to a seemingly unlikely match up between Japanada vs New Zealand. To be fair the NZ team had just emerged victorious from a fiery match against “Europe” to reach the final but unfortunately they were no match for the well rested Japanada team who won 1-0.
決勝戦は予想していなかった試合運び、”ジャパナダ” VS ニュージーランド。1-0で”ジャパナダ”チームの優勝でした。NZチームの名誉のために、準決勝の対”ヨーロッパ”チームとの試合はとてもきついもので、残念なことに”ジャパナダ”チームとの対戦の前に十分な休息を取れなかったことを補足しておきます。
It was a great day and really good to see lots of local people hanging out and having fun together.
たくさんの地元の方々が集まって、楽しい時間を一緒に過ごすことができ、本当にすばらしい一日でした。
Thanks to Derek and everyone else who contributed towards putting the event on.
このイベントを開催してくれたデレックさん、そして協力してくださった皆さんに感謝です。
On the outskirts Kutchan Mr Mishima’s amazing garden comes into bloom in late spring every year.
今年も三島さん家の芝ざくらが満開になりました。
This private garden is popular right now and open to the public to wander around and check out the Shiba Zakura flowers.
こちらのお庭は北海道は倶知安町、町の中心部から少し外れた場所に位置しています。少し遅い春〜初夏のこの時期、目にまぶしいピンク色とそこら中にただよう優しい香りをたくさんの人に楽しんでもらえるよう、個人のお庭ではありますが、一般に公開されており、とても人気の場所になっています。
This year Mr Mishima sculptured part of the garden to look like Mt Yotei.
この花畑からは名勝・羊蹄山を臨むことができますが、実は花畑の中にも、山頂を雪で覆われた羊蹄山が佇んでいます。このパノラマ写真の中で見ることができますよ！
You can see his version of a snow capped Mt Yotei framed in front of the real thing in this pano.
Mr Mishima is standing above the garden in the green hat chatting to some people.
I haven’t boosted the color in the shots the colors were really that bright.
こちらのパノラマは、撮影後、色の補正を行っておらず、花本来が本当にこんなにきれいに発色しています。庭の上の方では、家主である三島さんが訪れた方との会話を楽しんでいるのが見えます。
Check it out if you are in the area – well worth a look.
お近くにいらっしゃる方は、ぜひ一度ご覧になってください。…今年のシーズンはそんなに長くないかもしれませんので、お早めに…（または来年までのお楽しみ！）
This week the warm weather has continued and I now have my first golf game of the season under my belt.
Today I took part in my neighborhood association friendly golf comp with 32 people held at Hanazono’s Tokyu Golf course.
I was paired with guys who all run pensions here in the Hirafu area. Stellar weather and even the bugs weren’t too bad. Most of the snow has gone down low but up high there is still a surprising amount.
My form was pretty patchy…
…but had fun anyways – scored a 91 and came 18th.
This pano was shot Oct last year at the Hilton golf course in Niseko village and I’m looking forward to doing some new summer golf pano’s this year.
I took all of the shots with a Canon S90 pocket camera. Great little camera and was nice to just chill out & play, not lug my DSLR and heavy lens around. Having a camera I can just put in my pocket but still be able to shoot RAW is awesome.
It is also quiet and doesn’t seem to put my fellow golfers off so badly compared to my Nikon D700 cranking out 8 shots a second.
The star of today was Morita san who took out the comp with a 69 ! YOSH
Lake Toya is a beautiful part of the world and last Saturday it was perfect.
Here in Hokkaido we always enjoy great winters ( if you are into skiing or snowboarding ) but the season is looooong. When the warmer weather finally sets in everyone gets a real boost from the sunshine – enjoying the sunset from Lake Toya with friends, a cool beer in hand…well it doesn’t get much better than that.
