Tag: Japan

Cute young Reef fish

reef fish, underwater

Amphiprion clarkii (Bennett, 1830) Yellowtail clownfish

Yellowtail clownfish hiding between the tentacles of an anemone.
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This pic, I shot a few years ago at Owase, Mie, Japan. Owase is a small city that belongs to the temperature zone, even though, the colorful tropic scenery under the sea.
Year after year, the seascape is reaching tropical, I feel.
When I started Dive in Owase, about 30 years ago, I couldn’t watch young Yellowtail clownfish. Yellowtail clownfish was the fish that visited from the tropical zone to the temperature zone and couldn’t overwinter so cold as “extinct migratory fish”.
Two decades years ago or so, We often watch adult Yellow clownfish in early spring. We were surprised to know that they were over winter.
And recently, We can see cute small Yellowtail clownfish easily.
It is or not concerned with the earth’s temperature rising, I don’t know.
I can only say that nature is great!

Location: Owase, Mie Japan

Rock Reef princess

shrimp, Uncategorized

Banded Coral Shrimp

Stenopus hispidus   (Olivier, 1811)

One stone is one of the popular diving points in Owase. It is a large monolith rock reef. Many kinds of soft coral are overgrown, and a flock of cardinalfish and colorful Anthias fishes entertain the diver’s eyes.
There are large and small cracks in this rock reef, and you can see shrimp and crabs.

Banded coral shrimp is common shrimp in such rock holes.
Beautifully colored shrimp decorated with red and white bands.
The Japanese name for Banded coral shrimp is Otohime-Ebi. Otohime is the name of a beautiful princess who lives in a fairy tale undersea palace. Ebi is shrimp. Contrary to its name, it is diligent and is known for cleaning large fish parasites.

Nabekura-Kei, The river of Rocks.

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Is it Ancient ruins?
https://enntourism.com/blog/mt-kono-a-planetarium-on-earth-yamazoe-nara/

A mysterious mountain stream that covered with rocks in Yamazoe Village, Nara Prefecture.
Length 650m, width 25m. Clean water flows under the rocks.
Some people think of this river as a galaxy.
According to research, there are megaliths in positions corresponding to Vega, Altair, and Deneb along this river. There is also a rock that corresponds to the North Star. However, Surprisingly, it’s not present North Star but, it was the North Star 4000 years ago.
This is Thuban. It is the same star as the North Star, which the ancient Egyptians observed in the pyramid.

The concrete block is an anti symbol of nature?

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Tree soft coral (Dendronephthya sp.)

I like Soft coral against the backdrop of sunshine.
It’s one of the symbolic scenery of the undersea in Owase.
It’s beautiful, elegant, mysterious.
It’s beauty in nature.
However, this soft coral is standing on the artificial fish reef.
It is made of a lot of concrete blocks.


The concrete block is an anti symbol of nature.
It was installed on the sandy seabed about 50years ago.
The time makes it keep changing from an artificial thing to the natural rock reef.
Thanks to the artificial fish reef, you can enjoy the colorful soft coral and many kinds of sea creatures here.

Please visit related articles about Owase
”Can you believe I took these photos in mainland Japan?”

Tsumaguro-hatanpo (Pempheris japonica Döderlein, 1883)

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Tsumaguro-hatanpo (Pempheris japonica Döderlein, 1883) swims between colorful soft corals. Owase, Mie, Japan.

Tsumaguro means a black chip in Japanese. There are black spots at tips of the dorsal fin and the anal fin. The English common name isn’t in Fish Base ( https://www.fishbase.se/summary/13021).

I took this photo at shallow water at HitotsuIshi Point. This point is one of the popular diving points at the inner bay. It is the point enjoy from the shallow like under few feet to the deep like over 100feet.
This point is a reef made from the big rock standing up from the sandy seabed about -60ft. Colorful soft corals cover those walls.
The sandy seabed is continuing gentle slope down to 100ft.
We can see the fantastic Gorgonian wrapper and Ring anemone on the way of that slope also.

Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda)

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Wisteria is convenient as a ceiling material of rest space like at a public park. It is okay, even in the strong sunlight. It does not only bloom a beautiful flower, but also, in the summer, its overlapping leaves provide people a cool sunshade. In winter, leaves are falling, and the sunshine through to the bench seat. Sometimes, Carpenter bee（Xylocopa appendiculata） are coming. They are a big bee, but no need to scare. They are a family of a honeybee. They just come to gather flower nectar of wisteria.

Periclimenes Kobayashi

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Cleaner shrimp

Periclimenes Kobayashi (Okuno & Nomura, 2002)
This commensal shrimp finds easy on the tentacle of Dofleinia armata Wassilieff, 1908 which is a venomous sea anemone. Transparent with red spots and a white band. Eyes are impressive. The eyeball is in a transparent sphere and chasing my moving.
at Oobana point (-18m), Owase, Mie, Japan

Cherry blossoms (Sakura)

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Nabari, Mie, Japan

Cherry blossoms (Sakura) are the symbol of spring in Japan- In Japan, April is the month starting a new life. From the kindergarten or primary school to university are starting in April. Business life also.
The end of March to early April, Cherry blossoms are blooming everywhere in Japan. Parks in cities, Roadsides, mountains … From the flowers begin blooming to the flowers disperse, about one week, festivals to see cherry blossoms are held in various parts of Japan. A spring festival where you can sing, dance, drink and eat, and enjoy the beauty of Sakura.
This year was no ordinary spring scenery. No festival was held this year to avoiding the danger of COVID-19. However, the flowers are beautiful even this sad situation.

Sun ball

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The scenery from under the sea

“How inappropriate to call this planet “Earth,” when it is clearly “Ocean.”
― Arthur C. Clarke

The sunny day of the scenery from under the sea is especially great. The bright sun ball can be seen on the surface at distance. Colorful soft corals are emphasized in the contrast of the deep blue water and white sunbeam. What a wonderful space it is! at Owase, Mie, Japan

The edge of the sea

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the bay entrance of Shirasama-beach point

I like the shallows. You can observe creatures for a long time in the warm sunshine. This is the bay entrance of Shirasama-beach point. It is a place where you can enjoy rocky, sandy, silt and various environments.

“The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place.” -Rachel Carson

whip coral garden

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in the dim sea bed

Whip coral garden at Nagase point, Owase, Mie, Japan.
This is an inner bay point, but the tide is often fast. So, we can enjoy many kinds of soft coral. I like the whip coral garden. Whip coral is an invertebrate with long, whip-like branches covered in tiny polyps. are living on a big rock. The scenery a lot of the whip coral standing in the dim sea bed is very mysterious. Owase, Mie, Japan March 21 2020 -18m