Digihito

People enjoying ice-cream, Canal City, Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan.

Summer in Japan is the time for eating ice-cream, which is exceptionally good here.

Either soft-cream, in many flavors, including green tea, conventional ice-cream in wafer cones from stalls, or in paper cups from the many vending machines scattered throughout residential areas.

I was lucky enough once to try a chilled yoghurt blended with fresh raspberries, and piped into a swirl  atop a honey wafer cone, which was about the best ice-cream I can remember.

Chawanmushi cook, Nagasaki, Japan.

Chawanmushi is a steamed, savoury egg custard, and is very popular amongst Japanese people. It is served as a side-dish to many Japanese meals.

Yosso restaurant in Nagasaki, where this cook can be seen tending to the steaming process, is very famous for its large chawanmushi.

The wooden steaming boxes hold the custard in lidded ceramic cups, and are placed over vats of boiling water to cook. The custard is then served hot, in the same cup used to cook it.

Shinto Priest and Miko, mikoshi festival, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.

Mikoshi, or portable Shinto shrines, are carried through the streets in festivals all over Japan. The shrines are blessed by Shinto priests from the local shrine, at some point during the festival procession.

Miko, or temple maidens, are assistants to the Priest in various shrine ceremonies, especially weddings, and at New Year, when the shrines are especially busy.

Traditionally, Miko had to be virgins, and were often the daughters of the priest, and gave up their status upon marrying. These days Miko are often part-time employees, hired by the shrine at busy times, or to work in the shrine souvenir shops. They are often local high school girls seeking part time work to earn some pocket money.

Summer festival participants, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.

These three women are dressed in colorful versions of traditional costume from the Edo period in Japan.

Many people dress up to attend, or participate in the many summer festivals that take place throughout Japan.

Most of these festivals originated at local community level as celebrations of rice planting, or harvesting, or to be thankful to the gods for good fish catches, and continue today as an important part of Japanese local community culture.

Kindergarten teacher and children, Toyohira river bicycle track, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.

This teacher has taken her charges out cycling along the river in Hokkaido on this beautiful, early summer's day.

Many rivers that wind through large cities in Japan have dedicated bicycle paths, and they are usually nice, wide asphalt-pathed scenic rides. like this one.

It is also a common site in relatively safe Japan, to see kindergarten children out and about with their teachers.

Waiter, French restaurant, Zeni Bako, Hokkaido, Japan.

Old-world styled French restaurants are very popular in Japan, and although they don't usually serve traditional French food, but more likely have a Japanese inspired French menu, they are very often surprisingly good, mainly due to the Japanese obsession with freshness, value and great service.

This restaurant in Zeni Bako, although a little over-enthusiastic with the classical decor, was no exception. The food and wine were excellent, the service superb, and the price very reasonable.

Young men assembling temporary food stalls, Nakagawa, Fukuoka, Japan.

One of the most famous tourist attractions in Fukuoka are the food stalls that are located along the Naka River, serving everything Japanese that you can imagine. There are more than 150 of these 'temporary' stalls dotted throughout Fukuoka.

The pre-fabricated stalls are assembled late every afternoon, and pulled down and stored out of site after business each night.

These young men work very hard to assemble their stall, prepare the fresh produce, and work until late into the night to provide quality meals for travellers, and partying office workers.

98 year old woman, temple, Ogi Town, Saga, Japan.

This lovely, interesting woman was still spritely enough to be walking around the temple grounds, engaging in conversation with all passers by, and generally behaving half her age.

Longevity is a feature of Japan, which has a life expectancy rate quite a bit higher than most developed countries, especially in the southern parts, in various parts of Kyushu.

Perhaps more importantly, younger Japanese people seem to treat the elderly with great respect, perhaps a contributing factor in so many people reaching the age they do.

Traffic control warden, Ogi Town, Saga, Japan.

This man is an employee of a private Security Company, hired by the Ogi Council to control car parking and traffic flow at a favorite, and locally famous viewing spot to see summer fireflies in Ogi Town. He also takes responsibility for the security of cars parked in the designated parking areas.

At any public event, shopping centre opening, or place where large numbers of cars are likely to assemble, these security companies are hired to provide this very useful service, ensuring the safety of, and good behavior by, attending motorists.

They perform their service with the good grace and pleasant manner that is usual in Japan, and they are a very welcome and common sight at any event.