Princess Me

Nintendo, you could have done better. At least remove facial hair.

Inokashira Lake Cleanup

 The lake water is back. It's much better without boats.

The water level is much higher than before. The boat fence bar was above water and ducks used to rest on it.

Pond Sliders

 Invasive species from the North America. On death row now.

Chinese Pond Turtles

 From China. These guys were considered indigenous to Japan for a long time but turned out to be invasive species a few years ago. They are acquitted this time. Back to the lake soon. I used to keep one home when I was a kid. It learned his name and responded when called by extending its neck.

They found 20,791 fishes, shrimps, and turtles. 60.8% was invasive species. 12,650 out of those were bluegills.

Indigenous species on the right side. I thought there were a lot more turtles.

I saw big fish sometimes but didn't think it's black carp. Compare it with bass and bluegill above. Somehow it looks smaller in this picture. All the pictures show the actual size of the captured.

Ornamental carps got kicked out too.

Lake bed mud

The lake bed is a little bit cleaner now.

Stamps

Didn't know such stamps other than squared ones exist.

Creepy Souvenir

A cookie in a creepy bag.

Stew Flavored Popsicle

It's OK but I don't want potato in Popsicle.

Water is back

after the heaviest snow in the last 45 years. It is supposed to be in the sundry phase by now. They predict heavy snow this Thursday again :(

Heavy Snow Alert

in front of my door

 I had a haircut appointment today... It got twice thicker when I got back.

People might not notice the lake is empty if they don't know it is. It looks like a lake in Russia. Someone should pitch a tent and pretend they are fishing.

Tourists(?) having fun. I saw they had made a big snowman, about my height,  on the way back.

EDIT: this ended up the heaviest snow in the last 45 years.

Frozen Lake

With almost no water.

Charging iPads

Kaibori (Lake Draining)

Jan: Draining water > Jan: Temporarily move living creatures > Jan: Separate invasive species from indigenous ones > Feb: Sun drying (improves water quality) > Mar: Add water > Mar: Release back indigenous species (restoration complete)

Volunteers capturing creatures (participation fee: 30 yen, lol)

Cellphones

Kingfisher

Tons of garbage but it was fun to spot them: bikes, umbrellas, cellphones, a shopping cart, a stroller, a chair, empty bottles (didn't see cans), wallets, traffic cones, sandbags, construction materials... I didn't see it but a motorcycle was found too.

Draining Inokashira Lake

They started draining the lake to eradicate invasive species. This is day 3. I wonder how many bikes will be found. Maybe they will find missing parts of dismemberment incident happened in this park 20 years ago - one of the missing parts is "head".

Hatsumōde

Atsuta Shrine

Japanese Honeybees vs Hornets

 Defending the honeycomb entrance.

It seems they've killed a few already.