Happy Year of the Rat

Well, we did the bell ringing at midnight and even managed to make it to the first sunrise of the year. We went to the beach -- a different place than we usually go -- and discovered all these happy-noisy dancers with enormous flags. You can only see one flag in this picture, but there were about five in all. They'd stop after every song to say nice things to the sun and wish everyone a happy New Year.

Here's a shot of Mount Fuji. You can see how many people turned out and one of the fires they build. There were dozens of fires, by the way. One got out of control and that was exciting to watch for awhile, everyone screaming and running around.

Here is what the first sunrise looked like. Some birds flew by to make it a better shot for me. I thought that was nice.

And here is what my new camera's zoom lens can do.