Portrait of KOMAINU guard dog

These are a pair of Komainu (the mythical) guard dogs (or lion-dog) watching Itsukushima Shrine, as I snapped over a year ago. Every shrines in Japan have the pair of watch dogs, each of which is having different outlook.  Generally they sit at the main gate of the shrine but this pair in Itsukushima sits

Hana and Hanako (Weekly Photo Challenge: Unlikely)

On that day, I met two lovely animals at Yoyogi Park, a large parkland (540,530 square meters) locating in urban area in Tokyo. One was a french bulldog, called Hana. She is the dog of my friend’s, and I had a good catch-up with them at the park. Then I met another beautiful yet the