Japan's incredible sunsets

Japan is often referred to as the land of the rising sun, but the setting sun here is pretty incredible too! Here in the Niigata countryside, we've been experiencing some gorgeous hues across the skies in the evenings lately. It's such a pleasant time of the day to get out and walk around our neighborhood too, since it finally starts to cool off around then - the rest of the day is pretty much unbearable to do much of anything outdoors, so we cherish the evening sunsets even more. 

Here are just a few pictures from around our area that we've snapped on our phones recently!

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We have some rice fields in the streets around our house and they're so bright and green at this time of the year. The rice fields contrasted with the colors of the sky and our neighbors' vibrant orange flowers was a bit of magic for our eyes!

This one was from a couple of nights ago, and the sky was so orange that it was lighting up our house from the inside - we just had to go outside and enjoy it! Definitely had us in awe of Mother Nature and just how incredible she is.

Yesterday evening we were even fortunate enough to have a rainbow with the purple, pink and orange toned sky. Ironically, we hadn't had any rain, but I guess there was still enough moisture in the sky from the humidity to allow a rainbow to form.

My husband snapped the picture below when he was out walking our dog last week. I love the colors of the sky, the fact that you can see the tiny crescent moon there, and also the shinkansen zooming out of our station onto Nagaoka and then Niigata City from there.

Have you taken some time to appreciate the sunsets in your neck of the woods here in Japan? Do you experience the same kind of vibrant colors in the evenings at this time of year as well?