Sky over Japan’s Chichibu Basin filled with rainbow-colored clouds

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:16 JST, October 20, 2022

A sea of rainbow-colored clouds appeared over the Chichibu Basin in Saitama Prefecture early Thursday morning, with the lights of the city beneath shining through them.

Cloud seas tend to appear over the Chichibu Basin from October to November on cool, clear mornings after it rains.

When clouds overlap with the smoke rising from a factory, it looks as if the clouds are coming out of the chimneys, creating a popular spot known mainly on social media as the “cloud sea manufacturing factory.”

Photographer Osamu Ogihara from Chichibu has taken pictures of the area for many years. “It’s fascinating to see it sparkle like a colorful jewel,” Ogihara said.