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Tokyo, Seto Naikai, Kii Peninsula, Sakura time 2018
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| Hanami in Koto Ward | Seto Naikai: Konpira-san | Kyoto Toban Museum | |
| Hanami in Ueno Koen | Seto Naikai: Ritsurin Koen | After Kodo: Kii Katsuura | |
| Makino Botannical Garden | Seto Naikai: Naoshima | ||
| Katsurahama Beach | Kurashiki | ||
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Prev: Kumano Nahahechi - the "Kodo"
Click on any for a larger view Next: Family Gatherings
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Bruce's 23rd visit to Japan. This features far more travel than the past 35 years permitted us. While (briefly) in Tokyo we reside in our own little condo located near Toyocho. Be sure to view "Kodo" and "Family" for more views of our exciting trip. "Hanami" means flower "hana" see "mi". Seto Naikai is the "Inland Sea." Via Anime I have recently taken particular interest in Seto Naikai. It consists of thousands of islands and peninsulas, many cities and villages. It is less transformed by western influence and modern technology. Many peoples' lives are engaged with the sea. | |||
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Sakura viewing ("hanami") consumes everyone. Koto Ward, "Kotoku", is our place of residence in Tokyo. Known since the Edo era as "Shitamachi" or "low town", it was where the artisans and commoners resided in Edo. It is "low" both socially and physically. Criscrossed by many canals, it is but a couple meters above sea level. 99% burned by Allied bombing in WWII, almost nothing in Koto is old. Its decimation allowed the creation of numerous parks and greenways as it was rebuilt.
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Ueno is the "must see" locale for Hanami.
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743 _18Mar28-nih_1942a "Hanami" partying. This behaviour has a thousand year history.
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754 _18Mar28-nih_2002 Bad guy has arrived (scowling because N. takes soo long to frame the picture.)
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759 _18Mar28-nih_2021 Wow, antiques!!
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Makino Botannical Garden, Kochi
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Katsurahama Beach in front and down the bluff from our hotel in Kochi.
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"Konpira-san", "1000 step temple" in Kotohira (Seto Naikai vicinity)
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816 _18Mar30-nih_1938 An unique object we encountered.
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816 _18Mar30-nih_2009 As at all famous shrines, the visitor happily walks a many block gauntlet of irresistible shops and restaurants.
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819 _18Mar30-nih_2114 The serious ascent begins. Any great shrine must have stairs. A couple hundred is minimum. 1000 is unusual.
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822 _18Mar30-nih_2205 In this very old building we ate lunch.
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823 _18Mar30-nih_2206a "I love these old trains!"
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Ritsurin Koen, in Takamatsu, Seto Naikai vicinity.
This very old garden is a preserve of (human devised) plant diversity. Its variety of pines is prodigious. The buildings in the Garden date back to the early 17th century. In 1625, the feudal lord of Takamatsu in Sanuki Province, Ikoma Takatoshi, began construction of Ritsurin, specifically the building of a garden around the South Pond using the beautiful greenery of Mt. Shiun (Purple Cloud Mountain) as a backdrop. Beginning in 1642, Matsudaira Yorishige took over the area and continued its construction. The work was completed by the Fifth Lord Yoritaka in 1745 after 100 years of improvements and extensions made by the successive lords. | ||
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824 _18Mar30-nih_2339 The feature is crane (pine) and turtle (rock.) Crane "lives" 1000 years; turtle "lives" 10,000.
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825 _18Mar30-nih_2340 Impossible to count the outdoor places on earth where we have eaten lunch.
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831 _18Mar31-nih_0032a Barely visible to the naked eye, my zoom shows us - a Japanese egret.
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Google "Naoshima" and read as much as patience permits. It is an island dedicated to "art." Actually two thirds of the island are still dedicated to a Mitsubishi smelting operation which turned a large portion of the island a biologically dead zone. In the 80's, Benesse Holdings, founded by a rich Dane, assumed control of a third of the island with intention of dedicating it to art. At the current premier attraction, the Chichu underground art museum designed by Ando, photographs are strictly prohibited, so look to the Web. Art installations, other museums and "art houses" are scattered about the accessible third of the island.
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839 _18Mar31-nih_2356 famed Red pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, hottest-of-hot world-renowned 88 year old artist who resides in a mental institution.
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Kurashiki, an old warehouse town which was not destroyed in WWII. In the Meiji era it found a new purpose as a cotton fabric milling town. It had a important role in Japan industrial history. The Ohara company was renowned for its forward-looking welfare ideal, "fukuri kosei" and was far ahead of its time in industrial safety concern.
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561 _18Apr01-nih_1455 The "craft beer" izakaya at which we ate the preceding night. Its beers, food, interior and building were all highly idiosyncratic - and enjoyable.
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566 _18Apr01-nih_1657 The "guest house" at which we stayed. Shared bathroom, traditonal rooms, but deep within the oldtown.
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570 _18Apr01-nih_1901 In the sixties this became the "jeans" center for all of Japan, famed for custom-designed and stiched jeans. This was a consequence of its prior 70 year history as a cotton fiber center.
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This Ando building contains replicas of a few extremely famous paintings in the medium of ceramic. Hence the works are not sensitive to UV, can be exposed to full sun and are not vulnerable to soneone's sneeze. Several have been reproduced at several times the scale of the originals. They can be studied up close.
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After spending the night in Kii Katsuura a short ride from Nachi, we survey the early morning tuna catch. Kii Katsuura is famous for local tuna.
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686 _18Apr07-nih_1544 At 7:00 tuna have nearly all been unloaded.
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708 _18Apr08-nih_0802a Tuna auction is underway.
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696 _18Apr08-nih_0609 Kii Katsuura is also famous for onsen. At the harbor are free "foot-onsen."
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715 _18Apr08-nih_0848a Even at the station there is a "foot-onsen."  |
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