Also, they have the usual 'gate' or 'Torii' out in the bay in the water. With the backdrop of the shrine, and the mountains of the island itself, it's got to be one of the nicest places to photograph, and simply gets more gorgeous during sunset.
Summer Holiday - Miyajima Island
Miyajima Island is an island off Hiroshima that is most famous for its shine to the Goddess of the Ocean. It makes for an extremely picturesque and unique shrine which, during high tide, is suspended above water on stilts. The timbers and flooring are also designed to 'float' should there ever be a higher tide than normal.
Also, they have the usual 'gate' or 'Torii' out in the bay in the water. With the backdrop of the shrine, and the mountains of the island itself, it's got to be one of the nicest places to photograph, and simply gets more gorgeous during sunset.
Also, they have the usual 'gate' or 'Torii' out in the bay in the water. With the backdrop of the shrine, and the mountains of the island itself, it's got to be one of the nicest places to photograph, and simply gets more gorgeous during sunset.
Summer Holiday - Miyajima Fireworks
I realized our Hiroshima hostel was close to a very big baseball stadium. I looked it up and a huge game between the Hiroshima Carps and the Giants was happening that night.
We went to the gate to buy the 'spare' tickets and the atmosphere was incredible. There were literally thousands of people pouring into the stadium from all directions, all wearing their team colours. The air was so incredibly electric.
Being such a popular game and leading up to end of the season, the game was fully sold out. But every cloud has it's silver lining. Instead we took a train to watch the largest fireworks show in Western Japan.
The particular speciality of this show, is how they actually explode from the ocean, and many of them explode 'up' in a kind of 'half-firework' that doesn't shoot up into the sky first.
Combine this with the image of the famous Torii in the water and you have some incredible visuals.
http://www.japan-fireworks.com/gallery/regular4/miyajima.jpeg
We didn't actually go to the Torii because it was so incredibly busy. We took a station further where there was a nice pier and could see it from a fair way aways. There are lots of mountains and islands near this area of Japan (literally called the Inland Sea since there are so many islands), and it created a very cool aesthetic during dusk before the fireworks went off.
These colours aren't edited. Simply amazing.
So big. We were about 15 km away and you could still see they all covered an immense distance. The delayed sound reverberating off the mountains and islands was amazing too.
We went to the gate to buy the 'spare' tickets and the atmosphere was incredible. There were literally thousands of people pouring into the stadium from all directions, all wearing their team colours. The air was so incredibly electric.
Being such a popular game and leading up to end of the season, the game was fully sold out. But every cloud has it's silver lining. Instead we took a train to watch the largest fireworks show in Western Japan.
The particular speciality of this show, is how they actually explode from the ocean, and many of them explode 'up' in a kind of 'half-firework' that doesn't shoot up into the sky first.
Combine this with the image of the famous Torii in the water and you have some incredible visuals.
http://www.japan-fireworks.com/gallery/regular4/miyajima.jpeg
We didn't actually go to the Torii because it was so incredibly busy. We took a station further where there was a nice pier and could see it from a fair way aways. There are lots of mountains and islands near this area of Japan (literally called the Inland Sea since there are so many islands), and it created a very cool aesthetic during dusk before the fireworks went off.
These colours aren't edited. Simply amazing.
So big. We were about 15 km away and you could still see they all covered an immense distance. The delayed sound reverberating off the mountains and islands was amazing too.
Summer Holiday - Hiroshima
A city with History. It's all very fine and dandy to see a city rich with history like Kyoto. But you get hit with so many names of characters from random decades like '500AD' and 'Blangblah Dynasty'. It's hard to put it into context and really be moved emotionally by a location you visit. Temples become just another temple, and shrines, just another shrine.
Hiroshima's history however, only happened 60 odd years ago. It is INCREDIBLY relevant. A city which is now vibrant, thriving, modern and beautiful is testament to the Japanese character in itself in it's theology. The entire city was wiped out. And rebuilt. And is now a living testament to the horrors of war and nuclear weaponry.
The museum itself was powerful and informative if not somewhat positively biased with its choice of words, but I am definitely sold on their city plaque:
"War is the work of man.
War is destruction of human life.
War is death.
To remember the past is to commit oneself to the future.
To remember Hiroshima, is to abhor nuclear war.
To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace."
Hiroshima Castle
Hiroshima's history however, only happened 60 odd years ago. It is INCREDIBLY relevant. A city which is now vibrant, thriving, modern and beautiful is testament to the Japanese character in itself in it's theology. The entire city was wiped out. And rebuilt. And is now a living testament to the horrors of war and nuclear weaponry.
The museum itself was powerful and informative if not somewhat positively biased with its choice of words, but I am definitely sold on their city plaque:
"War is the work of man.
War is destruction of human life.
War is death.
To remember the past is to commit oneself to the future.
To remember Hiroshima, is to abhor nuclear war.
To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace."
Hiroshima Castle
Summer Holiday - Kurama
My friend was seeing things like the Bamboo groves and other things I'd already seen in Kyoto so I took a day trip to the valley to a place called 'Kurama'.
Japan is in the middle of a massive heatwave so the 38 degree days with close to 100% humidity are pretty nuts. Wanted to escape.
This village was literally one street lined up next to a river. Majority are simply restaurant's that have built seating OVER the river on, I guess you could call them, pagodas or piers. So you end up eating with the water flowing right underneath you.
So beautiful and cool and there was a two hour hike that went over the mountain spine to a nearby onsen village to catch the train back. Very good day - really like doing these 'spur-of-the-moment' travelling decisions. They often take you to far more interesting places off the beaten trail.
View from the hike:
Japan is in the middle of a massive heatwave so the 38 degree days with close to 100% humidity are pretty nuts. Wanted to escape.
This village was literally one street lined up next to a river. Majority are simply restaurant's that have built seating OVER the river on, I guess you could call them, pagodas or piers. So you end up eating with the water flowing right underneath you.
So beautiful and cool and there was a two hour hike that went over the mountain spine to a nearby onsen village to catch the train back. Very good day - really like doing these 'spur-of-the-moment' travelling decisions. They often take you to far more interesting places off the beaten trail.
View from the hike:
Summer Holiday - Kyoto
Summer holidays have started! I was just going to go to Hiroshima but a friend from training wanted to come with since she hadn't travelled much yet. Changed my itinerary a bit to get to Kyoto again, and let her see a bit of the old city too. Got to see a couple of the other temples I didn't see last time. It's interesting seeing this part of Japan to compare it to earlier in my trip, I've learnt a lot.
Gotemba Summer Festival
So Gotemba had it's summer festival the other weekend. A few streets were blocked off from traffic, they had a bit of the local shrine parade and lots of your typical summer festival street food. It was the first time I've got a sense for how big Gotemba actually is! It really is remarkably quiet for such a big population town!
The festival itself was good. It had a bit of everything, there were Taiko drum competitions with some local school groups. Break dancing competitions. Salsa dancing competitions. Kid's mini-fishing, and a 'straw sandal race' where contestants could dress up & drag a 3rd team member for a 150m run. Very entertaining!
The festival itself was good. It had a bit of everything, there were Taiko drum competitions with some local school groups. Break dancing competitions. Salsa dancing competitions. Kid's mini-fishing, and a 'straw sandal race' where contestants could dress up & drag a 3rd team member for a 150m run. Very entertaining!
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