Hamada Childrens Museum of Art (inside)

Here in Shimane we have more museums and galleries per capita than any other Prefecture bar one. This may partially be due to the continued haemorrhaging of the population to the big cities, Shimane's population is decreasing faster than anywhere else, but it is most probably due to the massive influx of construction money from Tokyo. Shimane continues to vote LDP.

One person who has benefited from this influx of construction money is local-born architect Shin Takamatsu, the designer of the Hamada Childrens Museum of Art.

Architecture, modern or otherwise, lends itself easily to photography that leans towards the anstract, as does mine.

In the late afternoon and evening the sun creates fantastic patterns of light and shadow.

While all the big cities in Japan have their fair share of interesting modern architecture, its fun to explore the rural areas of Japan to find such things.