Views of the Inland Sea. Kinoe to Takehara Ferry

 

The Seto Nakai, or Inland Sea, is dotted with islands and islets, and while many have now been connected by bridges to each other and the mainland, there are still dozens and dozens of small ferries plying the waters. These photos I took on the ferry from Kinoe on Osaki Kamijima Island to Takehara in Hiroshima. Shipbuilding and repair is still a major industry on many islands.

Most Japanese seem blissfully unaware of the incredible amounts of concrete that are poured in Japan compared to other countries.

The island with the two transmission towers on it is Okunoshima, now most famous as "Rabbit Island", less famous as the site of a WWII poison gas factory, and almost unkown as the home of the tallest electricity transmission tower in all of Japan.

Some of the smaller islands have become floating factories. Not sure what is being produced or processed here.

Of course small fishing boats continue to operate.....

Yet More Round Windows

My previous posts of circular windows in Japan seem toi have been quite popular, so here are some more. This first one is in a garden fence at Garyu Villa in Ozu, Ehime.

This one is at the small local history museum on the island of Okunoshima in Hiroshima Prefecture.

Encho-en, a huge Chinese garden up in Tottori has many round windows....

This one is from a park shelter in Sakaiminato, also in Tottori.

This one is in Taishaku Gorge in Hiroshima...

An office building in Matsuyama, Ehime.

Poison Gas Factory haikyo

Actually this isn't the poison gas factory itself, but rather the power plant that powered the poison gas production facility. Most of the factory was destroyed in 1945.

It is located on the tiny island of Okunoshima just off the coast of Hiroshima Prefecture in the Seto Inland Sea.

From 1929 until 1945 the Japanese government maintained a top-secret installation producing more than 6,000 tons of Mustard Gas which was used in their campaigns in China.

There are still a couple of other structures left on the island but I did not have time to visit them.

There is a very good little museum on the subject on the island.

I wrote a guide to Okunoshima which can be found here

Nowadays the island is famous as Rabbit Island because of the hundreds of rabbits running free that are descended from some rabbits released here in the 1960's.