Jitensha. Japanese bicycles in groups.

The Japanese bicycle can sometimes be seen alone, but more often they will be found in groups. Rental bicycles will often be found in pairs, and it is suspected that romance is the cause.

Actually many tourist towns have bicycles to rent and they are a great way to get around. The above pair who spotted in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, a particularly good place for cycling as the tourist sites are scattered over the whole town.

These rental bikes in Iwami Ginzan, Japan's newest World heritage Site, come with matching umbrellas, though it is now against the law to cycle while holding an umbrella.

Foreigners riding bicycles will often be stopped by the police. This is not racial profiling, simply responding to common sense as foreigners are the main cause of crime in Japan! These rental bikes in Taisha Town, Izumo, are clearly marked with large numbers therefore informing the police that they are probably ridden by tourists and therefore don't need to be stopped and checked,... just watched carefully. *(see note below)

It is commonly believed that japanese bicycles sleep standing up, but as this photo shows they will lay down and take a nap sometimes when in the safety of the group.

Most Japanese bicycles do though sleep standing up, and bicycle capsule hotels can be found at most railway stations.

However, if you want to see really huge herds of japanese bicycles, the place to go is any large shopping mall.

* note: ... sarcasm on my part. The crime rate among foreigners in Japan is slightly less than the crime rate for japanese, but the perception among Japanese, fueled by media, police, and government, is that it is much higher. I conducted an informal survey among Japanese aquaintances and they guessed a foreign crime rate of between 60% to 25%. The actual rate is 2%.

Three Lights Shrine

This is not a mosque, but a shrine. The symbol is of the three kami enshrined at Mihashinoyama Shrine on Sangaisan, at 378 metres the highest mountain overlooking Hamada.

The three kami are Amaterasu, represented as the sun, Tsukiyomi, the kami of the moon, and Susano represented as a star,.... the three lights.

There are actually 3 shrines on the mountaintop, lower, middle, and upper. The middle shrine, shown above, contains the main buildings, and is in the style of the meiji era, so I suspect that the attribution of the 3 kami occurred at that time. Prior to that the 3 kami were known as Gongen, buddhist manifestations of Japanese kami.

The most common version of the story of the creation of the 3 kami is from the Kojiki, when Izanagi fled from visiting his dead wife, Izanami, in the underworld, Yomi. While ritually purifying himself in a stream, Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, and Susano are expelled from Izanagi's eyes and nose.

In the Kojiki version of the myths, thats the last we hear of Tsukiyomi, and there are very few shrines to him in Japan. I've never come across another shrine where all 3 of the kami are represented in the same way as here.

The mountaintop shrine was known as a place to view sunrise, and a place to pray for safety on sea journeys and for fishing.

There are great views looking down over Hamada as well as down the coast and also inland.

Its possible to drive to within a few hundred meters of the shrine, and there is a footpath up the mountain that starts behind the University.

The gardens

There is not a lot to harvest this month, a little spinach, the last of the cabbage, spring onions, and a sack of carrots. Mostly this month is planting and weeding!

The top photo is our village garden. It was constructed with landfill, and was very poor quality. For six years we have been taking out rocks, and now stones, and adding chickenshit, ash from the woodstove, compost, and ricehusks, and therefore the quality of the soil has improved. In the photo you can see potatoes, green onions, carrots, regular onions, a few peas, garlic, lima beans, and some new cabbage and cauliflower.

About half a kilometer away is our riverside garden. It's actually our neighbors land but she is too old to use it so lets us have it rather than see it go to waste. The soil is soft and rich. a couple of years ago the river flooded and took out everything except some sweet potatoes, but in return left a layer of fresh, fertile silt. At the moment it is planted with potatoes, lima beans, onions, garlic, and very young carrots.

Spring color

It was a nice sunny day today, so I took my camera with me when I walked to my garden.

Jitensha. Solitary Japanese bicycles

Water & light

We had a friend visiting last weekend, so of course we took him to my favorite museum, Mizunokuni, and this gives me an excuse to post some more pics.

My overriding experience there is of water, light, and stone, so thats what these few pics are of.

Museum 104, or its more common name "Mizunokuni" is open from 9 to 5, Thursdays through Mondays. Entrance 400yen per adult, 200yen for kids.

Mizunokuni is located on Rte 261 along the Gonokawa River, about 25 kilometres upstream from Gotsu. There is a JR station about 2k away at Shikaga.

The chances are that the vast majority of you reading this blog will never make it to Mizunokuni as it is simply off the beaten track, but if anyone is interested in visiting, please contact me and I can help arrange a visit.

More post on Mizunokuni

Tatara Bridge

I found this draincover on Ikuchijima, Hiroshima Prefecture, and it depicts the Tatara Bridge which connects Ikuchijima with Omishima.

Sunrise

When I took the photos it was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, with a central span of 890 metres, but last year a longer bridge was built over the Yangtze in China, and a soon to be completed bridge in Hong Kong will cause the Tatara bridge to drop to third.

Sunset

The bridge is one of 10 that connects Honshu with Shikoku along the Nishiseto Expressway, also known as the Shimanami Kaido. Each bridge has a section for cyclists and for pedestrians, and the route has become a popular cycling destination with plenty of campsites and accomodations along the route.

See more Japanese draincovers.

Typical Japanese Landscape 18

Though you will often see images of the Shinkansen hurtling past Mount Fuji, the Shinkansen mostly runs through the heavily populated corridor along the Pacific Coast between Tokyo and Fukuoka.

This was shot in downtown Hiroshima.

Mizunokuni: the Art (inside)

Continuing on the theme of my favorite museum, Mizunokuni, here are a selection of the artworks that can be found inside.

Many provincial museums in Japan have interesting (and expensive) architecture, but contain weak or thin collections. Mizunokuni's collection is large, diverse, and I would guess expensive, though it is hard to discern the connection to water with some of the art!

A lot of the art, like this sculpture, is kinetic. All these little "aquanauts" are moving.

The nicest thing about Mizunokuni is that it is empty most days so you can wander at your leisure and not have to worry about crowds. It is empty because the museum is in the middle of nowhere, with no public transport, and almost no advertising.

This piece on the lower-level is a huge bar of iron immersed in water encased in a clear perspex block that extends from the inside, through the glass wall to the outside.

This final piece is actually a 3D model, set inside a case with a small viewing window to keep the illusion.

Museum 104, or its more common name "Mizunokuni" is open from 9 to 5, Thursdays through Mondays. Entrance 400yen per adult, 200yen for kids.

Mizunokuni is located on Rte 261 along the Gonokawa River, about 25 kilometres upstream from Gotsu. There is a JR station about 2k away at Shikaga.

See outside Mizunokuni

See inside Mizunokuni

A short history of Kirin Beer (1889-1943)