![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The continuing photo journal of Japan, this time focusing on places that are mostly a half hour's drive or more from where I live. Many small pics behind the cut. Links are to my entries on the days in question. Enjoy!
I found this little guy lurking up on a hill in the graveyard of a small local temple near Ejio park. It's not exactly hte place one expects to see a crab.
Accidently missing from my last entry, here is how I spent thefourth fifth of July. Setting off fireworks in a parking lot on top of Dragon Mountain. It was very pretty except for the time when the roman candle fell over and nearly killed us.
Heading north-west from Onoda, this is a classic Japanese barbecue we attended over the summer set on a farm surounded by streams and rice fields. I loved the host wandering around in traditional summer gear.
This was the ritual slaughtering of the watermelon accompanied by copious shouts of "right" "left". The children did a much better job than the adults who tried...
Once the little boys figured out that I wanted to see the frogs and bugs that lived in the rice fields, they brought me every poor creature that couldn't run away fast enough. I'm also quite positive this is one of the coolest pictures I've ever taken in my life.
No doubt the children were rather weirded out by the silly foreigners joining them playing in the stream, but damn was it fun. That's N. in the pic with me. Hoards of Japanese children playing upstream not shown.
Further west, we have - Doigohama Beach. Pretty similar to other beaches around the world other than less skin showing, grown men and women drunkenly killing watermelon, men attending in groups organized by their companies, yakuza, a huge number of barbecues... Okay, so not that similar...
This is my bikini. It makes going to the beach twice as fun;)
Heading north from Onoda to Mine, this is *dun dun* The Road to Mine! The scenery is always gorgeous on this road. You're really deep in the countryside and following a road that runs around a river and through several valleys scattered with farms and rice fields. I never tire of this drive (which is good, since I do it a lot).
And what tour of Mine would be complete without a look at my overly cute kindergarten class. Note the overly large paper mache totoros on the right. I am so jealous of these kids.
North-east of Mine is Akiyoshidai, a limestone (karstic) plateau with surrounding caves that I have been to several times. The first time I went, it was with G. and we visited the largest cave (claimed to be the largest in Asia) Akiyoshido.
Very large and rather damaged by the multitude of photos taken in front of it. Oh well.
My favourite out of the many fanciful names that cropped up in the cave.
The limestone plateaus. Fun to hike around and really breathtaking.
Probably the best pic I've ever taken in my life.
This trip was during Golden Week so it's only fair to show off my only decent pic of the carp streamers.
My first snake of many, seen in a park where we stopped to eat dinner on the way back. Not poisonous and not all that interesting other than that I see a lot of them during the summer.
Heading west and a little south, we have Yamaguchi city, known for it's beautiful Rurikoji temple and five story wooden pagoda. I liked it more for the bamboo grove and graves to tell you the truth.
Lanterns lining the graveyard.
None of my students believe this picture was taken in Yamaguchi *g*
The nearby Zen Buddhist temple with it's small but beautiful zen garden. I was rather excited to see one in person.
Even further west is Iwakuni, famous for a wooden bridge that I've never seen since I was there for the J-A friendship day. Cute or disturbing - you decide.
And that's that. Other than my pics from Miyajima/Hiroshima/Kyoto/Nara, these are a pretty fair coverage of all the smaller trips and travels I've been indulging in. Ja ne!
I found this little guy lurking up on a hill in the graveyard of a small local temple near Ejio park. It's not exactly hte place one expects to see a crab.
Accidently missing from my last entry, here is how I spent the
Heading north-west from Onoda, this is a classic Japanese barbecue we attended over the summer set on a farm surounded by streams and rice fields. I loved the host wandering around in traditional summer gear.
This was the ritual slaughtering of the watermelon accompanied by copious shouts of "right" "left". The children did a much better job than the adults who tried...
Once the little boys figured out that I wanted to see the frogs and bugs that lived in the rice fields, they brought me every poor creature that couldn't run away fast enough. I'm also quite positive this is one of the coolest pictures I've ever taken in my life.
No doubt the children were rather weirded out by the silly foreigners joining them playing in the stream, but damn was it fun. That's N. in the pic with me. Hoards of Japanese children playing upstream not shown.
Further west, we have - Doigohama Beach. Pretty similar to other beaches around the world other than less skin showing, grown men and women drunkenly killing watermelon, men attending in groups organized by their companies, yakuza, a huge number of barbecues... Okay, so not that similar...
This is my bikini. It makes going to the beach twice as fun;)
Heading north from Onoda to Mine, this is *dun dun* The Road to Mine! The scenery is always gorgeous on this road. You're really deep in the countryside and following a road that runs around a river and through several valleys scattered with farms and rice fields. I never tire of this drive (which is good, since I do it a lot).
And what tour of Mine would be complete without a look at my overly cute kindergarten class. Note the overly large paper mache totoros on the right. I am so jealous of these kids.
North-east of Mine is Akiyoshidai, a limestone (karstic) plateau with surrounding caves that I have been to several times. The first time I went, it was with G. and we visited the largest cave (claimed to be the largest in Asia) Akiyoshido.
Very large and rather damaged by the multitude of photos taken in front of it. Oh well.
My favourite out of the many fanciful names that cropped up in the cave.
The limestone plateaus. Fun to hike around and really breathtaking.
Probably the best pic I've ever taken in my life.
This trip was during Golden Week so it's only fair to show off my only decent pic of the carp streamers.
My first snake of many, seen in a park where we stopped to eat dinner on the way back. Not poisonous and not all that interesting other than that I see a lot of them during the summer.
Heading west and a little south, we have Yamaguchi city, known for it's beautiful Rurikoji temple and five story wooden pagoda. I liked it more for the bamboo grove and graves to tell you the truth.
Lanterns lining the graveyard.
None of my students believe this picture was taken in Yamaguchi *g*
The nearby Zen Buddhist temple with it's small but beautiful zen garden. I was rather excited to see one in person.
Even further west is Iwakuni, famous for a wooden bridge that I've never seen since I was there for the J-A friendship day. Cute or disturbing - you decide.
And that's that. Other than my pics from Miyajima/Hiroshima/Kyoto/Nara, these are a pretty fair coverage of all the smaller trips and travels I've been indulging in. Ja ne!
