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posted: September 30th, 2009 |
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The photos on this page continue with September 21st and go through the end of the month - a trip to Shirakawa-go - A World Heritage Site and Takayama Town, a very historic place. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin September 21st |
On September 21st Kazuya and I traveled from Hida-Hosoe, where we stayed in a Youth Hostel, to Takayama, and then we took a bus to Shirakawa-go, a World Heritage Site which we have talked about visiting for several years. You can read more about Shirakawa-go at the UNESCO entry for it HERE or you can do a search and find LOTS of information about Shirakawa-go. Here are shots of 3 of the many grass roofed houses which Shirakawa-go is famous for. These homes are lived in, so as you look at these photos do not be surprised to see laundry hanging on the clothes lines and cars in the driveways. I wonder what these residents think about all of the tourists invading their streets and sidewalks every day of the year? I suppose they like the income.
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Here are 2 shots of the same building, taken from different angles, and a shot of a roof with trees on the side.
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In the first photo in this row notice the tiny little triangle shaped building in the foreground. You can also see one in the next shot - these house huge fire sprinklers, we saw postcards of them being tested. Anyway, here are 3 more shots of grass roofed homes. We were very fortunate to have made our trip here at this time of the year - the rice fields are just at the stage where they are golden yellow and in later shots you will see fall flowers too.
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Here are 3 shots which are greatly enhanced by the fall colors - the first shot shot with its flowers and Pampas Grass, the 2nd shot with its Cosmos Flowers and the 3rd shot with its Pampas Grass. And, of course the golden yellow rice field helps all 3 shots. The 3rd shot is so beautiful that I have included a larger than normal size image for you if you click on the thumbnail.
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Here are 2 intriguing shots. In the 2nd shot you can clearly see a telephone wire cutting across the photo, this happens so very often here in Japan. In this place the power company has buried most of the electric lines, but apparently the telephone company has failed to cooperate. This would enhance the beauty of this place so very much, as it would at so many very scenic spots here in Japan. The 3rd shot is a photo taken from an overlook which shows that many of the houses in this village are grass-roofed, but not all of them.
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Here is an individual home, barn or whatever. A shot taken from the overlook. I have given you a larger than normal image of this one too if you click on the thumbnail. And, the final shot at Shirakawa-go - nicely enhanced by the zinnias and the rice field.
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| End September 21st, Begin September 22nd |
On September 22nd we spent the day in Takayama Town - it is a very historic place, so we strolled around and enjoyed it until 3:30 PM, when our bus headed back to Tokyo. The first shot here is a wood crafts shop. There were several lacquerware shops too - and we each bought a piece of lacquerware. The 2nd shot is a rickshaw or pedicab and its passengers. The 3rd shot is looking down one of the historically preserved streets in Takayama Town. There is an entire section of town like this and at night you can see that the street lights are also old fashioned. Lots of interesting things are for sale along these streets, along with the typical tourist junk.
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Here are 2 shots of the famous Kokubunji Temple of Takayama Town. The first shot shows the 3-story pagoda of Kokubunji. The 2nd shot shows the actual Kokubunji Temple.
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Takayama Town has a section of Temples and shrines. We also visited that part of the town and these 2 photos show you only 2 of the several temples of Takayama Town. And that's the end of this incredible 5 day trip.
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In the narrative for Row 7, I mentioned that we each bought a piece of lacquerware in Takayama. In this row - the first photo is the piece I bought - a bright red rice bowl. The actual color is like the left image of the collage. The 2nd photo is the piece Kazuya bought. It's the size of a medium size Sake drinking cup and the color is very dark brown - but the wood grain shows through the lacquer. The 3rd shot is a leaf "coaster" which Kazuya bought. It has a real leaf on both the top and the bottom. The inset shows you how thick this piece is. We can't determine what is between the two layers of leaves.
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| End September 22nd, End Page 4, End September 2009's Photos |
Here are links to separate web pages. The first shows some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV. The 2nd shows our entire DVD collection in DVD Profiler (if you're asking yourself what might be good to rent for the weekend). The DVD's will be sorted by date purchased. You can click on the "Title" Column to sort that way if you desire.
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| February 22, 2009 DVD Collection, Movie of Home Theater System & TV Pictures (new window) |
Link to DVD collection in DVD Profiler Click Here. (new window) |
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| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at the website this month. We hope that you found something which you enjoyed. You can use the e-mail link below to respond with any feedback you might have. |
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We invite you to take a look at a new page showing variations on 2 images of Rebun Island Edelweiss (Leontopodium discolor)! It is also accessible from the "Special Items" Page.
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