My jizake (local sake) from Yufuin arrived this evening. I got the shop to courier it to me because it’s so much easier than lugging it back to Tokyo myself.
Yufuin
Yufuin is a charming onsen resort town in Oita Prefecture, inland from Beppu. It is full of ryokan with hot springs, and is situated under a towering mountain called Yufu-dake. The spring flowers were still out – it was a nice town to walk around before heading back to the ryokan for a big meal… Continue reading Yufuin
Mojiko panoramas
Here are some panoramic photos of “Retro” Mojiko.
Koinobori
Children’s Day (5th May) is one of the public holidays that falls within Golden Week, a string of holidays that create a golden week off work. Colourful carp streamers (koi nobori) are visible all over the country.
Retro Mojiko
“Retro” Mojiko is a port town on the northern tip of Kyushu full of art-deco and historic buildings that were built when the city was an important early trading port. Now the town centre is kept in a period theme, to attract tourists, thriving on stories of Albert Einstein’s visit and sales of bananas.
Mojiko station
Mojiko Station and Flinders Street Station in Melbourne have a sister station relationship.
Kanmon Strait
Honshu to the left, Kyushu to the right. This is the Kanmon Strait, taken from the town of Moji.
Face masks web traffic spike
When I was in Melbourne last week, I distributed a few Japanese face masks to my friends – mainly to try and goad them into embarrassing themselves wearing them around town (and hopefully not set off any security alerts…).
Tsutsuji
Here’s a post that my mum will like. Now that the sakura have finished (at least in Tokyo), the next springtime floral onslaught is tsutsuji – azaleas.
Anzac Day 2009 in Japan
The Commonwealth War Cemetery at Hodogaya, near Yokohama, is the venue for the annual Anzac Day Service in Japan. It’s a cemetery with around 300 Australians interred, as well as from other Commonwealth countries. Today’s service was held in heavy rain, but there were still around 150 in attendance.