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Japan Pictures
Travel Photos

 

Odawara Castle, Japan

 

Japan is a fascinating enigma. The size of the Great Britain but with only one third of the land usable due to mountains, this is still the world's third largest economy (after USA and China) - in spite of being embedded in a long term recession - with a GDP that equals Britain, France and Germany.

 

Ryoanji temple, zen garden, linking to Kyoto Pictures, Japan

Kyoto Photos >>>

 

Japan is dedicated to high technology but also loves and maintains ancient traditions, a contradiction that is far more interesting to a visitor than the regular sights of Tokyo and Kyoto. Blue-suited, gold-rimmed salarymen (office workers) step out of their Blade Runner office buildings after work and stoop into dark little akachochin bars where the staff all shout 'irrashaimase!' (welcome!) and knock up another batch of fried grasshoppers or whale sashimi to go with the Asahi Dry.
After getting totally and acceptably plastered the salarymen will return to their tiny apartments by train, taking off their shoes before venturing onto the tatami mats. The wives will be waiting up late with a pretty porcelain cup of green tea, before heading for the futon (mattress) on the floor. There but for the grace of God...

 

Ginza Department store, Tokyo, linking to Tokyo Pictures, Japan

Tokyo Photos >>>

 

 

Tokyo is the traveller's number one target, a huge, congested by dynamic city, with a deliberately confusing road system designed to prevent invaders from reaching the Imperial Palace, and consequently no effective centre, so a tourist just has to get used to the superb underground train system in order to get from the Ginza, to Asakusa, Shibuya, to Shinjuku, to Roppongi and wherever else.

Thus Tokyo is a city that needs a lot of walking and watching if you are to find the charming contradictions and pictures that lurk along the busy streets. And don't forget to walk on the left of the pavement! Not joking!

The other great draw is Kyoto/Nara, south of Tokyo, but that's a more traditional sightseeing experience, with ancient gold and red temples, tea houses, Zen gardens and the rest.

 

The Big Buddha, Kamakura, linking to Kamakura Pictures, Japan

Kamakura Photos >>>

 

Kamakura, on the coast and about an hour from Tokyo by train is one of Japan's oldest capitals (but hardly even a city now) dating from the 12th - 14th centuries. This ancient and attractive town, generally jammed with tourists, is scattered with more than 70 well-preserved Buddhist shrines and temples including the famous Big Buddha pictured above.

 

 

Takayama Festival boys in traditional clothing, linking to Takayama Spring Festival Pictures, Japan

Takayama Spring Festival Photos >>>

 

Takayama Matsuri (Spring Festival) is considered to be one of the three most colourful and historically interesting events in Japan. It's located a train ride from Nagoya.
Celebrated twice a year in spring April 14 -15 and autumn October 9-10, Takayama is one of the most colourful and varied festivals we've seen in Japan, but very crowded of course.

 

Kanazawa, Ken-rokuen Garden, linking to Kanazawa Pictures, Japan

Kanazawa Photos >>>

Kanazawa, a large, modern city on the west coast of Honshu (Japan's main island) is scattered with cultural and architectural relics from the days when it was the centre of the wealthy and sophisticated Maeda clan.

Without doubt the finest remnant of those feudal days is the magnificent Kenrokuen Garden, a 17thC creation that belonged to the adjacent castle and is now a showpiece of classic, controlled and laborious Japanese gardening style and one of Japan's finest natural works.

 

 

costumed men carrying a shrine in Kawasaki, linking to Kawasaki Festival Pictures, Japan

Kawasaki Kanamara Festival Photos >>>

 

Kawasaki, a name that normally resonates 'motorcycles' is a town less than an hour from Tokyo by train and a place that resonates with 'genitalia' in early April when a local Shinto shrine holds a colourful and hilarious one day festival to pray for safe sex - the Kanamara Matsuri or 'Festival of the Steel Penis.'

Irrashaimase!

 

 

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