Saijo sake town with brick chimneys

 

Chimneys and the roof of SAIJO TSURU's unique three-storied wooden building

These pictures were taken from the veranda on the third floor of the SAIJO TSURU Brewery factory. It is off limits but I had this privilege of going up there with TV crew preparing for filming the sake district. I had had a bird's eye view of the Saijo chimneys at several locations before but this is the best. The sake factories are closed up and I feel like I am seeing their real operation. More people are coming to Saijo including travelers from abroad. I wish i could be of help to make their time in Saijo memorable. 

 

Factories of SAIJO TSURU on the right and KAMOTSURU on the left

John Mung's story translated into English

 Ashizuri Misaki, which Manjiro saw.

In the normal course of life, Manjiro would have lived and died a fisherman in Tosa, present day Kochi Pref. His fortunes changed when he, aged 14, was marooned along with his four shipmates, later saved by an American whaling boat, taken to Hawaii and eventually to Bedford, Massachusetts, the ship's mother port. Captain Whitfield took a shine to this young boy and gave him an opportunity for education at American school. Captain renamed him John Mung. He sailed for several years on a whaling ship. In total, he lived overseas for about ten years, during which his horizon was expanded. The life was not always easy and there was discrimination and misunderstanding, but John Mung absorbed and learned through his experiences and after returning to Japan, he became a valuable source for the country to know about overseas when foreign countries demanded Japan to open up. He was allowed to carry a family name and picked up Nakahama. Now that his story is available in English, he will be better known from now on. The Nakahama family and Whitfield family have kept in contact over generations. Their tie is solid.

Fall at Nukui Dam in the north of Hiroshima Prefecture

 The red sign shows the highest possible of water.

One-hour drive from downtown Hiroshima will take you to Nukui Dam and its surrounding gorges. Autumnal colors and crisp air can be enjoyed there in October to November. A visit to the dam is an interesting experience for you to witness modern engineering in the fresh natural settings. Try an elevator downward followed by a corridor inside the dam which leads to a little square right next to the bottom of the dam. The dam is a great place to take pictures at some interesting angles. Let me post some of the photos taken in October, 2013.

 

A 190-cm tall whitish mannequin standing at the deck looks so small.

 

The passageway you walk through after descending by an elevator from the ground level of the dam.

 Autumn foliage seen at the bottom the dam.

 The stairs off-limits on the dam.

Gardens at ADACHI Museum of fine arts

The leaves are beginning to change colors. Soon more red leaves will be seen and the garden will look different accordingly. Without the presence of water, water can be expressed. Somewhere remote in the mountains, there will be falls and the water will flow into a stream, the stream will become a river, and eventually the river will meet the sea. Sea the landscape and see how you feel.

 Dry landscape garden

 White gravel and pine tree garden

The Dome seen from the boat on the river

 The Dome; the tide is relatively low.

There is a route which connects the island of Miyajima and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park directly by boat: The World Cultural Heritahe route. My guests and I often take this when we travel from the island to the park. It cruises on the sea and river. It goes fast on the sea but slows down on the river and That's when you are allowed to go out on the deck. You see the city from the river and eventually go under the reconstructed T-shaped Aioi Bridge - the intended target for the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. Then the A-bomb Dome appears on the riverbank and you arrive at the park. While on the boat, you see a round tank in the distance. It's just a gas tank. You also see a dome-like building to the north of Peace Park. It's part of the Children's Science Museum - a planetarium- and not related to the Dome. But overseas travelers often react to them. 

Scenes from Hon-jima, one of the venues for the Setouchi Triennale 2013

A photo taken from a small passenger boat connecting Kojima in Okayama, Honshu and Hon-jima island.

Thirty-minute ride on the boat to the island and Sacchi and I did a little walking around the port looking at artworks.

 Like this one, a clay house made by those from India.

They were from inland India and had never seen the ocean. The octopus relief on the wall, not seen in this photo, has more legs than they really are but looks very vivid and alive. 

 

This one was peaceful, in the middle of a little orchard of oranges. 

 Colorful and pretty but profound message.

Wooden pieces and sticks from Rikuzen-takata, one of the most devastated areas by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, were colored and used as the material of this artwork, comprehensively entitled Disintegration and Regeneration. Yoko joined from here.

 Another scene from the same site.

 Tinnitus 

 Bridge

What does the bride connect? An artwork at an old abandoned temple.

 To be here

The artist talked to us, which made a difference. We managed to come here by bike thanks to our lucky mistake. After Yoko joined, we walked around the vicinity and came back to the port accidentally but some of the rental bikes were back and we rented them for our continued tour by bike. 

 Departure

And our tour is over. 

ANDO Museum in the Honmura district of Naoshima

 

ANDO Museum is one of the newest permanent additions to Naoshima, opened in the spring of 2014. The exterior looks like a traditional house commonly seen in the island but inside stands Ando's concrete. Besides the slanting concrete slab, Ando's two significant works are introduced inside: the Church of the Light and the Row House of Sumiyoshi. The museum uses only natural light; thus the light does a magic as it changes all the time. Under this glass cone lies basement. Go down there to find out how the basement let light in.