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On part of the Hakone Loop is the Hakone Open-Air Museum, a very cool attraction that has something for everyone. In the background of this picture you can see a building with the words “ネットのお城” on the side. In English this means “Net Castle.” Inside there are loads of nets, in something like an inverted castle formation, that kids climb, swing, and otherwise play on. I’ll show you a picture from the inside in tomorrow’s blog entry.
A view of Kyoto from inside the grounds of Ginkaku-ji (銀閣寺)…
I’m really looking forward to heading back to Japan with my new LX3. The wide angle and low-light image quality are so much better than my old camera. Images like the above should come out far more dazzling.
I took this in Harajuku (I think). I may have been in Shibuya by the time I took this. The two areas sort of combine and overlap at some point and that’s about where I was.
If today’s picture looks a little familiar it is because a portion of it sometimes appears as the banner across the top of this blog.
To the foreign eye this photograph probably looks like a cool piece of Japan–lantern after lantern loaded with strange and unique Japanese characters. I wonder what it looks like to a Japanese person. What is written on these lanterns you ask? Business names. That’s right; this is just a wall of advertising. I find it to be more beautiful than American billboards, but maybe the Japanese look at it as an eyesore.
The location of these lanterns is near the entrance of a shopping street in Kyoto. Immediately behind the lanterns is a shrine. I’m guessing it is for the prosperity of the businesses that sponsor it. You can see some shimenawa and gohei if you look closely.
This is the guy in Owakudani that has the thankless job of putting the eggs (dozens at a time in these wire baskets) into the boiling sulfur water. The smell is unbearable. I suppose he gets used to it. We couldn’t stand to be in this location for more than a minute or two. The kurotamago (黒玉子–black, hard-boiled eggs) that he is transporting are sold to tourists for outrageous prices. Eating them is supposed to give you a longer life. I have a hard time believing that working in sulfur everyday will do anything but shorten your life. Needless to say, we didn’t partake.
