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Japan photos 23 Sep
Photos will now be caught up with trip reporting and will be done in parallel, but you may want to refer to the 23 September journal entry to see what I'm talking about in some of the photo commentary.
Me and two of my bodyguards at the entrance to Atsuta Shrine.
God chickens!
The main castle on the grounds at Nagoya Castle. The walls below create a kind of plateau that the castle buildings sit on, and there's a moat at their base. Much was made of how the walls were engineered to curve in a way that balanced their force against the pressure of the earth inside.
You can climb that castle tower (or take the elevator right to the top and look at the museum bits on the way down, like us) for a great view of Nagoya in all directions. As always in Japanese city photos, the striking horizontal line below the horizon is the walled shinkansen tracks.
All the boys and me with a replica of the famous golden fish that adorn the top of Nagoya Castle. (See in the previous picture at the end of the top tier?) It's called shachihoko, and it's a traditional representation of an orca. There are whole histories of how people tried to steal the golden scales, and of how the city council would occasionally need money and "refurbish" them with lower quality gold, disguising their budgetary measures with heavier anti-bird netting. This shachihoko is female. I don't know how one can tell if there isn't a sign.
Me and two of my bodyguards at the entrance to Atsuta Shrine.
God chickens!
The main castle on the grounds at Nagoya Castle. The walls below create a kind of plateau that the castle buildings sit on, and there's a moat at their base. Much was made of how the walls were engineered to curve in a way that balanced their force against the pressure of the earth inside.
You can climb that castle tower (or take the elevator right to the top and look at the museum bits on the way down, like us) for a great view of Nagoya in all directions. As always in Japanese city photos, the striking horizontal line below the horizon is the walled shinkansen tracks.
All the boys and me with a replica of the famous golden fish that adorn the top of Nagoya Castle. (See in the previous picture at the end of the top tier?) It's called shachihoko, and it's a traditional representation of an orca. There are whole histories of how people tried to steal the golden scales, and of how the city council would occasionally need money and "refurbish" them with lower quality gold, disguising their budgetary measures with heavier anti-bird netting. This shachihoko is female. I don't know how one can tell if there isn't a sign.