So this is the third and final part of the 303 trilogy that’s taken me over a year to blog – and which probably never would have been blogged if it hadn’t been for the continued hits and comments I keep getting. So thanks for that!
Anyway, this final part is, as the title says, one lonely house I spotted besides a branch off from 303.
Changes are like dominoes.
A shift in economics can force a change of lifestyle that drives people to the cities and clears out whole villages. Building a new major road can leave old byways crumbling and forgotten (which was basically the plot of Pixar’s Cars). Evidence of both of these phenomena can be seen along Route 303 with almost abandoned villages in the woods off to the side, and forgotten winding roads that haven’t been used since more direct tunnels were driven through the hills,
This will be the first of three (long overdue) haikyo updates about places I’ve come across whilst exploring my local stretch Route 303. Since about February I’ve been making irregular trip along this route, and checking out some of the branches running off it which has turned up quite a lot of haikyo goodness.
The first place that caught my eye and got me out there, was this road side diner – which I have to admit turned out to be a pretty dull shell of a building, but it did at least get me out and exploring the area.
My original Kappa post is by far the most viewed post on this blog – so I thought I’d do a follow up for all you Kappa fans and let you know more about everybody’s favorite Japanese water imp. So today I’m going to share a whole host of interesting Kappa images, links and suggested viewing with you all.
I promised a follow up a long time ago when I was about to depart on a quest to try and track down a mummified Kappa in Osaka. So that’s where we’ll pick up today.
According to the book this place was in operation until a severe storm caused so much damage that the cost of repairs was too great for the owners, since then it’s just been left standing with minimal supervision; it is also listed, in the book, as one of Japan’s top haikyo spots. Even from a distance it was easy to tell that this was going to be an impressive site. Far bigger than anything we’d previously explored.
I’m back! And as a special treat for you all (before I get back to blogging Japanese haikyo, yokai and costumes) here’s something decidedly English for you.
I had the good fortune to be able to stop by the Doctor Who Experience in London while I was passing through and snap a few pictures of the classic costumes and creatures on display there.
The ‘experience’ is divided into two parts a mini-adventure guided by the current Doctor (Matt Smith) via a series of special video appearances. Apparently he’s gone and got himself locked in another Pandorica (‘They had a spare.’ he laments), so it’s up to us to save him, by running around lots of corridors and themed rooms such as – an intergalactic museum, TARDIS interior, a dalek mother ship and so on. Read the rest of this page »
No updates for a couple of weeks as I’m off to the UK for my wedding!
I’ll be back on the 20th and hope to have something new up by the end o the month.
Later.
D,
With all the haikyo and yokai blog reports some of my other topics tend to get a bit neglected – so here’s a quick fix of costumes pics for you.
This is a small collection of three random costume sightings scored during other trips.
Firstly during a day out at the Meji Muru in Inuyama, I ran into this clawed cutie. A girl in white knee-length boots and a pink crab costume – don’t ask why.
She was actually with a small camera crew so a guess they were about to record a TV segment. The building in the background is a Frank Lloyd Wright original, so maybe it was something to do with that.
Over the last couple of months Andrew and I have been slowly checking off all the sites in the book around Shiga Ken. Today we’re checking out #128 (p.185) and, as usual, without the benefit of any translation we have no idea what to expect, all we know is that it’s somewhere not far from the centre of Omi Hachiman.
As we draw close to the area that we figure it has to be in a huge black brick chimney slides into view above the other buildings. Brick isn’t a typical material in Japan (its dead weight isn’t something you want falling on you during an earthquake) and seeing brick usually suggests a historical or foreign (influenced) building – often both. Guessing that this must be what we’re here to see we park up and make our way across a rather industrial looking bridge and weir combo so see exactly what it is we’ve found.
Anybody who uses ‘ The Book ‘ might recognise this picture from p.199.
I even cropped my picture to look as close to the book version as possible, consider this my homage.
Though I have no idea why they selected this image to represent what is in fact a rather wonderful six storey hotel, with an elevated sky tower so tall you can see it long before the hotel comes into view.
This isn’t even the best bit of graffiti in the building, which has been adopted as a canvas by the graffiti community and is full much grander pieces of art, but we’ll get to that later.
First, let’s put this place into a bit of context.
Total-Japandemonium 