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Post by tangerinesun on Jan 17, 2016 20:35:01 GMT -5
Daily life in Japan gets interesting in ways we can all relate to. This, for example: It's a snow day in Tokyo. Harajuku was pretty before dawn, presumed pretty bad a while later. Photo ©2016 by Tokyo Fashion at Flickr – All rights reserved.Canadian, Nordic, Antarctic members, don't forget: polar bears, reindeer and penguins are uncommon in Japan.
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Post by tangerinesun on Jan 17, 2016 20:53:44 GMT -5
Another January event. 2012 photo from the travel blog, Nicole Is The New BlackNHK NewsWeb repeated a televised report with video on the Great Buddha of Kamakura, cast in bronze around 1252-53. It's closed to visitors for two months during cleaning and repairs that include seismic safety upgrades. The last time the Buddha got this kind of attention was between 1959-1961, corresponding to the national refurbishing that surrounded the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The video clip shows the entire monument being raised on hand-operated hydraulic jacks. The contemporary footage was shot on January 11 at a ceremony during which officials offered prayers for the safety of all concerned. Morii Junno, Chief Researcher for the Cultural Properties Conservation Science Center of the Tokyo National Research Institute said, "So as not to harm the Great Buddha which has stood 750 years since it was first erected, we will proceed with caution." The 267,000 pound Great Buddha has gone through intervals of neglect, outright disaster, and renovation since 1247, when a storm wrecked the huge hall sheltering an earlier version in wood. After a series of such catastrophes, the bronze replacement has been left out in the weather since 1495.
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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Jan 18, 2016 18:25:55 GMT -5
Daily life in Japan gets interesting in ways we can all relate to. This, for example: It's a snow day in Tokyo. Harajuku was pretty before dawn, presumed pretty bad a while later. Photo ©2016 by Tokyo Fashion at Flickr – All rights reserved.Canadian, Nordic, Antarctic members, don't forget: polar bears, reindeer and penguins are uncommon in Japan. We have reindeer in Canada too... we call them caribou!
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Post by tangerinesun on Jan 25, 2016 0:35:36 GMT -5
Japan Times 2016/01/24/ heavy-snow-hits-western-central-japan …Heavy snow fell and strong winds blew in Sea of Japan coastal areas from the central to southwestern regions on Sunday, disrupting air and land traffic… The first snowfall in almost 115 years was recorded on Amami-Oshima island… while temperatures fell to record lows in western and southern Japan...Well, it's official. Japan got a lot of winter this week in places that aren't used to so much. Five preventable deaths are blamed on snowfall so far. Don't let the snow bunnies get youIn places that depend on snow as an attraction, it's business as usual per Instagram. Shirakawa village looking like a model train setIcy creek somewhere in Gifu prefecture. Hot springs abound.Gassho (praying hands) roof construction "like a Japanese folk tale."Gassho roofs stand up to a lot of ice and snow. What the steep pitch doesn't shed can be raked away, but there's a catch. Sometimes you need at least a second story on your building, to keep snow on the ground from getting higher than the eaves.
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Post by thegl0r on Jan 25, 2016 4:33:03 GMT -5
Don't let the snow bunnies get you Wow, I love those snow bunnies. But perhaps someone has been cheating, they've been practising by making rice bunnies all year.
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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Jan 25, 2016 8:01:18 GMT -5
Shirakawa village looking like a model train set This is Hokkaido, the most northerly part of Japan. My own ancestors, when they came to Canada in the 1600s, encountered the same problem of high drifting snow (Quebec and Hokkaido are at the same latitude and have extraordinarily similar wheather) and found a similar roofing solution: images upload
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Post by tangerinesun on Feb 1, 2016 3:25:23 GMT -5
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Post by tangerinesun on Feb 11, 2016 21:08:28 GMT -5
Big Buddha's doing OK. This is from around 15 January. It looks like the bronze superstructure needs a ton of work.
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Post by tangerinesun on Feb 17, 2016 15:41:11 GMT -5
"How like a handsome man he seems"The scaffolding comes off on March 10. Nice update from the front page of the Asahi Shimbun.
Vox Populi 14 Feb 2016
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Post by tangerinesun on Mar 11, 2016 23:08:33 GMT -5
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Post by tangerinesun on Mar 28, 2016 14:47:14 GMT -5
A couple of photos from Japanese Sightseeing via Twitter.
Big Buddha got out of his scaffolding in time for the start of spring.
Right now, it's peak cherry blossom season across much of Japan. Immediately after they peak, they fall. It's the foundation metaphor for impermanence in Japanese culture.
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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Apr 8, 2016 11:22:30 GMT -5
A couple of photos from Japanese Sightseeing via Twitter. Big Buddha got out of his scaffolding in time for the start of spring. Right now, it's peak cherry blossom season across much of Japan. Immediately after they peak, they fall. It's the foundation metaphor for impermanence in Japanese culture. Rina enjoying the sakura season.... image hosting more than 5mb
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Post by tangerinesun on Apr 8, 2016 16:53:35 GMT -5
Big Buddha got out of his scaffolding in time for the start of spring. Right now, it's peak cherry blossom season across much of Japan.... Rina enjoying the sakura season.... She's not called Pinkorina for nothing! X-posting to the Brinky thread, because Brinky. This was from a day trip to the Inazumi suichu shonyudo, Japan's largest underwater limestone caves; about an hour's drive from Oita City. Inazumi is a wet cavern with an active spring and a major fork. One branch is submerged, so only divers can visit. The other is now dry, and that's the one you can see on your next trip to Oita. They have an information center. Nearby attractions are a monumental statue of Kannon, bodhisattva of compassion, a private cave museum, and a museum of antique Showa-era toys. The little river that issues from the cave itself is popular for recreational getaways. Information page at Visit Oita.jp (Japanese; slow-loading but fun with many links) visit-oita.jp/spots/lists/page:25Writeup at Japan Deluxe Tours japandeluxetours.com/destinations/oita-inazumi-underwater-stalactite-caveAmazing Grace — Blue Water Limestone2014 July 12 by 赤星憲一 (03:39) Inazumi blue-water limestone cave in Bungo-Ono, Oita, JapanA bit lame, and why "Amazing Grace"? But OK virtual tourism. The cavern can't really be shaved-ice blue, that would be lighting.
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Post by tangerinesun on Apr 12, 2016 14:30:44 GMT -5
Fire strikes Tokyo's historic Golden Gai district2016 April 12 by News Today (01:49) This really sucks. It's a firefighter's nightmare of old firetrap buildings with commercial kitchens and decrepit wiring packed into crowded narrow alleyways. JT said 30+ units responded, and 4 buildings were "damaged". You can't bring those back. Golden Gai is a tiny scrap of a Tokyo that no longer exists anywhere else but classic movies. https://instagram.com/p/BEGPBzvgRfC People worry that urban renewal for the Olympic Games is going to erase the last shreds of antique charm from metro Tokyo, but this is just as effective. You can easily surmise that this prime frontage on a larger street will get bought and held vacant till they can get enough footprint for a brand new highrise. Of course people immediately thought "arson". NICE work by the fire department. It helped that it was a cold, damp weekday morning. Reports said just one minor injury case — so the alarms work at least. Different story if it had happened on a Saturday night! https://instagram.com/p/BEGTeIDiqmS
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Post by tangerinesun on Apr 15, 2016 4:35:23 GMT -5
More and worse news about destruction... Kumamoto prefecture on the Southern island of Kyushu experienced a magnitude ~6.4 earthquake just before 9:30pm on the 14th, with nine dead, 784 injured, 15,000 in shelters according to the government. Something like 40,000 evacuated. The magnitude of the shaking, if not nearly the damage, compares to the Great Hanshin and Tohouku earthquakes. Trashed home in Mashiki — AP photoSecurity cam footage is pretty scary. A big aftershock followed and more are feared. A lot of structurally weak buildings shed walls and roofs, or just pancaked. Roads, railways and utilities are a mess and the historic Kumamoto Castle was damaged. The worst photos are coming from Mashiki, east of Kumamoto City. It's a regional disaster. Photo slideshow at The Mainichi (English) Photo Special: Disaster unfolds a day after deadly Kumamoto quakeApril 15, 2016 (English) mainichi.jp/english/graphs/20160415/hpe/00m/0na/002000g/1Japan earthquake: tens of thousands flee in fear of aftershocks and volcanoesAt least 44,000 people evacuated following 6.4-magnitude quake that killed at least nine By Richard Smart in Tokyo for The Guardian Friday 15 April 2016 02.14 EDT theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/15/japan-earthquake-thousands-evacuated-volcanoes-aftershocks
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