Cruisin' the 99

We took a boat tour of Kujukujima (99-Islands) aboard the Pearl Queen from the Kashimae Pier.

There are several areas that are tricky to navigate on a boat. If you take the tour, they'll tell you this in Japanese and English.

The water is very pretty, but not captured well with my little point and shoot.

Many of the islands are said to look like other things. So, what do you see in the photo above? That's the submarine island.

Oyster farming, big business in this area. The Oyster season begins next month (November).

The tour on the Pearl Queen costs 1200-yen for a 50 minute cruise.

Mt. Akasaki

Found me some hikes in Sasebo, Japan.

This is Akasakiyama. The hike is a relatively short one through a bamboo forest, but the views are amazing!

From one side of the mountain you can see Kujukushima (99-Islands).

From the other side of the mountain, you can look down on Juliet Basin.
There is a tiny shrine at the top as well as a small cave that you can walk through.

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. Admission is only 200-yen for adults, but the memories will stay with you for a long time.

Photography is allowed if you stop by the front desk and obtain a photo pass. The clock above was found near the site. The hands stopped at 11:02 when the bomb exploded.

60 sheets of glass fused together from the blast.

Replica of the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

The Hypocenter in Nagasaki

We visited the place where the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The monument above is the hypocenter. The Fat Man bomb exploded 500-meters above this monument at 11:02 on 09 August, 1945.

The Peace Park is right next to the Hypocenter. The Peace Statue there was put up in August of 1955, the 10th anniversary of the bomb. The fountain here is in the shapes of wings.

According to the sign next to the statue, "the elevated right hand points to the threat of nuclear weapons, while the outstretched left hand symbolizes tranquility and world peace.... the folded right leg symbolizes quiet meditation, while the left leg is poised for action in assisting humanity."

We saw several people having photos taken of themselves in the same pose as the statue.

The Shimonokawa River. It's very pretty, but has a very sad history. Many people who were in the area died trying to reach the water to drink.
Thousands of paper cranes. There is a Japanese belief that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, your wish will be granted. There is a famous story in the area about Sadako Sasaki a little girl who lived near the bomb center in Hiroshima. She developed leukemia a few years after the bomb was dropped.

Kintai Bridge

We visited the Kintai Bridge in Iwakuni. It's not far off the Expressway, and very pretty. This bridge was modeled after the bridges in China at the time it was first built. According to the brochure, it is built in such a way that it actually gets stronger when weight is put on it.

There is a small fee to cross the bridge, but unfortunately, we were on a time crunch and couldn't stay. The original bridge was built in the 1600's, but washed away from a typhoon in 1950. The townspeople did all they could to save the bridge when the typhoon was happening. They couldn't stop it, so in 1953 they rebuilt it.

You can pay another fee to take a ropeway up to the Iwakuni castle you can see up on the top of that hill.

This guy was guarding this person's car. Cool!

Planning a wedding?

I went on a little field trip yesterday and one of the stops was at a shrine. I've been to a billion shrines, give or take a couple, but this tour guide took us to the office. The guide told us that this is where you go if you want to marry at this shrine.

Our guide says the weddings themselves don't cost that much, but the gifts the family must give to the guests can cost a lot! The kimono in the far right of the top picture is included in the price. The food that your guests will be served is in the cases above. The gifts for guests are in the cases below.

If you are going to attend a wedding, we were told that you must stop by the store and purchase a pretty envelope with red and silver ribbon-like things on them. Your monetary gifts must be in odd numbered increments.

I hope I remembered what all she told us correctly. I do know that the black and silver (or white) envelope was for funerals.

Everyone poops

It's hard to tell from the photo, but that is a little bitty potty. We just did a cross-country drive here in Japan stopping at several rest areas along the way. I have often seen a kid-sized potty or two in the adult rest room, but this was the first all kids bathroom I have ever seen.

Those are really low to the ground urinals and short little sinks. There were also bathroom stalls with low walls so your child could have privacy while the parent could look over the top. It was cute, in a kind of weird way.

There was even a dedicated dog run at a couple of the larger rest stops we stopped at.
This post isn't complete without a photo of the dog toilet.