7.2 JAPAN II.

Temples of Chuson-ji, Motsu-ji, Takkoku No Iwaya Bishamon-do and the Genbi kei gorge (28/10 & 29/10).

Cedars in the gardens.

We camped on the grounds of a deserted/abandoned holiday resort. Some huts were unlocked and the beds still had mattresses, but we slept in our car. Also water and fire wood were still available.

Also houses to live in, ... in Japan.

Daily progress: (A) till Kesennuma: Tsunami area on 27/10 - (C) Temples of Motsu-Ji & Chuson-Ji on 28/10 -
(F) Kakunodate Samurai District on 31/10 - Going south on 31/10 till Nagaoka.

While surfing on the www, on a Tourist Info Parking, on our way to Kakunodate, we got checked by the coppers. A small patrol car with two police officers stopped and asked very politely for our passports. We showed all the paperwork in our possession and they got confused. A lot of phone calls with a lot of « Hai » were the result. They asked for our Resident Cards and we explained that we were tourists and didn't have Resident Cards. This statement made them call again to the superior officer. Tree minutes later, the tune of Star Wars made the senior copper jump for his mobile, while the young one was tapping his smart phone and showed me the translation for the question : « Where do you stay tonight ?».

Since it was pouring, they invited us into the tea bar. We got a tea on the costs of the town and three minutes later the wife of the senior officer came in with a present. We received a sort of « cake » on the basis of chestnuts and a bag full of chestnuts the size of little eggs. We were more embarrassed than the officers. A little later another patrol car the size of a healthy Mercedes stopped at the bar. Two high ranking officers verified the papers, said : « Everything OK. » and asked very politely if they could photograph the paperwork. I suppose we are now the recruit school book example of the foreign tourist, in that little town.

Takkoku No Iwaya Bishamon-do

Genbi Kei gorge.

Kakunodate Samurai District (31/10).

Just somewhere along the road.
Six waterfalls in a row in the middle of
pristine woods and no one around.

Kakunodate Samurai District.

Kakunodate.

Takayama: rich merchants house.

Temperatures were dropping as we progressed north and since our visitors from Belgium arrived on 02/11 in Takayama, we turned our car south. At an average speed of 40 – 50 km/hr it takes two days to cover the 650 km between Kakunodate and Takayama. We stopped also for the Onsen's on our way !

(B) Takayama with the kids on 02/11 and Kanazawa on 04/11 (C) - 05/11 lost on Wakasa Wan Peninsula (D) -
Iwami Ginzan Silver Mines (F) - Hiroshima on 11/11 and meeting the French in Takehara (H).

Takayama with the « kids » : temples and the Old Town Houses (no smoking in this part of the town !) on 02/11. We ate the local beef (very tasty).

Takayama morning market.

Mother, daughter and daughter-in-law.

Kanazawa fish market.
Guy with a fish face.

04/11, the couch-surf host Keiko, guided us around Kanzawa on 04/11 and we ate in a typical Japanese restaurant on the fish market.

Keiko, dad and the kids in the Kenroku-en gardens of Kanazawa.

Traditional house in the gardens.
No holes in your socks in Japan!

FOOOOOD!!!!!

Near the sea, the temperatures were mild again. We did not need the sleeping bags and in the day a T-shirt was enough.

Yummy, yummy!

While getting lost in the night on the Wakasa Wan peninsula, we halted in a fishing village the size of a street, at the cul the sack of this same street. Next morning at 06:00 the fishing boat went out … and was back at 07:00. A frenzy started with probably 50% of the villagers present and by 7:30 all fish had been unloaded, sorted, distributed, paid for and the freezer truck left. After that : the village was near dead again. Who can blame these guys ? You live with a handful of people in this small village, on a dead end road, in a bay, surrounded with mountains and a luxurious nature, housing deer, monkeys, eagles, … and you get your dinner and the income from the sea. The art of living ?

6 in the morning.

Sorting the catch.

She I: You want this one?
She II: Noway Josey!
She III: fo shizzle ma nizzle . 

Weighed and paid.

Chez le coiffeur.

The car got serviced (oil & -filter) by Toyota in Matsue and we received grease for free, for the universal joints from the drive shafts. When we left, the mechanics and an office suite bowed deeply (did we pay that much?). We do not get used to this traditional kindness. In another occasion, the laundry lady came out to bow when we left the laundry shop. We hurried because it was raining and she was just standing there, waiting until we left the parking lot.

Toyota treats the guests well: coffee, cake and sweets
while on the web.

Iwami Ginzan Silver Mines : In the 16^th - 17^th century, the Spaniards got the silver from the mines in South and Central America and the Portuguese obtained silver from Japan. Silver they needed to trade mainly silk, porcelain and spices with China and islands in East Asia. Japan produced 1/3 of the world's silver in this era.

Crushing silver ore and
picking the rock debris.

Miners village in the 16th century, close to the silver mines. 

Temples with 250 Buddhas each, cut out in the rocks.

Hiroshima : Castle and A-bomb memorials/museum.

Castle tower.

The tower of the castle has been reconstructed in 1958 after it was flattened by the the first A-bomb in history at 08:15 hrs on 6 August 1945. Interesting exhibition, inside the tower, about the organisation of the feudal domains, development of the area : land reclamation, sea transport, trades, …

Castle Lord & the lady.

Samurai combat outfit.

Problems with the wife?

Rifles delivered by the Dutch in the 16th century.
"The Last Samurai" with Tom Cruise IS utter bull!

Lord of Hiroshima in the 16th century.
Not all body parts are in the correct position?

Its a family problem!

A-bomb dome and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. « Little Boy » exploded at 600 m above the city. Within a 2 km radius of the hypocenter, nearly all buildings were first crushed and then burned. People were walking around with their clothes and their skin in tatters. Due to the very high temperatures after the blast, survivors were extremely thirsty and drank black rain containing radioactive particles. Many died from the radiation in the days/years after. Here is the story of a little girl that is now the symbol for all kids that died from the bomb/radiation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_Sasaki . The museum displays a lot of these stories, but I couldn't take pics because it would have felt like voyeurism. Peeking into one's sufferings for the sake of a souvenir. The museum is an impressive experience.
On 09 August a second bomb (Fat Man) was dropped on Nagasaki.

A-bomb dome.

Jap with wrong sweater at the A-bomb dome.
Skipped the history lessons about WWII, or was he Korean?

Hiroshima just before 08:15 - 06 August 1945.
The T-shaped bridge was the aiming point.
Left of the bridge: the A-bomb dome.
At that time the Chamber of Commerce.

Hiroshima after the explosion and the 'hypocenter" 600 m
above the ground with the fireball exceeding one million degrees,
rapidly expanding with the shock wave and lethal radiations.

We left Hiroshima for the last destination in Japan: Yokohama. In Yokohama we hope to find a ship that will take the car back to Belgium.

A lot of pick-ups, vans, mini-buses, ... of this kind are on the road.
Today we present you: "The Mini-Camper!".

This guy (75 yrs + pace-maker) and wife slept in a similar standard van.
A lot of Japanese are traveling their country by car/van and sleep in the
vehicle on Tourist Info Parking's. Toilets and sometimes hot water, sometimes
Onsen's and WiFi are available on these parking's.

Left: Alain (French) doing a world tour. Is now on the road for
about 1,50 years and hoping to finish in another year.

Anne and Christian: a French couple doing a trip of 12 months.
See under "1.6 The Links" the blogs/web sites of the people we met on the trip.