Kirishima

The first tract of land to be designated a National Park in Japan, Kirishima is the site where, in Shinto mythology, the grandson of the sun goddess descended to earth. It is supposedly from this god--Ninigi-no-mikoto--that the Japanese imperial line originated. The park contains 23 volcanoes--many of them active--as well as 10 crater lakes.

Sai-no-kawara:


A crater lake:


Kirishima-jingu, the shrine dedicated to Ninigi-no-mikoto:

Chiran

Chiran is small town centered around a collection of samurai houses dating from the early 18th century. The Sata family, one of the richest factions of nearby Kagoshima's Shimizu clan, built these buke-yashiki along a landscaped lane as their primary residences. Oddly, the Shimazu clan fought England in 1863, and the town features a small Anglo-Satsuma Museum. More recently, an airfield in Chiran was used as the point of departure for kamikaze pilots en route to Okinawa. The Special Attack Peace Hall memorializes the 1035 teenagers who attempted suicide attacks on Allied ships in the Battle of Okinawa. All in all, only 56 American ships were sunk, and just over 400 were severely damaged. On display in the hall are a number of soldiers' relics, uniforms, and even the remains of a detonated kamikaze plane unearthed from the Pacific. The main room features poetry, farewell letters, and photos of the pilots, the majority in their late teens or early twenties.

The manicured gardens on the grounds of some of the buke-yashiki houses:





Memorial to Special Attack Forces and an original kamikaze bomber:

Reconstructed pilots' barracks:

A few of the 1035 stone lanterns in memory of the kamikaze pilots who died in the Battle of Okinawa:

Sakurajima

The largest island in the Kagoshima Bay, Sakurajima is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The eruption of 1914 was so violent that the lava flow connected the island to the eastern shore of the bay. The volcano was pacific enough when we visited the island, though a column of smoke could be seen emanating from the mouth of the crater...when the weather wasn't terrible, which was 90 percent of the time.

Views of the red tide:


The otorii of the Shinto shrine Kurokami-jinja, buried in the 1914 lava flow. The gate originally stood over 10 feet high.

View from Sakurajima:

In Furusato Onsen, a massive cliffside rotemburo on the bay featuring a cave-like sacred camphor tree and a shrine to a local dragon god. For hundreds of years locals have allegedly been filling up liter bottles and drinking the naturally hot water. It is reputed to be a remedy for hemorrhoids.



Sakurajima, the volcano:

Rebensons go to Kyoto: The East

Kiyomizu-dera:


Zoe drinks from Kiyomizu-dera's Otawa waterfall, the remedy for all afflictions:

Zoe in front of Ryouzen Kannon:

My parents at Heian-jingu:

Ohanami in the gardens of Heian-jingu:




Ginkaku-ji:

Rebensons go to Kyoto: The West

On the grounds of the zazen temple Ryouan-ji:


Zoe at Kinkaku-ji:

At another zazen temple, Daitoku-ji:

Nighttime ohanami at Nijou-jou, the early 17th century residence of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu:

Iwakuni

About 40 km west of Hiroshima is Iwakuni, once the headquarters of the Kikkawa clan, a family of daimyou, or feudal lords. While the area at the base of the castle is a relatively well preserved 17th century castle town, Iwakuni is also home to a US Marine Corps Air Station (pictured left) currently housing 10,000 personnel, "the Marine Corps' best kept secret." On March 12 of this year, 59 percent of Iwakuni residents turned out to vote on a referendum to extent the US-Japan treaty that allows the base to exist, and a resounding 90 percent voted "no." And yet just as in Okinawa, Koizumi has reassured Bush that the base will be allowed to stand. (In the case of Okinawa, Koizumi has devised a number of anti-democratic methods of evading a 2005 residents' referendum against bases on Okinawa-Honto.) A growing anti-base movement in Iwakuni has mobilized in the wake of the referendum, but Koizumi continues to placate Bush with empty promises. As Eric Johnston of the Japan Times wrote for Japan Focus recently, "[W]hoever sits in the Prime Minister's chair come September will have to deal with the fact that even local municipal governments where opposition to hosting more troops may not be as strong as Iwakuni are going to have to be diplomatically finessed into accepting an agreement that they had no direct say in."

A statue of Sasaki Kojiro, famous for his duel against the legendary Musashi Miyamoto in 1612 (incidentally Sasaki's last act); also featured in the long-running manga "Vagabond" series, a multi-part graphic biography of Musashi.

Kintai-kyou, a five-arch wooden bridge constructed by Kikkawa Hiroyoshi in the mid-17th century:


A statue of Kikkawa Hiroyoshi, leader of the Kikkawa clan. His castle is visible on the mountaintop:

Ohanami

Hana = flower, mi = viewing. The first week or so of April is an occassion for nighttime barbeques under the pink cherry blossoms bathed in lantern light. The flowers only last for about 10 days, so people come out in droves. The park in which I live--Hijiyama--is famous in Hiroshima for its sakura (cherry trees), so the normally pacific nights are punctuated by Japanese fight songs and inebriated shouting matches.

The RERF statistics department's ohanami lunch:



Okubo-sensei, the Japanese director of RERF: