Archive for the 'Miyajima' Category

Pictures from our September 2007 trip to Miyajima Island, near Hiroshima

Finding a Rainy 25-Year-Old Memory on Miyajima Island

During past weekend's trip to Miyajima Island, the impending typhoon brought back memories of my first trip to the island, in 1989 after having been in Japan for only a month. A friend at work (Andy Krantz) had a nice trip planned for the week-long Obon holidays the country takes every August, and kindly invited me along. On this trip we stopped by Miyajima Island, which I knew nothing about (at the time I knew nothing about Japan except Perl Harbor and Sony).

On that visit I certainly would have seen the famous shrine gate, but I don't remember it [...]


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Bland Pre-Typhoon Views of the Sky from Kyoto to Hiroshima, at 300kph

As I mentioned yesterday, with a typhoon expected to reach the main island of Japan on Monday, we make a quick Saturday/Sunday trip south to Hiroshima and Miyajima. The approaching typhoon made for an interesting sky, with a very high cloud ceiling, in different patterns.

Photos of the sky from the train window are pretty bland, but perhaps of interest to someone who has never been to Japan.

この間の土曜日、京都から宮島までの空景色。写真はつまらないですが、日本に来られてない方には面白いかも。

In the split second after we came out of a tunnel, the GPS unit was confused about the speed. It quickly returned to 300kph.

After a lunch (that will eventually be [...]


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Pre-Typhoon Low-Tide View of the Itsukushima Shrine Gate at Sunset

We popped down to Hiroshima this weekend, and spent the night in Miyajima, near the Itsukushima Shrine. A typhoon is coming, so last night's sunset was not too shabby.

厳島神社の鳥居、昨日の夕方。台風19号の影響で奇麗な夕焼けでした。今日、雨が始まる前に京都に戻りました。

The shrine is notable for being in a tidal plane with a huge difference between high and low tides (the difference yesterday morning was 3.41m -- more than 11 feet), so the look and feel of the area changes dramatically throughout the day. It's prettier when the water is up, but it's more interesting when the tide is out because you can walk around out past the gate.

Posts from [...]


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The Richness of Miyajima’s Itsukushima Shrine at Dusk

The other day in "Getting Back Out with the Camera a Bit" I mentioned that I stopped by the famous Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社) on Miyajima Island (a bit south of Hiroshima, Japan). I arrived at sunset on a gloomy day that was already dark, and stayed for just half an hour.

Deer roam the area freely, and are quite docile. This is in stark contrast to Nara, where the deer are extremely aggressive, taking your food right out of your hand or shopping bag if you're not quick enough to protect it. I should write up a post about that.

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Getting Back Out with the Camera a Bit

I'm still overwhelmingly steeped in Lightroom plugin development of late, but did get out with the camera a few times over the weekend. On Friday I met some friends visiting Kyoto, and in the shot above one is taking a photo of a stuffed bunny at the Heian Shrine (平安神 宮), as part of a project for a friend's daughter, showing the bunny in various situations around Japan.

Over Saturday and Sunday, I took a family trip to Iwakuni in western Japan to visit some relatives, and as part of the trip stopped by Miyajima Island (宮島) and its famous [...]


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