{"id":1408,"date":"2009-12-27T23:45:14","date_gmt":"2009-12-27T14:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-12-27\/1408"},"modified":"2009-12-27T23:45:14","modified_gmt":"2009-12-27T14:45:14","slug":"zany-roof-guardians-on-taketomi-island-in-the-far-south-of-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-12-27\/1408","title":{"rendered":"Zany Roof Guardians on Taketomi Island, in the Far South of Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRoof on Taketomi Island<\/span>\nreplete with twin rabies-crazed guard devil dogs\nTaketomi Island, Okinawa, Japan\n<\/div>\n\n

Last spring we made a short trip to Ishigaki Island<\/a> in the\nfar south of Japan, just this side of Taiwan. I posted<\/span> about the trip there<\/a> and the amazing first sunset<\/a>\nand first dinner<\/a>, some\nzero light night\nphotography<\/a>. And more. And that was<\/span> just from the first day of the\ntrip.<\/p>\n\n

The second day generated nine posts, including some beautiful vistas<\/a>, a\nsecluded beach<\/a>, some\ndynamic weather at a\nlighthouse<\/span><\/a>, a sunset\ndip in the pool<\/a>, a lively “flame & rain”\ndinner<\/a>, and a retrospective through\nAnthony's eyes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

I barely started posting about the third day, having only shown our boat ride to nearby small\nTaketomi Island<\/a> and some pretty coral- &\nflower-lined roads<\/a> there.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway....<\/b> it's been ages since I posted<\/span> from that trip, so now that you're\ncaught up, I plan to<\/span> continue, starting today with this recap and the\npicture above.<\/p>\n\n

Taketomi Island is a small island a few<\/span> miles off Ishigaki Island, part\nof the long string of islands known collectively as Okinawa, but 400km\nsouth-west of the Okinawan mainland. Taketomi and Ishigaki are culturally\nquite distinct from “Okinawa” (the Okinawan mainland), but their\ntraditional roofs are similar. They feature heavily-cemented tiles —\nbetter to stay put during a typhoon<\/span> — and are usually adorned with a\npair<\/span> of statues of some kind of guardian lion or dog or whatnot. (The guardian\nanimal doesn't change... I'm just not<\/span> sure what it is.)<\/p>\n\n

On Okinawa the guardians were imposing, commanding, somewhat fierce and\nsinister, and, like many things on Okinawa proper, with a strong<\/span> Chinese\ncultural influence. Here in Taketomi, though, the guardians tended to be\ncomical, with big bulging eyes.<\/p>\n\n

At least I think they're supposed to be comical. I certainly<\/span> found them\nso. I enjoyed<\/span> them much more than their Okinawan counterparts. Look at the\nfull-size pic above for the full zaniness.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last spring we made a short trip to Ishigaki Island in the far south of Japan, just this side of Taiwan. I posted about the trip there and the amazing first sunset and first dinner, some zero light night photography. And more. And that was just from the first day of the trip.<\/p>

The second day generated nine posts, including some beautiful vistas, a secluded beach, some dynamic weather at a lighthouse, a sunset dip in the pool, a lively \"flame & rain\" dinner, and a retrospective through Anthony's eyes.<\/p>

I barely started posting about the third day, having only [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}