{"id":2411,"date":"2014-04-20T18:39:15","date_gmt":"2014-04-20T09:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2014-04-20\/2411"},"modified":"2014-04-20T18:39:15","modified_gmt":"2014-04-20T09:39:15","slug":"weekend-in-shirahama-japan-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2014-04-20\/2411","title":{"rendered":"Weekend in Shirahama, Japan: Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nKickin' Back<\/span>\nat Senjojiki, Shirahama Japan (\u767d\u6d5c<\/span>\u306e\u5343\u7573\u6577)<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

\u3053\u306e\u9593\u3001\u9031\u672b<\/span>\u306e\u65c5\u884c<\/span>\u3067\u30d1\u30f3\u30c0\u304c\u591a\u3044\u767d\u6d5c(<\/span>\u548c\u6b4c\u5c71\u770c)<\/span>\u306b\u884c\u304d\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/p>\n\n

As I mentioned the\nother day<\/a>, we took a short<\/span> weekend trip to Shirahama (\u767d\u6d5c),<\/span> in\nWakayama Prefecture a three<\/span>-hour drive south from Kyoto. We left on<\/span> Friday\nafter Anthony got home from school, so arrived late in the evening, giving us all of Saturday\nand most of Sunday to enjoy the area.<\/p>\n\n

We had a nice hybrid Western\/Japanese room at Hotel Laforet<\/a>....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 5s @ 4.12mm f\/2.2 at an effective 30mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>30 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 125 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nif it weren't the middle of the night, the view would be of the ocean\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 58mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 220 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nIt's All About the Pandas<\/span>\nin the lobby at Hotel Laforet\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The area is known for its small white-sand beach, and for having pandas\n(in what I assumed<\/span> was a zoo,<\/span> but as we'll see in a later<\/span> post, the pandas\nare at an amusement\/nature park). It was cute<\/span> to see panda paraphernalia everywhere, starting\nwith the lobby of the hotel on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n\n

What we didn't see were other customers. The hotel<\/span> was 11 floors, but on\nSaturday morning the place seemed deserted; we didn't see anyone except a few<\/span> staff.\nIt was eerie<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

(It turns<\/span> out that it filled up quickly later in the day, after thecheck-in time.)<\/p>\n\n

Our first order of business in the morning was to stroll down to the\nbeach, which is actually named Shirarahama (\u767d\u826f\u6d5c,\n<\/span> literally “<\/span>white good beach<\/i>”<\/span>), though the town it's located in\nis named Shirahama (\u767d\u6d5c,<\/span> literally “<\/span>white\nbeach<\/i>”<\/span>).<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 5s @ 4.12mm f\/2.2 at an effective 30mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 40 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nat Shirarahama Beach (\u767d\u826f\u6d5c)\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/11, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nVery White, Very Clean<\/span>\nvery empty, but it's not that way during the summer\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The last time I was at this beach was 20+ years ago, when I spent<\/span> a weekend<\/span> with a metal<\/span> detector scooping up 500-yen ($5) coins.\nDuring the morning it was as empty as seen in these photos, but during the day during the summer it was a solid<\/span> carpet of people.<\/p>\n\n

For lunch we stopped by a place<\/span><\/a> for sushi that Fumie had seen in a guidebook.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 2200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHand Delivered Egg “<\/span>Sushi”<\/span><\/span>\nat Sushi Kozushi (\u5e78\u9ba8)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

It was lucky that I didn't realize at first that this was a real<\/i>\nsushi place, meaning pretty expensive. I'd asked<\/span> Fumie to order for us\nall, so I didn't<\/span> realize at first that no prices were displayed anywhere,\nbut when we got our first sushi the taste told me that this was a really<\/span>\nhigh-quality place, so I steeled<\/span> myself for the bill.<\/p>\n\n

It turns out to have been about $100 for the three of us, which is\ncertainly pricey for a lunch<\/span>(!), but I suppose<\/span> it's much less than\nsomething comparable would have been in Kyoto. I think<\/span> it was my first time\nat such a high<\/span>-class sushi place. It was delicious<\/span>, especially early on\nwhen I didn't<\/span> think about the price. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n

After lunch we made a short drive to a seaside<\/span> place called\nSenjojiki<\/i> (\u5343\u7573\u6577),<\/span> a name<\/span> that means something along the lines of\n“<\/span>spread out over a bazillion<\/span> room's worth of area”<\/span>. It turns<\/span> out to have\nbeen an amazing area of many different kinds of rock formations all in one\nmuch-smaller-than-a-bazillion compact area...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRefreshingly Dangerous<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The modern world, both in Japan and America, seems to have gotten so\nregulated and controlled so as to remove even the slightest risk of injury\nor of having fun, lest, I suppose,<\/span> someone sue.\nSo it was<\/span> refreshing that at this place there\nwere no guardrails, no ropes, no handrails, no “<\/span>don't have fun”<\/span>\nsigns. You were responsible<\/span> for yourself, and if\nyou did something stupid you would likely die or maim yourself. I'm a big<\/span> believer that personal responsibility should\nbe personal, so I really<\/span> enjoyed the freedom to\nexplore to the limits of my own sense of responsibility. We lived.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 32mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 5s @ 4.12mm f\/2.2 at an effective 30mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 5s @ 4.12mm f\/2.2 at an effective 30mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2900 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 40 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOptical Illusion<\/span>\nwe're actually way way<\/i> above the water\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 55mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThe Photo<\/span>\nthat I was taking in “<\/span>Optical Illusion”<\/span> above\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

In some areas the rocks were very stratified into highly distinct layers. I seem to<\/span> have been unable to capture\nit in a photo<\/span> well, but you can sort of see a bit<\/span> in the next photo, where a thin<\/span> layer of gravel-strewn rock runs near the top of the frame:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 29mm cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLayered<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Some layers were just a few inches thick, some a foot<\/span> thick, but the\npassage of time was clear and the abrupt changes in composition brought to\nmind cataclysmic events (volcanoes, tidal waves, earthquakes, etc.). One thing<\/span> I never<\/span> did notice in the 50+ meters of vertical layers were shells,\nso I guessed<\/span> that this area had never been below sea level.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nExploring<\/span>\n
Vertical Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\n1050×<\/span>1680<\/a>  ·  1200×<\/span>1920<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>2560<\/a><\/small><\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFinally Close to Sea Level<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 40mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBowl of Salt<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Above the tidal line were “<\/span>bowls”<\/span> encrusted with a thick<\/span> layer of salt. I'm guessing<\/span> that sea water is blown in infrequently during storms,\nthen evaporates and leaves the salt behind.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOthers Playing<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMore Exploring<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 5s @ 4.12mm f\/2.2 at an effective 30mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>950 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nInvestigating Intertidal Life Forms<\/span>\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSome Kind Of Something<\/span>\nhard-shelled muscle\/clamish thing evocative of a Trilobite<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 5s @ 4.12mm f\/2.2 at an effective 30mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 40 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nKings of the World<\/span>\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGaps are Meant to be Bridged<\/span>\nit was a pretty wide gap, but he made it with 10cm to spare\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a>  ·  2880×<\/span>1800<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRed Straight Rock<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Yet just a few seconds away...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 58mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nCreamy-Smooth Cream-Colored Rock<\/span>\nfeels otherworldly\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/9, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWishing He Could Skateboard Here<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 62mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRock That Looks Like Wood<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

We really enjoyed the area, and it was the highlight of the day.<\/p>\n\n

We then took a leisurely drive along the coast without much of a\ndestination,<\/span> but at some point I noticed<\/span> on the car navigation system that\na kilometer<\/span> or so inland was a “<\/span>Kinkakuji Temple”<\/span> (\u91d1\u95a3\u5bfa).<\/span> The famous “<\/span>Golden Pavilion<\/a>”<\/span> temple\nin Kyoto has that name, so I thought<\/span> it'd be interesting to see what this\ntemple with the same name looked like.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/9, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOutside the Gate<\/span>\nthe Kinkakuji Temple (\u91d1\u95a3\u5bfa)\nin Shirahama Japan, not the one in Kyoto\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Unfortunately, it was closed for some kind of construction. It seemed<\/span> deserted.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/9, ISO 220 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooks Promising<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The Kongorikishi<\/i> guardians flanking the entrance (described here<\/a>)\nwere wood-relief carvings instead of statutes carved from wood. I'd never<\/span> seen that before. Too bad it<\/span> was closed... the map showed lakes and such\ninside.<\/p>\n\n

We continued our drive and ended up at a big<\/span> orange something sticking\nout of the mountain, something we'd seen and wondered about from the\nhotel...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 40mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/10, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBig Orange Thing 2000' Long<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

It turns out that it's to support landing lights for the local airport, which seems to have been carved out of the mountains:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 32mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/10, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMountain Airport<\/span>\nNanki-Shirahama Airport  ·  \u5357\u7d00\u767d\u6d5c\u7a7a\u6e2f<\/span><\/a>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The hotel had a ping-pong table we could rent, which Anthony was excited to try...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 36mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 2000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPing-Pong for the First Time<\/span>\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 36mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 2800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSurprisingly Good!<\/span>\nfor his first time\nphoto by Fumie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I couldn't let him get too<\/i> full of himself, so of course I had<\/span> to crush him with a powerful<\/span> slam from time to time. Proper parenting, you know. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n

The hotel has huge onsen\nbaths<\/a> on the 11th floor, separated by gender, but you could rent a\nprivate<\/span> “<\/span>family bath”<\/span> for 50 minutes, which we did...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 4000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPrivate Bath<\/span>\n\u5bb6\u65cf\u306e\u304a\u98a8\u5442\u3002\uff15\uff10\u5206\u306f\uff12\u5343\u5186\u4f4d\u3002\u3088\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

We'd scheduled it for sunset hoping for a nice<\/span> display, but it was overcast so sunset was entirely\nuneventful. But the bath<\/span> was nice.<\/p>\n\n

For dinner we ate in the overpriced-but-surprisingly-tasty hotel restaurant, and went to bed early\nso as to be fresh for Day Two.<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u3053\u306e\u9593\u3001\u9031\u672b\u306e\u65c5\u884c\u3067\u30d1\u30f3\u30c0\u304c\u591a\u3044\u767d\u6d5c(\u548c\u6b4c\u5c71\u770c)\u306b\u884c\u304d\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/p>

As I mentioned the other day, we took a short weekend trip to Shirahama (\u767d\u6d5c), in Wakayama Prefecture a three-hour drive south from Kyoto. We left on Friday after Anthony got home from school, so arrived late in the evening, giving us all of Saturday and most of Sunday to enjoy the area.<\/p>

We had a nice hybrid Western\/Japanese room at Hotel Laforet....<\/p>

The area is known for its small white-sand beach, and for having pandas (in what I assumed was a zoo, but as we'll see in a later post, the pandas are at an amusement\/nature park). It [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,6,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411"}],"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=2411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}