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Really amazing. Thank you for sharing. I've only been to Tokyo like most tourist but when this covid thing finally goes away hopefully in a couple of years and time permits, I must take time to visit some of these local places.
On the tesuki washi process, it's really nice to see the passion and hand made arts still surviving in today's highly automated AI world. It reminds me of a gentleman watch maker George Daniels who made such detailed and complicated time pieces by hand that you would imagine only possible with some expensive AI driven surgical CNC.
Thanks again for sharing. Please don't stop.
Yes, there are many disciplines still practiced with the passion for being the best in Japan.
I love the Seiko chronograph story for that reason too, and always enjoy watching the carpenters working on our house.
Getting away from Tokyo and Kyoto is the best recommendation for anyone visiting Japan.
This is why we pack up and hit the road regularly, often discovering new and interesting places along the way...
With the warm air, high humidity, and cold mountain rivers, they often have a layer of mist.
Sometimes disappearing entirely from view, which looks pretty neat - a river of mist.
With no middle line, you need to be careful with on-coming traffic.
Even if the roads look deserted, some local in a kei-truck, leaning into the corner on two wheels is sure to appear.
Like some of the mountain roads, the train lines too are often just one track, including at stations.
Some roads close overnight, and in some areas this is to reduce drifting antics.
This little restaurant was beside a station in the mountains, and makes a great stop for touge hunters and trail walkers.
Getting ready to leave Shikoku, we had also spotted a Mitsubishi Jeep, a Kujira Crown, and an obviously chimpira Century.
We wondered how many stories that massive trunk could tell.
With the rest of Japan still at home - as we were only just out of cross-prefectural lockdown - most of the expressway traffic was trucks, with only a few private cars.
With the heavy rain clearing, we stopped at Naruto to watch the massive tidal whirlpools.
It was great to have the Cayman S out on these roads:
The Cayman is a great tourer - more than enough luggage space for two (and a tonne of omiyage), fast on the expressway, and a barrel of fun on the mountain touge and picturesque wangan roads.
With the rains continuing - even through this last week - many dams were overflowing.
The main street of Arima is lined with hotels, onsen, restaurants, and coffee shops.
In pre-Covid times you could spend many days exploring the little lanes and alleyways.
We shared the overnight space with a Kyoto registered Boxster, in a great color combo.
We've always enjoyed the optimism of the Showa-era in rural areas, and this ice cream stand has likely been like this since the 1950s.
Empty tunnels, which may, or may not have seen a Cayman S redlining
...as one does.
What was the shutter speed on this? 1/10? Also I get the impression any burned out light would get replaced in 24 hours. Seeing them all lit up satisfies my OCD.
...as one does.
What was the shutter speed on this? 1/10? Also I get the impression any burned out light would get replaced in 24 hours. Seeing them all lit up satisfies my OCD.
Shutter speed, with f1.4 and ISO400 was possibly 1/60 or 1/125.
Tunnels on expressways are well-lit during the day, and they typically turn off half the lights at night.
Here in Japan, a burnt lamp would likely get replaced within a few hours on a major expressway.
The tunnel to our house has to wait a year...
We've been asked to not leave our prefectures recently, so went exploring some back roads, looking for a new lunch spot.
Along the way, we came across a mechanic's workshop, where the owner and his son had collected a number of interesting kyusha from the local area.
The Mazda K360 was a three-wheeled, light truck from the 1950s, and we loved the design - everything from the font to the dashboard.
Post war Japan was under a number of licensing regimes, and three-wheeled vehicles attracted a differing tax structure, and Mazda sold them for a number of years, culminating with the massive two-tonne T2000.
Some are still in use today.
A Galant coupe, perhaps from the late-1970s.
Back when Mitsubishi made interesting cars.
Actually, back when Mitsubishi made any cars.
Japan's countryside is dotted with rural yards / mechanics like this.
Servicing mostly kei, they often have an interesting story to tell, or a collection of kyusha tucked out the back.
We've seen some amazing collections in our travels - everything from three-wheel trucks to exotica...
The last interesting Mitsubishi I can remember is the 3000GT, as a teenager I thought it was very advanced and cool even though it was complicated and heavy. I really can’t recall anything Mitsubishi made after that, kinda sad.
The last interesting Mitsubishi I can remember is the 3000GT, as a teenager I thought it was very advanced and cool even though it was complicated and heavy. I really can’t recall anything Mitsubishi made after that, kinda sad.
There's a 3000GT down the coast from our house, and it's interesting.
At the time, I thought them huge, but it's not that large these days.
This is the only pic I could find from my archives:
Here, we also had the FTO, also interesting with a 2L V6.
Local fishing port, with fresh fish restaurants on the other side of village square.
The catch is literally trucked across the street in the kei sitting on the wharf side...
Many coastal lighthouses across Japan are still in use.
07-21-2020, 09:36 PM
