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This year’s fireworks display – Fire Flowers [花火] in Japanese – was held on Saturday, July 29th. Rather than the usual, colorful photos, I decided to try something a bit more artsie-fartsie, and not only used Black and White, but I reversed the images to negative. Now they look much more like Japanese Sumo-e ink drawings. I rather like the effect.
Matsuyama (松山市) is the largest city on the Japanese island of Shikoku. It has a population of 516,459. The city’s name means “pine mountain”. Matsuyama was founded on December 15, 1889. The city is known for the Dogo Onsen [hot spring], which is among the oldest in Japan, The current Onsen building is a Meiji Period wooden public bathhouse dating from 1894. Matsuyama castle is on top of a scenic hill in a centrally located park. Eight of… Read More
Itoigawa City– Niigata Prefecture – Japan Golden Week; May 3rd-7th gave me five days to go south and hunt for Japanese jadeite. Part 1 of these notes covered my trip to the Oyashirazu Pier, the Jade Museum there and my interaction with the local jade hunters. In Part 2 I shall relate my adventures in the Kotakigawa Gorge and exploring the ancient Jomon village of Chojagahara. In about 2,500 BCE the Jomon… Read More
Itoigawa City– Niigata Prefecture – Japan Golden Week; May 3rd-7th gave me five days to go south and hunt for Japanese jadeite. I’d tried to get down to Itoigawa twice last year, but the weather was against me. I’d planned on camping, and was washed out the previous occasions. This time the weather was sunny, so, after an eight hour drive to the southwest along a quite scenic coast highway, I reached… Read More
Saturday was the night of our local fireworks display here in Yurihonjo. The Japanese word Hanabi – 花火 – literally ‘flower fire’, sounds so much more descriptive when rendered as ‘fireflower’, that I’ve come to prefer it. It was a short 15 minute bike ride to the river side site of the show. Though it was still light when I arrived, many groups had already staked out their areas. I had a… Read More
(1977)
THE ARDENT ENTHUSIAST 