Notes on things Japanese @ekiben - Tumblr Blog

Arashiyama’s Bamboo Forest

In the Arashiyama (嵐山) district of Kyoto, Japan, is the jaw-dropping Sagano Bamboo Grove. The forest was the setting of Japanese novelist and poet Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s acclaimed novel, "The Tale of Genji." There is a walking path that cuts through the bamboo grove and makes for a photogenic trek as light filters through the stalks. The bamboo in the grove is still used to manufacture cups, boxes, baskets and mats in the area.

To view more photos and videos of the bamboo forest, be sure to visit the 竹林の小径 (Kitasaga Bamboo Grove) location page.

#kyoto #bamboo

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A Pilgrimage to Mount Fuji (富士山)

Mount Fuji (富士山 or “Fuji-san”) stands 3,776.24 meters (12,389 feet), making it the tallest mountain in Japan and one of the country’s most recognizable symbols. The cone-shaped mountain is an active stratovolcano—a volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice and volcanic ash—and is located 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Tokyo. Fuji-san last erupted in the early 1700s. Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami many feared Mount Fuji would erupt again.

Despite those recent concerns, Fujisan remains an international destination for tourism and mountain climbing. Hundreds of thousands of people make the 8-hour summit each year during peak season in July and August. Most climb the mountain at night in order to catch a glimpse of goraikō (御来光 or “arrival of light”), the special name for a sunrise on Fuji-san.

To view photos and videos from Instagrammers who have made the trek, visit the 富士山 (Mt.Fuji) and 富士山最高点剣ヶ峰標高3776m location pages as well as the #御来光 hashtag.

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Visiting Japan’s Rabbit Island

Want to see more photos and videos? Check out the 大久野島 and Okunoshima location pages.

The small island of Ōkunoshima (大久野島) in the Inland Sea of Japan is famous for two things: poison gas and bunnies. In 1925, the Imperial Japanese Army started a secret program to develop chemical weapons in defiance of the Geneva Protocol. They built a gas plant on the island four years later that made mustard gas. Ōkunoshima was chosen for its isolation and to keep the plant secret the island was even removed from some maps.

After the war, the poison was disposed of and the laboratory animals—rabbits—were set loose. Without any predators on the island, the bunny population exploded, and now the island is full of tame rabbits that visiting Instagrammers have captured with videos and photos.

ekiben

Instagram on Okumoshima

#japan #island #bunnies #okunoshima

Yet another Economist article on Miyazaki's newest movie.

Winds of change A SOMBRE exploration of love, responsibility and death, “Kaze Tachinu” (“The Wind Rises”) is being described as Hayao Miyazaki’s first...

(Source: TheEconomist)

#miyazaki #anime #movie #ghibli #studio #hayao #japan #kaze tachinu

The Economist on the new Miyazaki Hayao movie "kaze tachinu" released this week in Japan.

A SOMBRE exploration of love, responsibility and death, “Kaze Tachinu” (“The Wind Has Risen”) is being described as Hayao Miyazaki’s first film for...

#miyazaki #hayao #movie #anime #japan #kaze tachinu #the wind has risen

Flight Punctuality is highest in Tokyo (NRT and (!) HND), no surprise here. The full report by Flightstats.com can be read here.

(via TheEconomist)

#flight #japan #punctuality #tokyo #narita #haneda #airport #asia #statistics

小冊子『熱風』。『熱風』７月号の特集は「憲法改正」です。この問題に対する意識の高さを反映したた...。

Miyazaki on 憲法改正

#miyazaki #kenpou #kaisei #constitution #japan

Kaze Tachinu Trailer

Somehow I totally missed this new Studio Ghibli movie. It seems to be the first movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 5 years and its art style has some kind of new realism to it. The story sets somewhere between the Japanese Taisho and the Shouwa period, also thematizing the great Kanto earthquake of 1923. It looks great! Can't wait to see it!

#miyazaki #anime #japan #japanese #studio #ghibli