#muroran

[merpmonde]

Best train shots of the Japan trip part 3

A rainbow over Higashi-Muroran station in Southern Hokkaidô is seen from the Hokuto express to Hakodate. The picture quality issues with my new camera aside, the windows weren't at their cleanest at the end of the day...

Also on Hokkaidô, the Suzuran express operated by a silver 785 series arrives at Shiraoi under a silver sky.

On a brighter day, the OG Kyushu Shinkansen, the 800 series (my fourth-favourite Shinkansen of all time), arrives at Kurume on an all-stop Tsubame service.

"We will soon be arriving at Ueno." During the final minutes of the Hitachi express from Mito, I'd failed to capture the skyline with the Sky Tree in view, so when we passed an E5 with tall buildings in the background, I took a shot... only for a signal block to pop out of nowhere, as they do. After a few seconds of frustration, I figured that the photo was still quite good and kept it.

[satomikawamura]

室蘭の旅の目的は、旧絵鞆小学校の中に入る事。（10月迄の土日祝は見学可能）円形校舎の中心には螺旋階段。体育館もまん丸でした。

[fdbc00]

やせいの凸凸凸凸があらわれた！

室蘭の崎守埠頭にいるDD51が移動したと聞いて行ってみた。

他にも足回りとバラバラにされた凸が5輌ほど存置されている。183の前例もあるから、是非とも再び走ってほしい。

[udonangya]

室蘭市輪西１丁目の、そばの小がね 輪西店で、カツ丼とうどんセット1320、ごはん−50ミニ、うどんミニ−50で、〆て1,220円也。

Pork cutlet rice and Udon noodles soup at the Wanishi branch of Kogane, Wanishi Icchome, Muroran city, Hokkaido.

[agelessphotography]

Chikui Cape Trees, Muroran, Hokkaido, Michael Kenna, 2002

[soulfulinvention]

Itanki Beach, Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan,

[momuse]

I’ve made a pilgrimage to Higashi-Muroran, a local small town in Hokkaidou, where Abe Natsumi and Iida Kaori were born and Natsumi was raised. Muroran was once flourished as a steel manufacturing city, but is a bit rust-eaten today. The steel industry in Muroran started in 1907 and had kept developing all through the post Russo-Japanese War period, WW2, and the following high economic growth period. As Japan shifted its industrial structure from heavy to light around 1980, the fires of the blast furnaces in Muroran went out one by one. Natsumi spent her childhood in that era, and must have witnessed how the local community shrank, how her hometown lost its vigor, no matter if she comprehended the situation. Actually the population of the city today is almost a half of when Natsumi was born (1981). So it’s quite understandable that Natsumi left her birthplace in 1997 for a bright future, to become a Morning Musume. Even though Muroran’s golden days of steel manufacturing are gone, there still remains some fortunes other than Abe Natsumi. The distinctive and beautiful landscape, which Isabella Lucy Bird praised in 19th century. Itanki beach is one of those indelible fortunes of Muroran. I was impressed by its beauty and couldn’t stop imagining that little Natsumi and her family having a good time there in every bygone summertime.

[hi-technique]

Sunday's lunch by Sasakei on Flickr