Glimpses of Japan Local - in JEnglish

  Found this through the window of the shop. Pinched favorite fish from somewhere? The wink seems like talking about various things. While watching this, the image of " Dude " popped up in my mind. On the third day of the new year, the number of people visiting the shrine is decreasing. Takakura Shrine, the local guardian deity The huge camphor trees bring a unique sense of tension and inclusiveness to the precincts. Although the number is small, the people waiting for worship u nder the stone steps form a long line I just want to see and say hello to " Dude " - that's all. The statue of Bishamonten   (Vaisravana)  used to be enshrined open-air on top of the mountain, but when it returned to the shrine after restoration, it was again installed open-air at the foot of the mountain and on the north side of the precincts. Last year, it was newly enshrined in the small pavilion. The figure of Bishamonten standing straight with the sun at his back conveyed a kind of...

Ever since it got colder, being away from riding a bicycle and taking a walk. On the way home, parked my car at Iccho Tameike  (pond) Parking and walked along the promenade around the pond, since for some time. I was greeted by a cluster of daffodils blooming on the slope. Although the weekend's cold weather eased, the movement of the waterfowl seemed sluggish. Perching on a branch overhanging the surface of the water gives a feeling of winter. Occasionally checked the distance from the starting point marked on the promenade as kept walking. Iccho Pond is an irrigation pond built in the Edo period The dam structure is designed to correspond to the amount of water stored in the Iccho Pond, and  after heavy rains,  to adjust the pressure on the dam (dam side wall), the water overflows here, and the water level is maintained at a certain level.  According to the person in charge of the irrigation port, irrigation water is supplied several kilometers away th...

  💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖　💖 Since it's the beginning of the new year, it might be nice to have a happy story Last year, I received a LINE message that there was a commercial news broadcast about  Okagaki-Machi . Why should the peaceful town become the subject of the TV news? 　 What happened? Surprisingly,  Okagaki-Machi  ranked  1st   in Fukuoka prefecture in the 2022 " Ranking of cities, you want to continue living in "! Okagaki-Machi is also ranked  2nd   in the " City Happiness Ranking "!  Eh!  why? "Why?" To the west of the town is the green mountain range, and to the north is the  Hibikinada/Hatsu  coast, where in autumn a spectacular sky show can be seen that the  Big Dipper  comes close to the horizon and looks like taking water from the sea.   There is also a bicycle path that runs through the scenery of white sands and green pine trees, and there is also a fashionabl...

  <<<<< intermission >>>>> plenty of time, but not enough money to satisfy I don't even feel like riding a bicycle in the cold As I put my feet in the  kotatsu , fell asleep before I knew it... As time goes by, my playful heart came out When reviewing the archives of my Japanese blog, which I started in 2011 in Nara,  Tracing my fading memories, started reading blogs, and felt somewhat interesting although it was written myself. Recycle　 Era of reuse Wouldn't it be interesting if being revived these old blogs? 　 What about recreating it into an English (or another foreign language) blog? It's the one I wrote myself in Japanese but will feel exhausted in translating it one after another. Why not try using AI automatic translation. Google Translate may be one of the good free options  At first, copied the sentences from the Japanese blog one by one and entered them into Google Translate. It saves the trouble of translating, but the copy-an...

  It's a weekday today, so many people won't be there. For some time, being away from the Noh chant practice.  Why not make it there. Bought some snacks and a pet bottle of tea. Headed to Wakamatsu North Coast  Iwaya  and  Tomigahana No cars parked in nearby parking spaces Which way should I take - go right or left? Interesting how the shrine was relocated from the original site where the lighthouse is now. The Goddess's jealousy against the God who fell in love with the beautiful sunset was the trigger. And the shrine was relocated to the east - where the sunset could not be seen. According to "Fukuoka Prefecture's Top 100 Cultures Scenic Spots and Landscapes" During the  Edo  period, only  Nagasaki  was open due to the shogunate's  national isolation policy 　 In 1640, the  Kuroda  clan set up  far-view guard stations  at five locations (one was added later). Iwaya Tomi-Bansho  is one of them. 　 Bansh...