The arch portion of the Airport O-hashi being built in Mihara was completed yesterday. At 190m high and 380m across, it is the biggest in Japan.
This is what the completed bridge is supposed to look like when it opens.
Those with a good grasp of construction kanji can read all about it here on the Kajima site.
Not great - seemed like the light on the camera was a bit annoying - but here's a bit of video from the weekend's Halloween Party at Chinatown. Photos coming soon here.
Thanks to Setsuo for posting this on the classifieds:
Botanical garden for free Oct 27 to Nov 4
You don't need to pay the
entrance fee during the
period.
Botanical Gardens Website
If you haven't visited the gardens, you might be surprised to hear that they cover over 17 hectares of land. The gardens contain an impressive variety of plant life from around the world, everything from "bonsai" to orchids.
The gardens are well worth a visit anytime of the year. All the photos in this article were taken at different times of the year, 2000.
Yes, that's right, even in winter!
A great deal of the plants are inside the huge greenhouses, this means that you can spend an enjoyable afternoon at the gardens even in the coldest months of January and February.
I personally think the gardens are particularly pretty in Fall when the large forested area becomes a myriad of fiery colors.
With only five games to go Hiroshima soccer team Sanfrecce are lying in 15th place. They need to win two of their remaining games to avoid a repeat of their 2002 relegation to the second division. You can go and give them a shout at Big Arch against JEF United on Saturday. Click here for more details.
Photo source Chugoku Shimbun
This just through on Kyodo
4 U.S. Marines targeted in Hiroshima police probe over rape of woman
HIROSHIMA, Oct. 19 KYODO
Japanese police have started to investigate four U.S. Marines from the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture on suspicion of gang raping a woman in Hiroshima City earlier this month, police said Friday.
The four are suspected to have assaulted the woman in a parked car after they met her in a bar in the city's Naka Ward sometime in mid-October, the Hiroshima prefectural police said.
10/13/2007 Daily Yomiuri: "Hiroshima bldgs that survived atomic bombing seen at risk"
You may or may not have heard that the huge Yale Yale A-kan Fukuya department store opposite the station is going to expand and make a twin across the main road, Yale Yale B-kan. It is not the worst department store in the world, there is a nice bookstore with a great view of the river and city, but do we really need to destroy one of the only areas in the city that holds history and character?
If you have a chance, wander through the streets of this wabi-sabi area and make sure to take lots of pictures of the old and dusty shops and art deco facades as these buildings are marked for destruction. Despite the fact that many of these buidlings survived the nuclear bombing and are brick buildings with steel frames that will be around for many more years to come, not to mention the fact that they are damn cool looking! You will not find photographers and tourists wandering around any new Fukuya with as much interest.
The article mentions that some locals hope that the builders will move the former sumitomo bank branch with cool art deco style, to a new location; instead of simply destroying it. But without financial incentive it is hard to imagine that ever happening.
I reckon everyone who actually lives and works in the area will miss it and everyone will be complaining about the heat island effect that the new monster department store with no open windows and reflective windows has created an unbearable area to live or commute around, but I guess this is progress; the kind that doesn't think about the effect that bad decisions like this make on the community. The only thing they are thinking about is how to make the area more "profitable".
Cultural heritage, parks and meaningful, living history in 3 dimensional form just cannot compete with capitalism.
See reviews for places in this area:
The Pearl Coffee Shop
Tired of the oversanitized character-lacking Starbucks that have popped up everywhere in the city?
Get back to basics in this ancient coffee shop near the station.
Not your normal "kissaten", this spacious cafe is stuffed full of knicknacks and tacky decor reminiscent of a time long past.
Coffee pots bubble away behind the counter, ancient clientele gossip and read magazines as local television takes the place of BGM.
Service is friendly and every customer gets peanuts with each order.
If you are looking for inspiration, an interesting escape, or a place to study you won't find a place more interesting than the Pearl.
Some call it "wabi-sabi" a way to retain the past, the old Japan as it was. The streets of this market are lined with seemingly insignificant shops that don't sell anything you really want in particular, but before the days of giant supermarkets and convenience stores on every corner, these shops were all there were. You won't find friendlier shopkeeps anywhere in the city- sitting in a tiny room full of sundries all day selling one or two things can't be a way to make a living, it's their social life as well.Follow link to read more.
Besides the old style convenience stores, you also find stores you don't see anywhere else like the bean and seed seller (adzuki, sesame, etc.) who also has a corner for pet supplies. Or the snack shop packed full of old-time favorites like sweet crackers -no chocolate to be seen anywhere! There is another snack shop with more modern sweets, but I love the old style posters they have on the walls. Reminds me of the beer girl posters you see at the old style Japanese pubs.
The weather is finally getting cooler!
There are lots of fun events happening in October in Hiroshima.
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Latest review for SPUD love
"heavenly welcoming" 5.0
liam gallagher - Wed Sep 2007
definately a five. one star means top presumably for the natives, hence previous mail. lots of fun and banter!. behave... i think not! nice one diddy! rock and roll. if you are boring dont come. and if you dont like drinking well sod off, you should be in bed anyway.
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New places on the homepage:
October- Halloween Month, lots of fun family things
to do:
Cycle Shimanami Bridge
A beautiful ride for all abilities from Onomichi to Shikoku (autumn is a great time to try it).
Planetarium
A huge 20 metre diametre dome displaying a spectacular simulation of the night sky and all its constellations.
Shinonome Swimming Club
Great, modern and cheerful swimming school for kids, just off Route 2.
Fish Lab Cafe
Drink in this small, friendly cafe while being surrounded by tropical fish.
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Halloween events:
Family Halloween Picnic in the park
Halloween Chinatown Party VIII
Peace Marathon- a lot of people run the 10 km or 5km (run/walk) in costume, it is a lot of fun!
A height restriction of 38m has been imposed in the area around Shukkeien Garden and the Prefectural Art Museum. One of the reasons for restriction is to preserve the view of a unique scenic aspect of the city. This is all very well, but as you can see from the image below the restrictions apply to a very limited area, and do not of course include the 155m Urban View Grand Tower directly across the road from the museum which looms over the garden. Shukkeien Garden was designed to incorporate the view of the surrounding mountains beyond the river which runs behind it. These mountains are now almost entirely excluded by the high rise apartment buildings that have been built over recent years. The sad truth is that a visit to Shukkeien is no longer as appealing as it once was, and it increasingly resembles one of those small gardens you find in the center of towering hotels.
Source: Chugoku Shinbun
The woman who lost the nation's first Recording Industry Association of America music pirating trial said Monday she is appealing the $222,000 verdict that a Duluth, Minnesota jury ordered her to pay last week for pilfering 24 songs.
The annual party at Chinatown that is. We've just heard and are told that publicity will be out next week. So.... get cracking.
I haven't officially heard whether the annual Halloween party at Chinatown is going ahead (in less than 4 weeks, Jamie!?), but assuming it is, this video might help you get into the final of the costume contest.
On MSNBC from AP
Scientists at Hiroshima University have succeeded in breeding see-through frogs — an innovation that could cut down on future dissections.
Transparent fishes have been around for a long time, but Professor Masayuki Sumida said the new line of frogs were the world's first transparent four-legged animals.
Sumida, an amphibian specialist who led the university's research team, said the transparent-skinned frogs could become widely used in scientific research because internal organs and blood vessels can be observed without dissecting the creatures.
There is an all day Peace vigil in peace park today if anyone is interested in contemplating peace in a group atmosphere, if not- it is a good day to think of all the positive things that Ghandi did in his political activism tackling the rights of the poor and the unfair caste system in India.
Ghandi was amazing and his work is an inspiration to us all - we are not worthy - most of us will never be able to accomplish half as much. Today should be a celebration of his accomplishments.
We, however, should also try to do what we can in our everyday lives and dealings with fellow humans.
Be kind to mother earth and your fellow travellers in life- if only for a day.
Here is the information about today's event:
I am writing to let you know about an event that will take place on October
2, this coming Tuesday.
This is Gandhi's birthday. He will be 148 years old, so we want to give him
a party. Also, on June 15, 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted a
resolution declaring Oct 2 the International Day of Nonviolence, so we want
Hiroshima to be among the first to celebrate this new day.
To celebrate, we will meet at midnight (when Oct 1 becomes Oct 2) in front
of the Cenotaph in Peace Park. There, we will light 148 candles and pray for
Gandhi's peaceful repose.
After that, we will sing songs, watch a movie about Gandhi, pray and
meditate and talk about Gandhi and the philosophy of nonviolence. This will
continue for 24 hours, until midnight (when Oct 2 becomes Oct 3).
At about 9:30 am, Mayor Akiba will join us just briefly to receive a
donation to the Peace Culture Foundation before he goes to Tokyo.
You do not have to attend for 24 hours. Just drop by any time and pay your
respects to Gandhi, write your message about nonviolence, and take part in
whatever is happening when you arrive. You will be welcome at any time.
We had a great couple of days camping on Irihama at the full moon party over the weekend. It's been two years since we were last at the event and this we had an extra member in tow as we camped with our 5 year old and 1 year old.
The new organization did a great job of running the festival with the shuttle buses from between Tsutsumigaura parking and the site running very smoothly, providing clean toilets and doing a good job of separating trash for recycling. There were, at my guess, a couple of hundred people on the beach, which is probably just about what the site can handle without feeling crowded.
There were live bands playing through the night on Saturday, but the breaks between bands were long and there were DJs - or any music on CD etc - playing in these breaks. On Sunday there was no music until about 5pm. Maybe it's because we crashed out early, but we would have really appreciated some tunes during the day - at times it felt like we were just at a rather expensive campsite. Those who partied through the night might feel differently though...
That said, I would still highly recommend going along next year. It's a great, easy get away from the city and everyone is incredibly chilled out and friendly. We would have stayed an extra night, but the few stalls that were selling food had no vegetarian fare at all, and the kids can't survive on beer and shaved ice alone.
