[Japan Travel]: Naruto Day 2 (*last day)
The time has finally come.
Today I'm posting photos of the last day of my spring vacation 2009.
I don't know yet if there will be photos of my summer vacation 2009 this year as I'm going back to Germany for that (~ 2 weeks).
There won't be any JAPAN summer vacation photos this year, though. It's a shame as I really enjoyed my summer vacation last year, but I'm also looking forward to going back to Germany although it's only for a short time.
Anyway, enough of my blabbering:
Naruto - Day 2 (April 9th, 2009):
This was my last day and I only had time until early afternoon because I also needed quite a lot of time to go back home from there.
There were still so many things I wanted to see, so I was quite in a hurry that day (^^')>
First stop in the morning was Ryōzenji (霊山寺). It's not only one of the temples of the so often mentioned 88 temple pilgrimage of Shikoku, it's the FIRST temple! It's the starting point for hundred and hundred of pilgrims each year!
As it was early in the morning it was still quiet and there were not so many people around yet.
There was a pagoda (once again), but a really small one this time (^-^)>
Although it was early (or maybe BECAUSE it was early) there were a few pilgrims already :)
As this temple is the starting point there were also a few small shops where the pilgrims could buy whatever they needed for their journey. Those white clohtes, sticks, praying utensils etc.
I thought the pilgrim clothes looked too funny on the mannequin XD
Although I didn't have time, I decided to walk the 1,2km to the next temple which is #2 on the pilgrimage list.
On my way I found a few houses that very very German/European-like. Why? I'll tell you about that later ;)
I love spring in Japan (*___*)v
And they were everywhere!!!! (*_*)
Taking random photos of Japanese houses. I just love them!!! And I adore those trees!
Finally reached my goal, temple #2: Gokurakuji (極楽寺)
By the way, both temples were quite small, but beautiful :)
There was a map of Shikoku with all the temples of the pilgrimage.
Close-up. The one with the black background is #2 and the temple I was currently at at that time.
Seems like the other pilgrims have quite a long journey lying ahead of them. For me that was it. I didn't have time to go to the 3rd or 4th temple.
(#88 is the last one, of course)
Symbol of friendship between Bando (Naruto) and Germany :)
More information about the symbol (sorry in Japanese and German only)
I was finally on my way to the former detention center for German soldiers in Bando.
Well, actually it was more like a small German town in Bando. The prisoners had a lot of freedom and shared their culture, music etc. with the local villagers. They all became friends and the friendship is still alive.
That was during the Taisho period (1912-1926).
During World War I Japan attacked the German garrison which was in North China at that time. About 5000 Germans were arrested and brought to 12 different places in Japan.
In 1917 about 1000 German soldiers that were kept in the prison camps in Tokushima, Matsuyama and Marugame were brought to Bando where they spent 3 years.
Bando caught the world's attention as "model prison camp" because the prisoners had so much freedom.
Among other things Beethoven's 9th symphony had its world premiere in Japan in Bando :)
1962: A former prisoner sent a letter because he wanted to know what happened to the prison camp in Bando after all those years. As answer he got a 8mm movie of the former place. In one scene you could see the married couple Takahashi that took care of the memorial stone that the prisoners built back then. Thise scene caused a huge echo among the former prisoners and it was the new start of their German-Japanese friendship :)
As you can see in the photo above, there's nothing really left in the former Bando prison camp. It's a park now.
That's the memorial stone with names of the soldiers that died during their captivity in Bando.
On my way to the "German House" I spotted a "Deutscher Imbiss" / "German Food" ;___________;
I wish I would have had time back then!!!!!!!
And that's the "German House". It's like a museum with old documents, photos, letters, information etc. of the former prison camp Bando.
Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos inside. I didn't have much time, but it was the FIRST TIME THAT I COULD READ EVERYTHING WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS because everything was in German!! All the old letters, newspapers etc.!!!
Although it was sometimes hard because they used "old characters". And I wish I would have had more time back then. I was the only German person in there and of course the Japanese people there wanted to talk to me and I wanted to talk to them as well, but I had to catch my stupid bus ;___; .....
In front of the German House there's a Beethoven statue :)
On my way to the bus stop SHOCK!!!! Monkeys!!! A lot of monkeys!!! Just there ... on the sidewalk!!! I was like WTF!!!!
I was a little bit afraid as well, because I've NEVER SEEN MONKEYS that were not behind a cage in a zoo ^^;;; .........
(But it seems they were "busy" anyway XDDDDDDDDDDDDD)
Again, I didn't have time and had to move on ;o;
"Be careful, monkeys might appear suddenly" Boy: "SHOCK" <~ yeah exactly x___X
"Be carfeul, spiders!" <~ EEEHH??!! ;___;
Anyway, I made it back safely without being attacked by any monkeys or spiders to the center of Naruto.
Not much time left until my departure.
My last stop was a museum inside a Japanese castle (not a really famous one, though).
Another Japanese castle in spring surrounded by cherry blossoms (*_*)v
But before that I had to climb 234262341235234266234 stairs x_X ....... the cherry blossoms were really EVERYWHERE!! Every once and then the blossoms were dancing when a light wind blew.
Finally up there!
Cherry blossom trees everywhere!! It was sooooooooooooooooooooooo~ beautiful up there ;o;
I also went into the castle. The museum itself is boooooooring (was about Korean, Mongolian or ... argh I can't remember XD ...), but the view from up the building was breathtaking!!!!!!!!!!
From up there I spotted another good observing point with many cherry blossom trees and decided to go there.
Stopped a few times to take more random photos, though ^^;
It was really a pink paradise up there. I didn't really want to leave!! ^^;
Finally arrived at the observation spot I saw from up the castle earlier. There were many people, most of them having a small hanami, I guess ^^
And the castle in the background ^-^
I LOVE the colors ;o;
Back at Naruto JR Station to catch my train. Even the flowers are in whirl shape XDDDD Cute!
And my late lunch at Tokushima St. where I had to wait for my next train.
I love raw tuna (*___*)v<
Camera used:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5
And that was it, my spring vacation 2009 :)
It was awesome and is definitely among the best vacations I had so far here in Japan. Position 1 is still the summer vacation 2008, though (^^')> ......
Thanks for looking/reading!
ヾ(=・ω・=)o☆バイバイ☆ヾ(=・ω・=)o
Today I'm posting photos of the last day of my spring vacation 2009.
I don't know yet if there will be photos of my summer vacation 2009 this year as I'm going back to Germany for that (~ 2 weeks).
There won't be any JAPAN summer vacation photos this year, though. It's a shame as I really enjoyed my summer vacation last year, but I'm also looking forward to going back to Germany although it's only for a short time.
Anyway, enough of my blabbering:
Naruto - Day 2 (April 9th, 2009):
This was my last day and I only had time until early afternoon because I also needed quite a lot of time to go back home from there.
There were still so many things I wanted to see, so I was quite in a hurry that day (^^')>
First stop in the morning was Ryōzenji (霊山寺). It's not only one of the temples of the so often mentioned 88 temple pilgrimage of Shikoku, it's the FIRST temple! It's the starting point for hundred and hundred of pilgrims each year!
As it was early in the morning it was still quiet and there were not so many people around yet.
There was a pagoda (once again), but a really small one this time (^-^)>
Although it was early (or maybe BECAUSE it was early) there were a few pilgrims already :)
As this temple is the starting point there were also a few small shops where the pilgrims could buy whatever they needed for their journey. Those white clohtes, sticks, praying utensils etc.
I thought the pilgrim clothes looked too funny on the mannequin XD
Although I didn't have time, I decided to walk the 1,2km to the next temple which is #2 on the pilgrimage list.
On my way I found a few houses that very very German/European-like. Why? I'll tell you about that later ;)
I love spring in Japan (*___*)v
And they were everywhere!!!! (*_*)
Taking random photos of Japanese houses. I just love them!!! And I adore those trees!
Finally reached my goal, temple #2: Gokurakuji (極楽寺)
By the way, both temples were quite small, but beautiful :)
There was a map of Shikoku with all the temples of the pilgrimage.
Close-up. The one with the black background is #2 and the temple I was currently at at that time.
Seems like the other pilgrims have quite a long journey lying ahead of them. For me that was it. I didn't have time to go to the 3rd or 4th temple.
(#88 is the last one, of course)
Symbol of friendship between Bando (Naruto) and Germany :)
More information about the symbol (sorry in Japanese and German only)
I was finally on my way to the former detention center for German soldiers in Bando.
Well, actually it was more like a small German town in Bando. The prisoners had a lot of freedom and shared their culture, music etc. with the local villagers. They all became friends and the friendship is still alive.
That was during the Taisho period (1912-1926).
During World War I Japan attacked the German garrison which was in North China at that time. About 5000 Germans were arrested and brought to 12 different places in Japan.
In 1917 about 1000 German soldiers that were kept in the prison camps in Tokushima, Matsuyama and Marugame were brought to Bando where they spent 3 years.
Bando caught the world's attention as "model prison camp" because the prisoners had so much freedom.
Among other things Beethoven's 9th symphony had its world premiere in Japan in Bando :)
1962: A former prisoner sent a letter because he wanted to know what happened to the prison camp in Bando after all those years. As answer he got a 8mm movie of the former place. In one scene you could see the married couple Takahashi that took care of the memorial stone that the prisoners built back then. Thise scene caused a huge echo among the former prisoners and it was the new start of their German-Japanese friendship :)
As you can see in the photo above, there's nothing really left in the former Bando prison camp. It's a park now.
That's the memorial stone with names of the soldiers that died during their captivity in Bando.
On my way to the "German House" I spotted a "Deutscher Imbiss" / "German Food" ;___________;
I wish I would have had time back then!!!!!!!
And that's the "German House". It's like a museum with old documents, photos, letters, information etc. of the former prison camp Bando.
Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos inside. I didn't have much time, but it was the FIRST TIME THAT I COULD READ EVERYTHING WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS because everything was in German!! All the old letters, newspapers etc.!!!
Although it was sometimes hard because they used "old characters". And I wish I would have had more time back then. I was the only German person in there and of course the Japanese people there wanted to talk to me and I wanted to talk to them as well, but I had to catch my stupid bus ;___; .....
In front of the German House there's a Beethoven statue :)
On my way to the bus stop SHOCK!!!! Monkeys!!! A lot of monkeys!!! Just there ... on the sidewalk!!! I was like WTF!!!!
I was a little bit afraid as well, because I've NEVER SEEN MONKEYS that were not behind a cage in a zoo ^^;;; .........
(But it seems they were "busy" anyway XDDDDDDDDDDDDD)
Again, I didn't have time and had to move on ;o;
"Be careful, monkeys might appear suddenly" Boy: "SHOCK" <~ yeah exactly x___X
"Be carfeul, spiders!" <~ EEEHH??!! ;___;
Anyway, I made it back safely without being attacked by any monkeys or spiders to the center of Naruto.
Not much time left until my departure.
My last stop was a museum inside a Japanese castle (not a really famous one, though).
Another Japanese castle in spring surrounded by cherry blossoms (*_*)v
But before that I had to climb 234262341235234266234 stairs x_X ....... the cherry blossoms were really EVERYWHERE!! Every once and then the blossoms were dancing when a light wind blew.
Finally up there!
Cherry blossom trees everywhere!! It was sooooooooooooooooooooooo~ beautiful up there ;o;
I also went into the castle. The museum itself is boooooooring (was about Korean, Mongolian or ... argh I can't remember XD ...), but the view from up the building was breathtaking!!!!!!!!!!
From up there I spotted another good observing point with many cherry blossom trees and decided to go there.
Stopped a few times to take more random photos, though ^^;
It was really a pink paradise up there. I didn't really want to leave!! ^^;
Finally arrived at the observation spot I saw from up the castle earlier. There were many people, most of them having a small hanami, I guess ^^
And the castle in the background ^-^
I LOVE the colors ;o;
Back at Naruto JR Station to catch my train. Even the flowers are in whirl shape XDDDD Cute!
And my late lunch at Tokushima St. where I had to wait for my next train.
I love raw tuna (*___*)v<
Camera used:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5
And that was it, my spring vacation 2009 :)
It was awesome and is definitely among the best vacations I had so far here in Japan. Position 1 is still the summer vacation 2008, though (^^')> ......
Thanks for looking/reading!
ヾ(=・ω・=)o☆バイバイ☆ヾ(=・ω・=)o