Oranamon C

I agree with this guy.

Coin Locker blues

just love that awesome feeling you have a second after you close a coin locker and realise that I left something inside. #kechi

Shinshiro

Apart from the impressive history, Shinshiro is a beautiful town. Definitely worth a visit and the Sakura Bekkan Ryokan has a view of the Toyokawa river: full of keeping fish and surrounded by dozens of birds all chattering away.

Storm the palisades!

This is the view from the creek separating the Takeda and Oda forces. Much of the topography has changed because of 400 years of agriculture and industry, but you can see from the re-creation of the palisades that the logs were stout enough to block charging cavalry and also offer some minor protection to the arqubusiers in a melee.
Gaps in the palisades allowed infantry to break Takeda units fortunate enough to be intact after volleys of gunfire.
The museum curator told me that the foliage was very different back in the day with much of the hills that divide the creeks that flow into the valley being denuded of larger trees.
That's important because from the pic you can see that the thick forest also might have prevented attack (let alone Oda generals directing their soldiers).

For relaxing times

Had a massive and excellent day exploring Shinshiro and now it's time for King of Zipangu (taiga drama)  and a biiru in one of the nicest ryokan I've ever been in

Welcome to Shinshiro

There are signs and posters all across this town of Suemon, a Samurai who chose a painful death by crucifixion in order to tell his comrades inside the castle that everyone's favourite Oda was on way to relieve them

Smoke?

Japan still has a lot of smokers and with a pack costing about $5 (compared to $20 in Australia) it's hard to see the government taxing enough to offset healthcare costs.

Having said that, not that long ago people smoked anywhere and everywhere but nowadays more venues like the Yasukuni Shrine expect smokers to go into little rooms.

Shitaragahara museum

There is a great library in this museum. Nothing but sengokujidau material. Nothing.

The Aquaducts of Edo

In Edo people found that digging deep wells was not that practical because the ground was soft, sandy and somewhat salty - which makes sense the proximity to the Pacific.  What they decided to do in the suburbs of Edo was lay the wooden aquaduct pipes about 1m underground and link them with large wooden wells.  The wood was kept pest free because of the salty soil and were also, therefore pretty long lasting.  The aquaducts were fed from reservoirs in the mountains.

The commoners had a community well rather than water to their house - and this was also close to the community toilet and bath.

Commoners were forbidden to have fires in their houses because of the risk of burning the enitre city to the ground (which happened many times bankrupting the daimyo had had to sustain a residence in Edo and back home) and the city was even alid out with very very wide streets to form as fire-breaks.  The bath was a place for locals to meet and have legal fire - and that history is the reason that in many Japanese cities today you still find community bath houses in the inner, older suburbs.

Shitamachi museum tokyo

Yesterday I went to Shitamachi Museum near Ueno and it was bloody awesome. Inside is a recreation of a merchant business and 2 commoner tenements. This pic is of the copper smith's tea pot and sake warmer. The sake was placed in a container full of water warmed from the coals: but not so hot as to boil. Perfect sake temperature, I'm told, is 38C.

Pachinko: retro

Pachinko was much cooler 100years ago.

Closed

Japan was tough on immigration with a policy called "sakoku". No one was allowed in or out upon pain of death but there were exceptions. The bakufu really liked trade monopolies and no small part of the sakoku policy can be explained this way. Trade with Korea and China continued and the Dutch were allowed to trade in Nagasaki via a small artificial Island called Dejima. Each year the Dutch were asked to report to bakufu on the affairs around the world. One of those things was the French Revolution. Needless to say, Japanese Peasants did not get told about 'egalitaire, fraternity and liberty'. One could argue (I would)  that the average Japanese person (assuming that average is a peasant) wasn't to be properly exposed to those concepts until 1945.

Here is a pic of the policy document of sakoku

Me and an old friend

Tokugawa deified and waiting for the bird to sing.

Maybe some karaoke tonight?

Edo museum

Next time you walk past the Edo Museum, pause for a moment to remember that the Edo castle was the same height. It must have dominated the growing city back in the 16 diggities

Oh canada

When Japan formally surrendered on the USS Missouri, the allies signed the document. But bloody Canada buggered it up. They signed on the French line forcing all other countries to sign on the wrong row. Poor New Zealand got left off!

Be mount Fuji

You know how frustrating it is to be invited to Geography themed dress up parties? Worry no more

A Short Tour of Japan

So, in just 21 hours I'll be heading out to Tokyo, Shinshiro, Inuyama, Sekigahara, Azuchi and Kyoto on a bit of a history tour of Japan.  I'll be posting my pics and thoughts in this blog.

My plan is to also talk to as many Japanese people as possible to not only practice my terrible Japanese skills - but also to learn more about how the Japanese see their own history.

If you have any feedback, I'd really appreciate it!