A Nice Pink Sky
So far, it has been a bit of an odd rainy season: there have been a number of dry days and then days like today when it is a complete mixed bag of weather. Coming from Canada, it reminds me of the very tired joke about Halifax: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”
Anyway, less about rainy season and more about this evening’s sky. It had been raining earlier in the afternoon and it had started to clear, but I was a bit surprised to come back from the supermarket, look outside, and see this:
For the photographically curious: 3 exposures hand-held, ISO 100, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 2.8, tone-mapped with Photomatix
Matsuyama Castle
In April, I happened to be in Matsuyama with an entirely free afternoon. Matsuyama is located here (where the ‘A’ is):
It is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture and it is mainly famous for three things: it is home to Dōgo Onsen, the oldest onsen in Japan (and it really looks it), Matsuyama Castle, and eight of the eighty-eight temples in the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
I had been to Matsuyama before a few times, so my main interest was really just to get some good shots of the castle. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect and the cherry blossoms were still in bloom, so it made for some great photographic opportunities.
Central Matsuyama is fairly small, so, if you’re staying at a hotel, depending on which hotel you are at, you can easily access the castle area by either streetcar or on foot. A map for central Matsuyama can be found here. You can either walk the entire way up from street level or you can take a ropeway or single chairlift up for ¥500 round trip.
The walk up is very pleasant as you climb through a wooded area which is nice and shady, but it is a bit of a steep climb. This is, therefore, not recommended for anyone who is really out of shape or has any medical restrictions or for those who just dislike the idea (and the high humidity in Japan in the summer is another consideration if you are visiting from June to September).
Once you arrive at the castle grounds up top, there is a nice flat open space which many locals seem to use as a place to relax and enjoy the view. When I visited this time, it was around 1:00 pm, so there were a number of people up top eating lunch and just relaxing. You don’t have to pay anything to access the area, so it is a bit like a public park up on a hill top.
The view from up top, just before you enter the wide open space in front of the castle
Some people relaxing up top and enjoying the sunny afternoon and the view
If you opt to actually enter the castle itself, you have to pay an additional ¥500 (you can buy a combined ticket for the ropeway and castle admission for ¥1000 or opt to buy them separately). It is definitely worth it to enter if you are remotely interested in Japanese castles: it is one of only three multi-wing, flat hilltop castles remaining in Japan. It was constructed by the feudal lord Katō Yoshiaki over the course of 25 years and completed in 1627. Four of its eight strategic gates are designated national cultural treasures and there’s a small museum display inside with some calligraphy and some samurai armour.
You can also get a good view of Matsuyama from inside:
View from inside the castle
However, aside from all of the above, my own personal motivator for visiting the castle was to get some good shots of the castle walls and structure. Here are a few of the results:
And, what I really wanted was some black and white shots like this:
These wall shots are all 3 exposure bracketed shots (-2/0/+2) processed in Photomatix (so, yes, they are HDR, if you are wondering how so much texture in the brick came through).
Tachiagare Nippon’s Ogura Campaigns on a Boat
A recent AP article by Yuri Kageyama highlighted some of the strict campaign laws governing the way Japanese electoral candidates can campaign:
Japanese laws strictly regulate the use of the Internet in elections. Candidates — and even regular voters — aren’t allowed to use Twitter because that would be a violation of laws that also control the number of posters, air time on TV and other campaign operations.
The article is particularly interesting in light of the increasing use of Twitter as a legitimate channel for politicians, corporations, journalists, etc. to communicate directly, and in real time, to any interested “followers” (and, when it comes to politicians and corporations, we may as well identify “followers” as the stakeholders and influencers that they are or have the potential to be).
It is a fascinating topic (one which I may write more about later), but this is just a quick post because I am on my way out. As Kageyama’s piece has been on my mind the past couple of days, I immediately thought of it this morning when I heard some campaigning outside my window.
If you live in Japan, you are no doubt accustomed to the loud campaign trucks which drift around political ridings in the run-up to any election. Imagine my surprise when I craned my neck over the balcony to see yet another irritatingly loud campaign truck, but was instead greeted by this image:
小倉あさこ/Asako Ogura campaigning on the canals of Chuo-ku
Yes, Tachiagare Nippon’s Asako Ogura (たちあがれ日本の小倉あさこ) is cruising around the canals of Chuo-ku on a boat! It’s not Twitter, but it is definitely very creative and the first time I’ve seen this around here – a great way to differentiate yourself in a campaign that is full of the mundane parade of trucks around the streets: Chuo-ku is full of canals and waterways, so why not get out there in a boat?
(Tachiagare Nippon is itself an interesting topic – perhaps I’ll blog about that another day, but, for now, you can read the Wikpedia blurb)
