Japan Photo of the Week: Amanohashidate

As one of Japan’s “Three Fatuous Views” – sorry, I mean “Three Famous Views” – this is the biggest “huh” of the three. Matsushima has some nice mini islands, though in some directions the view is tempered by the large industrial complex nearby, and Itsukushima Jinja looks pretty cool, but none of the Three are really that amazing – Japan has better views. It’s just that these three were mentioned by Hayashi Gahou (son of Hayashi Razan) in his 17th-century book about Japanese geographical/notable sites, and kinda stuck. Gahou clearly liked the interaction of water and land along the coast.

Incidentally, a popular souvenir at Amano-etc is cartoonish pottery statues of people mooning the Bridge to Heaven. Fantastically tacky.

Miyajima is technically the View, but since aside from the shrine I can see nothing remotely outstanding about it, and since pretty much everyone shows the shrine when they say Miyajima, I think Gahou probably meant to at least include the shrine as central. Haven’t seen Amano-etc after a snowfall, true. There’s also a Three New Views of Japan that I actually think look nicer, although I haven’t been to any of them. Yet….

True, tacky souvenirs are everywhere (and my comment was not one of “Japan is funny” but “these are funny”; Japan also has some very very good souvenirs, and frankly I have seen a better array of souvenirs at a roadside Michi-no-Eki than I have seen in Galeries Lafayettes in Paris)), but those mooning dolls are in a class of their own. However the very tackiest souvenirs are not them – they’re too funny and insane. The worst offenders would probably be things like the small gold-coloured plastic models of Himeji or any random temple/pagoda, especially if combined with a cheap plastic photo frame or something. And I’ve actually been to a house where one of those was proudly displayed. Oh, the humanity….

The New Three Views: 1915年、日本三景にならって実業之日本社主催による新日本三景の選定が行われ、全国投票の結果北海道亀田郡七飯町の大沼、静岡県静岡市清水区の三保の松原、大分県中津市の耶馬渓が選ばれた。In 1915, Hokkaido’s Oonuma, Sizuoka’s Matsubara (lovely pine beach with view of Fuji), and Oita’s Yaba Gorge were selected from a national vote run by the publishing company Jitsugyou-no-Nihon-sha.

Haven’t been to Miyajima in many many years, actually. Apparently there’s not a single traffic light on the island. This site: http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/yagumo/omo.htm has quite a few pics.

I don’t mind those fake swords that much (okay, I too bought a set when I was much younger), as they at least look basically like the real thing: same size, shape, etc – a 1:1 scale model.