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Japanese monkeys in a cage
2008-01-29 02:45:00 ???????Outside of zoos and pet shops, I have rarely seen wild animals kept in cages in public spaces in Japan. I do remember bears caged in an Ainu Village in Hokkaido some years ago, but it came as something of a shock to see red-faced Japanese macaques imprisoned in a cage in Nagahama Castle Park on the shores of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture.The smell of animals' faeces and urine was strong as the wind blew in from the lake and the monkeys did not look happy nor, one of them, in the best of health.Next to the monkeys was an empty cage. The sign posted on the wire explained that the cage had held a deer in captivity for 22 years and it had recently died.Yahoo Japan Auction ServiceBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsTokyo Serviced ApartmentsBudget accommodation in JapanHappi CoatsJapanese For Busy PeopleTagsJapan Nagahama Shiga Japanese monkeys
Shiga wants Lake Biwa listed as World Heritage site
2008-01-06 00:00:00 OTSU -- Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada said the prefectural government will aim to have Lake Biwa inscribed as a World Heritage site.At a New Year press conference on Friday, Kada said a project team will be established with the aim of getting the prefecture's lake registered as a World Heritage site."Through our activities, we'll show the world the appeal of Lake Biwa," Kada told the press conference.Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, has already been designated as a p ...
Anti-Racist Graffiti Poster
2007-12-17 02:38:00 ???????On the way back from an outing to a hot spring in Shiga Prefecture, which is just east of Kyoto, this poster stared me in the face as I stood at a urinal in a JR train station toilet.What this poster says, literally, is:"If you find racist graffiti, please tell a station employee immediately. People hate [the red is peeled back] thoughtless, crude graffiti..."The word covered by the "Graffiti Banned" poster within a poster is no doubt "buraku" or perhaps worse.Any reference to "human rights" in Japan--from the small signs on Kyoto buses to large banners outside schools near certain stigmatized communities--is code for Japan's "buraku" community, and to a lesser extent Koreans.These signifiers--the signs and banners and pleas for "thinking about human rights"--tell the uninformed that Japan's outcaste population lives nearby in one of the many buraku, or "villages," spread throughout Japan.The amazing thing, in the case of the burakumin people, is that they are racially and ...
Hikone Castle Shiga Prefecture
2007-12-03 17:53:00 ???Hikone Castle in Shiga Prefecture is one of Japan's most beautiful and historic castles.Hikone Castle is set on the shores of Japan's largest lake - Biwako - and is an easy day trip from Osaka, Kyoto or Nagoya.Completed in 1622 after 20 years in construction, the ornate, black and white fortress was the base of the local Ii family daimyo (feudal lords).The castle's impressive, stone walls and double moats are designated as important cultural properties and the wooden stables (umaya), just outside the castle's main gate, are the only surviving example of a castle's stables in Japan. Horses were kept ready here for riders to take messages to neighbouring provinces and along the Tokaido via change of horse to Edo (Tokyo).Also worth visiting within the castle grounds is the Genkyu-en strolling garden, built around a large, ornamental pond in the Chinese style in the late 17th century. There are good views of the castle on the hill above and a chance to sample traditional Japanes... |
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