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MARCH 2007 : KYUSHU, JAPAN
Hakata station: observe suspected trainspotter on the right
Nagasaki's lantern festival apparently also involves large amounts of crockery
Local beauty queens squeak in the rain
Purveyors of Sino-Japanese nibbles
Hobbit hole in Nagasaki's Chinatown
Chinese-style Zen temple of the Obaku sect, Nagasaki
The same place!
Chinese temples are altogether more colourful than their Japanese counterparts...
...with lashings of red paint...
...bold placards...
...temple guards, some scary...
...and some not...
No, I don't know what it means either.
A more Japanese-style construction in Nagasaki's temple row
In the precincts of another Chinese Obaku Zen temple in the rain
Faux buddhism - a giant oriental Virgin Mary with adoring cherubs. This statue is atop a building in the shape of a huge turtle - no kidding.
The view from inside the giant turtle
High school kids torturing carp in Glover Park, Nagasaki's collection of European dwellings
Chocolate cake, or corner of a building? The choice is yours...
Some famous person or other....answers on a postcard.
Peach blossom in Glover Park - always liked it much better than the cherry variety
Cheesey mural in Nagasaki's 'Dutch Slopes' area of European housing.
Doesn't make much sense, does it? A European man goes to Japan to take photos of European houses
Bilingual signs are all over Japan, so you need never miss those 'Hollander slopes"
Exciting avant garde shapes down at the Nagasaki waterfront
Up the cable car on a windy, semi-rainy day; the Pacific Ocean. Or the South China Sea. Or something...
More of the same...
Onwards to Kumamoto, and a stupidly-attired group of ill-mannered Korean tourists barge their way into the castle
The crater of Mt.Aso in the centre of Kyushu - yep, she's still active
One of the five peaks within the enormous volcanic caldera
As close to the guff as you can safely get
Dig the sedimentary layers, baby!
I only noticed this sign when it was too late - enveloped in a pongy cloud, my 'farmer's lung' collapsed and I had to move away from the crater
Miles and miles of bugger all...
Away from the tourists I found a path winding its way up into the lava fields...
No people, no vegetation, just a bizzare and awe-inspiring lunar landscape
Proof of alien visitation
The Great Leader himself, appropriately enough on the top of Aso.
Despite the sun, it was bloody cold, and being inappropriately clothed, the bollocks they did a-freeze
One small step for Mr.Armstrong...
Faked in a Hollywood studio
Shite - I've wandered too far from the moon buggy!
Not very convincing recreation of Mt.Fuji in Kumamoto's Suizenji Jojuen park
Southwards to the semi-tropical city of Kagoshima - Mt.Sakurajima, another active volcano, looms over the bay near my hotel
Local peasant fishing for blue whales under the gaze of Sakurajima
Harbours are full of interesting rusty bits that make good arty photos
Let's take a wider look at that hunk o' rusty steel
On Sakurajima itself, following the lava trail amid the spewed out rocks from the massive 1914 eruption
Amazingly the volcano shot out this flat piece of rock complete with Japanese inscription!
Front - lava: back - Sakurajima
Now who's this handsome young adventurer?
Just how many photos of Sakurajima do you need?
One more, apparently
Peach blossom in Kagoshima's Senganen gardens
...and a bit more peach blossom
Ah...peach blossom
Menu in the Senganen refectory. A number 37 with lichees, please
The bit of the garden where the annoying tour groups don't go, since it involves effort
...and the reward is yet another bloody view of Sakurajima
Intelligent young cetaceous fellow I met in the Kagoshima aquarium
Jellyfish - nature's discarded white vinyl bag
Jellyfish - nature's transparent floppy pointless critter
Up north again to Fukuoka, and a dip into Canal City shopping centre
I always liked Snufkin better
Canal City art
Fukuoka tower
Fukuoka - the poor man's Venice: a tacky wedding parlour
And we wind up with a test of that sports photography mode on the old Nikon at Fukuoka'a aquarium
The one at the front blunted his nose in an earlier failed trick involving a brick wall
Seconds later the trainers were torn limb from limb and devoured by their flippery charges
Don't just stand there - help him down!
All images © 2008 Andy Lightfoot: no unauthorised reproduction without the author's prior consent. Enquires to that effect should be directed here.
07/2010 : Recent Photos
05/2010 : Tokyo, Japan
01/2010 : Ujina, Hiroshima
01/2010 : Recent Pictures
09/2009 : Spain
05/2009 : Kyoto, Otsu and Shiga, Japan
03/2009 : Hokkaido, Japan
09/2008 : Britain and France
04/2008 : Chubu, Japan
10/2007 : France
03/2007 : Kyushu, Japan
10/2006 : Norway
08/2006 : Kansai, Japan
03/2006 : Australia
09/2005 : Czech Republic
08/2005 : Tokyo, Japan
03/2005 : Australia
01/2005 : Hiroshima and Kyoto, Japan
09/2004 : Britain, Finland and Germany
03/2004 : New Zealand
09/2003 : France and Switzerland
03/2003 : New Zealand
12/2002 : Hiroshima, Japan, Denmark and Sweden