Momen Kaido Hirata Cotton Road

 

Hirata lies close to the north shore of Lake Shinji, Japan's 8th biggest lake, and for a while it was a bustling trading port exporting Hirata Cotton up to Osaka and beyond.

A small secrtion of the old town along the navigable river that fed into Lake Shinji has now been renamed Momen Kaido, "Cotton Road".

There is a large merchant house and garden open to the public which I will cover in the next post in the series.

For me, the most interesting thing about Hirata is the unique folk art called Isshiki Kazari, which I need to do some more posts on.....

Hirata is served by the scenic Ichibata Railway that follows the lakeshore between Matsu and Izumo Taisha.

On a hillside overlooking the town is a really good folk-art museum as well as mansion and garden that is REALLY worth visiting.

.

The previous post in this series on the sights of Matsue and Izumo was on the observation deck overlooking Matsue and Lake Shinji.

if you would like to subscribe by email just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published and made public. I post new content almost everyday, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.

Miscellaneous Namba Architecture

 

After leaving the Osaka Science Museum I headed to the station to head out for an appointment.

Along the way I took these snapshots of various architectural details, as for me, a long time resident of really rural Japan, they were exotic and interesting.....

I am still uncomfortable in the large parts of Osaka that are underground......

None of the photos are of particularly famous or interesting architecture, simply a record of what took my eye as I walked to the station.

The previous post was on the Osaka Science Museum.

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.

Osaka Science Museum

 

My final stop on my afternoon architectural exploration of Namba and nearby areas of Osaka was the Osaka Science Museum on Nakanoshima, adjacent to the National  Museum of Art.

The structure is primarily an oval. It opened in 1989.

It was designed by Environmental Development Institute, about whom I can find no info.

The two themes of the museum are Space, and Energy.

Kansai Electric was the primary funder of the museum, so the energy theme is not surprising.

The museum is home to one of the largest planetariums in the world.

From the aboce photo you would be forgiven for thinking you were in a shopping mall.

The museum seems to be aimed at younger visitors.

There are many interactive exhibits, and several times a day a Sciemce Show is performed.

I was in somewhat of a hurry to get to an appointment, so I did not look around.

In 2020, long after this visit of mine, the museum was completely renovated...

The previous post in this series was on the National Museum of Art by Cesar Pelli next door.

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.

Inside HITOHAKU

 

HITOHAKU in Sanda, Hyogo is a huge natural history museum.

I covered the exterior architecture in the last post in this series.

In English, it is called the Museum of Nature and Human Activities.

When I visited in 2017 there was little information in English, but now the whole museum is covered with smartphone-readable info in multiple languages.

It is not just a museum,but also includes several research facilities.

The museum's collections are staggering, with 152,000 geological items and more than 2,000,000 biological specimens.

Included in that are 1.3 million insects, 68,000 animals, and 641,000 plants.

The museum is spread over four floors and includes sections on the natural history of Hyogo, and the always-popular-with-kids dinosaur exhibits.

The human impact on nature is also covered.

I found the msueum and its displays surprisingly interesting, and good value. The most expensive entry fee is 200 yen.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the wonderful exterior of the museum.

if you would like to subscribe by email just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published and made public. I post new content almost everyday, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.