Atrium at Seahawk Hotel

 

The atrium at the Seahawk Hotel in Fukuoka is huge.

When the hotel was built in 1995 it was the biggest hotel in Japan so its fitting that the atrium would be so large.

It was designed by the Argentinian-American architect Cesar Pelli.

He also designed the Osaka Museum of History that I posted on previously.

The design of the atrium is said to be based on the shape of a shell.

Movable fabric screens shiled the interior from direct sun....

The highest poit of the atrium is the huge glass wall about 40 meters in height.

Huge palm trees and flowing water are a feature...

The atrium is home to numerous shops and several eateries...

The previous post in this series on the modern architecture of Fukuoka was on the Seahawk Hotel main building.

Seahawk Hotel

The Seahawk Hotel in the Hawkstown area of Fukuoka was originally owned by JAL, the national airline. As part of the company's bankruptcy restructuring they had to sell off all their hotels, so now it is owned by Hilton.

With more than 1,000 rooms, when opened it was the biggest hotel in Japan,

There are 34 floors above ground, rising to a height of 143 meters.

Amazingly, every single guest room has a sea view.

The hotel opened in 1995. It was designed by Cesar Pelli.

At first glance it looks like a generic tower block, but in plan view it is shaped like a sleek yacht with a pointed bow and a flat stern.

There is a huge atrium attached to the building and that looks much more typical Pelli

I will cover it in the next post.

The previous post in this series on some of the striking modern architecture of Fukuoka was on the nearby New Fukuoka Tower.

Saijo Sake Brewery Street

 

Saijo, in the mountains of Hiroshima, is one of the three great sake-brewing centres in Japan. Fushimi in Kyoto, and Nada in Hyogo being the other two.

Of course, sake is brewed just about everywhere in Japan and while the number of small, family-run sake breweries is somewhat declining, you dont have to look far to find one.

What Saijo represents is large-scale sake brewing, and it is home to seven such breweries, all located close together in what is now named Sakagura-dori, Sake Brewery Street.

All the breweries have sections open to the public for sales, tasting, and various levels of tours.

The town hosts an incredibly popular sake festival in October when around 200,000 vistors descend on the town.

The oldest exisiting sake brewery dates back around 350 years.

Saijo lies on the main, ancient highway, the Sanyo-do, and the feudal lords would be provided accomodations in honjin when they travelled the road.

The owner of a honjin started brewing sake for the guests, and this is now the Hakubotan Sake Brewery.

Nestled in a mountain basin, the climate of the area, cold and dry in the winter, is perfect for sake brewing.

The area also has an abundant supply of good spring water, another major ingredient.

However, Saijo did not become a major sake brewing centre until the modern period.

Saijo lacked the rivers that could power waterwheels, the premodern power for industrial scale polishing of the rice for sake brewing.

In 1896 a local man who was  a sake brewer and an engineer, invented a mechanical rice-polisher that revolutioned the large-scale production of sake.

Most, but not all, of the breweries in Saijo were founded after that.

The architecture of Sake Brewery Street is quite distinctive with white plastered walls and the red rooftiles of this part of Japan.

Red brick chimneys are another indicator.

Many of the walls are known as Namako style, referring to the diagonal white plaster grid on a dark, tile background.

This design is fairly common on storehouse walls. Namako is the sea cucumber and the raised, rounded, white plaster is said to resemble it.

There are free guided tours of the area, or you can pick up a map from the nearby tourist information office and wander by yourself.

The previous post in this series on my visit to Saijo while walking along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the delightful zen garden at Entsuji Temple.