Fukushima Prefecture

(July 31, 2011) Almost everyone reading this week’s Kameoka Corner will recognize the name Fukushima after the destructive earthquake and tsunami on May 11 that heavily damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The power plant gets its name from the fact that it’s in Fukushima Prefecture that lies along the Pacific coast northeast of Tokyo. The prefecture is Japan’s third largest and extends west from the Pacific coast about three-fourths of the way across the island of Honshu toward the Sea of Japan. Although one of the largest prefectures, it’s been one of the least heavily populated for many years and now is likely to remain lightly populated for many years.  Although not blessed with a host of major tourist attractions, there are certainly things for tourists to see. Like every prefecture in Japan, there are mountains and hot springs. The best known mountain, actually a volcano, is Mt Bandai which last erupted in 1888 creating a large alpine plateau on its north slope which is covered with beautiful lakes and streams and attracts quite a number of tourists. Near Fukushima City, the capital of the prefecture, is Mt. Azuma, also a volcano. In the spring when snow begins to melt on the mountainside a place protected from the sun where the snow melts more slowly leaves an area of snow in the shape of a rabbit. It’s called by locals the seed-sowing rabbit and is a reminder to the local farmers that it’s seed planting time.  The city of Aizu-Wakamatsu with its 700 year old Tsuruga Castle is probably the prefecture’s primary tourist destination. It’s a nice city and a nice castle.

Shizuoka Prefecture

(July 24, 2011) A person traveling by train from Tokyo to Kyoto or Osaka always hopes to get a glimpse of Mt Fuji some 45 minutes or so into the trip. The “hopes to get a glimpse” is because Fuji-san is often shrouded in clouds, but when it’s visible it’s beautiful. Mt Fuji is on the border between Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures and both claim it, however, its peak appears on maps of Japan to be just inside Shizuoka Prefecture. In addition to Mt Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture has much to offer tourists. Izu Peninsula along the Pacific Coast a half-hour by train from Tokyo is a popular destination from people from Tokyo because of its natural beauty, numerous hot springs, good sea food and history. In the 1600s, Izu Peninsula was home to shipwrecked Englishman Will Adams whose life in Japan was the basis to James Clavell’s novel Shogun. Shimoda, a small town at the tip of the peninsula was where Commodore Matthew Perry set anchor in 1854, thus opening Japan to outside trading for the first time in some 250 years. It was also home to America’s first diplomatic representative, Townsend Harris, before he moved his office to Yokohama. The old Tokaido Road that connected the old capital, Kyoto, and the east capital, Tokyo, for more than 200 years passed through Shizuoka Prefecture. However, for all it has to offer, Shizuoka Prefecture is said to be at the highest risk for a major earthquake of any prefecture in Japan. For well over a thousand years the prefecture has had a major earthquake every 100 to 150 years and experienced a 6.2 magnitude quake only a few days after the massive Sendai earthquake in March.

Fukuoka

The gateway to Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu is the city of Fukuoka. With a population of 1.2 million, Fukuoka is Kyushu’s largest city and until just a few months ago was the southern terminus of the Shinkansen or “bullet train” system. However, on March 12 a new line connecting (July 17, 2011) Fukuoka and Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu was opened thereby providing Shinkansen service from Aomori at the northern tip of the main island of Honshu to Kagoshima, a distance of just over 1300 miles. Fukuoka is Japan’s closest major city to the Asian mainland and for this reason was where the Mongol forces of Kublai Kahn attempted to invade Japan in 1274. Japan was able to repel the invasion but a few years later Khan attempted a second invasion. About the time the invading forces were scheduled to land, a typhoon struck destroying the entire Mongol fleet. At that time in Fukuoka’s history there were two cities separated by the Naka River; Fukuoka, an old castle town, on one side and Hakata, the merchant’s town, across the river. When rail service came to that area the train station was in Hakata. When the two cities were consolidated in 1889, the new city was called Fukuoka, but the train station continued to be called Hakata Station. Today, 122 years later, the station is still Hakata Station in the City of Fukuoka. My wife and I used their excellent subway system last fall to go from Hakata Station to Ohori Station to visit the beautiful Japanese Garden at Ohori Park.