 Most viewed - SAITAMA 埼玉県 |
Argentina rugby team singing their national anthem at Kumagaya, Saitama.20 views
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USA ball.20 views
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The wave...20 views
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Walk left for the shuttle bus stop or walk on the right to walk back to Kumagaya Station (50-min. walk or 3.5 km).20 views
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After getting off the bus, more volunteers saying goodbye with high-fives.20 views
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Kumagaya Fan Zone to watch rugby games.20 views
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Volunteer taking photo with a frame.20 views
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Kumagaya Rugby Museum20 views
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Our guide showed us around Okegawa-juku on foot. All the major spots are within walking distance.20 views
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Inari Shrine's Power Stone (chikara-ishi). 力石20 views
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Perhaps Okegawa-juku's most distinctive building is the Shimamura family earthen storehouse (島村家住宅土蔵). Mr. Shimamura was our guide. 島村家住宅土蔵20 views
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Only part of Okegawa's Honjin remains today, but it is private property and normally not open to the public. We could only see the entrance gate.20 viewsDuring its heyday, Okegawa-juku saw VIP guests such as the Maeda daimyo from Kaga (Ishikawa Prefecture) and Tokugawa Nariaki (1800–1860) from Mito (Ibaraki Prefecture). But the most famous VIP to stay in Okegawa was an emperor's daughter named Princess Kazunomiya (1846–1877).
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Sightseeing map of Kawajima town in Saitama Prefecture. Looks like it has a lot to see.20 views
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Kadysha Juna Umezawa, from Canada.20 views
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Inside Satte Station.20 views
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The cherry blossoms go along the riverbank for 1 km. That's quite long, but it was originally a whopping 6 km long. 20 views
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Stairs at Satte Station.20 views
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Volunteers at Kumagaya Station show the way to the shuttle buses and fan zone.19 views
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Steps to the stands.19 views
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Kumagaya Rugby Stadium for USA v. Argentina on Oct.9, 2019. Rugby World Cup 201919 views
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The players appear on the pitch.19 views
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The local kids occupied the cheap seats.19 views
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The local kids proved to be a great cheering section.19 views
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Argentina scores a try.19 views
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Sumo get-up19 views
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People walking back to Kumagaya Station. Good exercise.19 views
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Kumagaya Station still had the Uchiwa festival floats playing until 7:00 pm.19 views
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Our guide showed us the original kanji characters used for "Okegawa." 輿川19 views
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Nakasendo Road in Okegawa-juku. Most of it looks modern.19 views
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Another Shimamura family building, now a tea shop sandwiched by modern buildings.19 views
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Different stages of fermenting. We could taste the difference.19 views
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About Toyama Memorial Museum (遠山記念館).19 views
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Garden19 views
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Straight-line wood grain on another ceiling.19 views
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Bathroom sink.19 views
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Fusuma sliding door.19 views
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JR Saitama-Shintoshin Station exterior view.19 views
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Front side of Saitama Super Arena. Enter toward the left side. Looks like a complicated structure from the outside.19 viewsI was here to see men's and women's basketball games were held on Aug. 25, 2019 as part of the five-day International Basketball Games event for men and the Mitsui Fudosan Cup for women. It was also an Olympic test event.
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International Basketball Games was held first, with Japan vs. Tunisia on Aug. 25, 2019.19 views
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Introducing the players.19 views
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Naoto Tsuji19 views
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Makoto Hiejima. Japan trailed Tunisia most of the time, but it finally caught up and tied the score during last few minutes. But a basket by Tunisia during the final seconds beat Japan. Good game.19 views
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My second visit to Saitama Super Arena was on Jan. 11, 2020. It was for the Empress's Cup national baskteball tournament.19 views
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Entering Saitama Super Arena, not so crowded for women's basketball games.19 views
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From Satte Station, there are infrequent buses to Gogendo Park. Bus schedule hre.19 views
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Map of Gogendo Park, a long park along an embankment lined with three rows of cherry blossoms. In parallel are large patches of rapeseed blossoms and Nakagawa River.19 views
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At the foot of the embankment with cherry trees and food stalls. Flowers usually bloom from late March to early April. This is probably around 80% bloom.19 views
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At the foot of the embankment with cherry trees and food stalls. 19 views
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Cherry blossoms and rapeseed blossoms at Gogendo Park in Satte, Saitama Prefecture. 19 views
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Satte Station platform express train boarding marker.19 views
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Good to see a beer girl selling soft drinks. For the those kids.18 views
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Singing the national anthem for both USA and Argentina.18 views
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Interactive rugby activity. Try to throw the ball into the target hole.18 views
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Paper lanterns.18 views
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Steps up to the train station.18 views
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Okegawa-juku marker along the Nakasendo.18 views
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About Okegawa-juku in Japanese.18 views
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Map of Okegawa-juku's main buildings.18 views
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Entrance to Shimamura family earthen storehouse. It's fireproof and it has proven to be earthquake proof too.18 views
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Edo Period encyclopedia.18 views
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Meiji Period dishes.18 views
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Oke-chan is Okegawa's official mascot. He is a Nakasendo traveler sporting a safflower on this head.18 views
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Kinbue Syoyu Park offers a factory tour of their soy sauce (shoyu) factory operated by Fueki Syoyu Brewing Co. (笛木醤油株式会社). Their shoyu products are sold under the "Kinbue" brand name (金笛). They've been in business since 18 viewsThis traditional building houses a gift shop and restaurant.
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Lots of salt.18 views
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Entrance to Toyama Memorial Museum (遠山記念館).18 views
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Entrance hall has this rare stone tiles on the floor.18 views
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Tea ceremony room.18 views
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Transom with a paulownia design.18 views
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Very rare Yaku-sugi wood ceiling from Japanese cedar trees found on Yakushima island in Kagoshima Prefecture. 18 views
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Fusuma sliding door.18 views
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Long line to buy basketball merchandise outside the stadium.18 views
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Roster for Japan and Tunisia. Rui Hachimura didn't play this day and was on the courtside. Too bad! 18 viewsHe had played the day before against Germany and the crowd went wild whenever he scored. The crowd was still very excited on this day too.
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Daiki Tanaka. Tunisia in white.18 views
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Daiki Tanaka18 views
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Large block of empty seats. It seems the TV cameras needed a clear view and the red seats were for sponsors left unused. Hope we don't see this at the Olympics.18 views
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Outside the srena.18 views
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Kadysha Juna Umezawa, from Canada.18 views
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Mikoto Onuma18 views
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Finally, the entrance to the riverbank lined with cherry blossoms.18 views
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Cherry blossoms and rapeseed blossoms at Gogendo Park in Satte, Saitama Prefecture. 18 views
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Under the cherries at Satte, Saitama Prefecture.18 views
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In the stadium.17 views
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Argentina scores a try.17 views
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Stray ball in the stands. Kids are thrilled to catch it.17 views
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About Okegawa-juku.17 views
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Okegawa Tourist Association (桶川市観光協会) in the Nakasendo Shukuba-kan (中山道宿場館) building right in the middle of the former lodging town.17 views
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Nakasendo Shukuba-kan has woodblock-style postcard printing in three different colors. It's free.17 views
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Inari Shrine's stone lanterns were donated by safflower producers.17 views
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Inari Shrine's stone lanterns were donated by safflower producers. Their names are engraved on the lanterns.17 views
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Inari Shrine's Power Stone (chikara-ishi) has to be wet for us to see the engravings. 力石17 views
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Shimamura family earthen storehouse as built in 1836 as a three-story storehouse to provide employment to construction workers suffering from a bad harvest that year.17 viewsThe storehouse is therefore nicknamed "Otasuke-zo" (お助け蔵) or "Savior Storehouse" for saving people from famine.
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From a side street, we could see the roof of the Honjin stil remaining.17 views
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A former Hatago inn for travelers now called the Kobayashi residence. It's now a coffee shop. 旧・旅籠（小林家）17 views
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Jonenji's main worship hall is new, rebuilt in 2004.17 views
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Soybeans17 views
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Large wooden vats where the soy sauce is fermented and aged.17 views
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The home has three wings, this wing witth a thatched roof is designed like a farmhouse.17 views
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Entrance hall has this rare stone tiles on the floor.17 views
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Shinto shrine altar near the fancy ceiling.17 views
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Japanese-syle room in the West Wing.17 views
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Our tosenkyo instructor takes aim. 17 views
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Very rare Yaku-sugi wood ceiling from Japanese cedar trees found on Yakushima island in Kagoshima Prefecture. Beautiful wood grain.17 viewsSuch wood comes from trees as old as 1,000 years. Now illegal to cut down yaku-sugi trees. 屋久杉
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Tea ceremony room.17 views
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Fusuma sliding door.17 views
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Countdown to Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics as of Aug. 25, 2019.17 views
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Spectators were given red-colored file folders to create this red blanket. It seems red is Saitama's sports cheering color.17 views
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The national basketball team also has cheerleaders named "Akatsuki Venus." Like the players, most cheerleaders come from cheerleading squads from various pro basketball teams in Japan.17 views
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Courtside TV cameramen.17 views
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Today's attendance.17 views
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Speech by Rui Hachimura.17 views
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Japan easily beat Chinese Taipei.17 views
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Olympic/Paralympic venues in Saitama Prefecture.17 views
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Saitama Super Arena concourse had a few souvenir stands.17 views
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Large parking lot at the park.17 views
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Nanohana and sakura. It seems that my digital camera thought the picture had too much yellow so it tried to compensate by adding a bluish tinge. I had to correct it.17 views
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Great place to take pictures of your family or love one(s).17 views
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Cherry blossoms and rapeseed blossoms at Gogendo Park in Satte, Saitama Prefecture. 17 views
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My YouTube video of the 2023 Minami-Koshigaya Awa Odori dance festival.17 views
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Large plaza outside Benibana Furusato-kan Hall is used for events.16 views
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Shukuba lodging towns in Saitama Prefecture as shown at the Nakasendo Shukuba-kan (中山道宿場館).16 views
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Miniature shrine in a tree trunk. 16 views
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About Inari Shrine's stone lanterns.16 views
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Small shrine still remaining from the old days.16 views
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Shimamura family earthen storehouse roof was recently renovated (島村家住宅土蔵).16 views
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The building is filled with antique items from the old days. Amazing, eclectic collection. 16 views
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Third floor with roof beams. 16 views
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Little Mermaid design.16 views
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A former Okegawa-juku Hatago inn for travelers now called the Kobayashi residence. Dates from the Edo Period. 旧・旅籠（小林家）16 views
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Gate to Jonenji Temple in Okegawa-juku. 浄念寺16 views
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What the vats look like down below.16 views
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Waste materials from making shoyu.16 views
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Shoyu soft-serve ice cream.16 views
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This West Wing part of the house is desiged like a tea ceremony room.16 views
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Farmhouse room.16 views
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We tried playing a traditional fan-tossing game called tosenkyo (投扇興). You toss a folding fan at a small target on a small block. 16 views
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The imported glass was also expensive.16 views
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Transom16 views
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Storehouse door, fireproof.16 views
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Tea ceremony room alcove.16 views
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Keisai Eisen's print shows a traveler approaching a house to ask for directions to Hikawa Tenman Shrine. A woman farmer is threshing grain, and her husband smoking a pipe in the house. 16 viewsTobacco leaves are drying from the eaves. A man sits sideways on a pack horse headed in the opposite direction. 岐阻街道 桶川宿 曠原之景
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Long line to buy basketball merchandise outside the stadium. Can well imagine what it will be like during the Olympics...16 views
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"Japan as One"16 views
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"Akatsuki Five" is the nickname for Japan's national basketball team (for both men and women). "Akatsuki" means "red dawn."16 views
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Final score.16 views
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Post-game comments by Yuta Watanabe.16 views
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Saitama Super Arena snack bar.16 views
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Arena layout.16 views
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The next semi-fonal women's basketball game for the Empress's Cup was Eneos Sunflowers vs. Toyota Antelopes.16 views
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Saori Miyazaki16 views
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Satte Station on the Tobu Nikko Line. 東武日光線幸手駅16 views
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In front of Satte Station, the bus stop for Gogendo Park.16 views
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Long line for the bus to Gogendo Park. Unfortunately, the bus got too full to fit me.16 views
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Cherry blossoms on the top of the embankment.16 views
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Cherry blossom tunnel on the riverbank. 16 views
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Looking toward the rapeseed blossoms.16 views
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I walked along the entire length of the cherry blossoms. Very pleasant.16 views
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Walking around the rapeseed blossoms is the main highlight since you also see the cherry blossoms.16 views
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Cherry blossoms and rapeseed blossoms at Gogendo Park in Satte, Saitama Prefecture. Even this is still 80% bloom.16 views
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Cherry blossoms and rapeseed blossoms at Gogendo Park in Satte, Saitama Prefecture. 16 views
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Cherry blossoms and rapeseed blossoms at Gogendo Park in Satte, Saitama Prefecture. 16 views
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Cherry blossoms and rapeseed blossoms at Gogendo Park in Satte, Saitama Prefecture. 16 views
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Many of the trees were cut down during WWII for firewood. The ones we see today were planted in 1949. 16 views
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Such a genius to plant rapeseed blossoms next to the cherry blossoms.16 views
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Okegawa Tanpopo Nursery School taiko drummers.15 views
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Make your own Okegawa-juku postcard in three steps. The final print is Keisai Eisen's print of Okegawa-shuku, part of his Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaido series.15 views
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Inari Shrine in Okegawa-juku. 稲荷神社15 views
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Inari Shrine in Okegawa-juku. 稲荷神社15 views
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About Inari Shrine's Power Stone (chikara-ishi). 力石15 views
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Inari Shrine's Power Stone (chikara-ishi) weighs 610 kg. A sumo wreslter once lifted it in 1852 as written on the stone. 力石15 views
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Nakasendo Road in Okegawa-juku.15 views
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About the Shimamura family earthen storehouse (島村家住宅土蔵). The storehouse is a National Tangible Cultural Property.15 views
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Stairs to the 2nd floor.15 views
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Inside the earthen wall.15 views
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The Shimamura family storehouse is normally open only on the first Saturday of the month from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. 15 viewsHowever, groups can arrange to enter the storehouse on other days by appointment. (Call the Okegawa Tourist Association.)
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About Okegawa-juku's Honjin luxury lodge (本陣) where VIP travelers like the emperor, daimyo, shogun, or Imperial princess stayed.15 views
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About the gate's Nio statues.15 views
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Stone tablets15 views
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Our factory guide was Fueki Masatsugu, the 12th-generation proprietor of the shoyu brewing company.15 views
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Toyama Memorial Museum (遠山記念館) has this thatched-roof home built in 1936 by Kawajima-native Toyama Gen'ichi (遠山元一 1890–1972), the founder of Nikko Securities. It was a home for his mother. 15 views
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Tokonoma alcove.15 views
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Bath tub15 views
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Fancy ceiling.15 views
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Scroll depicting a woman dancer with a lion head.15 views
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Very rare Yaku-sugi wood ceiling from Japanese cedar trees found on Yakushima island in Kagoshima Prefecture. 15 viewsBeautiful wood grain. Such wood comes from trees as old as 1,000 years. Now illegal to cut down yaku-sugi trees. 屋久杉
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Corridor15 views
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Daiki Tanaka15 views
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Naoto Tsuji15 views
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Naoto Tsuji15 views
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Courtside15 views
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Cheerleaders in a corner.15 views
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