Along the way, i documented a few slices of every day life, plus visited Okayama castle which was destroyed in WW2 by bombs and rebuilt in 1960-s. I ate lunch, dressed up in a cool outfit, wandered from the top to the bottom of the castle, checked out outbuildings and foundations… then walked to the library to find it closed so rode the bus home.
Okayama castle approach on a lovely autumn day
These images were captured along the way, with minor annotations added from time to time.
A sticker-ed up sign on the stroll to a cafe for coffee and contemplationa snippet of gargoyle-esque flair from the top rampartsa stop for lunch inside the castle while waiting to try on the neat period outfits (for free! outfits, not lunch)Your correspondent picturizing War and Peace from the Meiji to Reiwa eraMy dream of acting in a Zatoichi movie reboot *almost* coming true – a very nice lady who had stayed in Saskatchewan for some time helped me get all styled upan attempt at a “serious pose” imagining myself as a diligent scholar samurai in long ago days…another building on the castle compound – just a nice size – truthfully, while i looked at everything, i didnt do my usual deep dive into the history and nuance as my mind was on Remembrance day – well and trying on samurai kimonoside profile view of the castle reconstructed in the 1960s – keep in mind, after the Meiji restoration, castle were basically shut down, feudal lords but out to pasture and castle nationalized #oversimplificationMasonry – olden and contemporary – showing hints into the reconstruction process and the physical history of the structure evolving over the centuriesDecorative utility human access point cover – loads of these unique designs, many of which are painted, all over town. Look down!“Hey you forgot my poop!” yes, i am constantly amused by signs and the visual language used to communicate mundane infoKaki tree in bloom / possibly world’s most under-appreciated fruit – we have loads of these fruit and have made jam and now considering fermenting and/or vinegar or kimchee
a stop technically the next day but hey nice catch – at the north stairs of the local shrine where i posted up for a minute to make a video to send to new friends in East Africa
and finally your humble wanderer making a video for East Africa and thinking about life, war, peace and the passages of time and geography by a Torii gate
