Ground Plaques & Manholes Mania

Why are manholes circular in shape? Do you know why?

Bet it did not occur to you to ask these questions :)) Among 3 Wiki reasons ;

- Round manholes are harder to fall through its circular opening.

- Easier to be rolled than compared with other shapes.

- Round shapes are more difficult to be raised by suction, hence can be made lighter.

The Japanese have manholes that tell something about the place or town. 

These shots captured some of the essence.

Squid manhole

Hakodate, Hokkaido : Squids or "ika" featured heavily inHakodate cuisine. It's their signature item. Nearly all restaurants at its morning market had squid on their menu. We had Ikameshi or stuffed squid as an add-on to our delicious ramen :)))

Ikameshi with Hakodate Ramen

The Ikameshi was something new but the taste was rather mild. The squid was overcooked perhaps and  a tad chewy. The ramen on the other hand was excellent.

Japanese Alpine Range

Toyama, Western Japan. It is the hop-off town to the Japaneses Alps. We did the Ice Wall circuit on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. Does this manhole resembled the mountain range below???

The only to compare height of ice wall

Walk through the valley of .....

Roof of Japan, stark, steep and beautiful mountain range. Was on the ice wall and it began to snow. The vertical ice wall was about 10 m high in May 2010. It was cold then.

Don't believe, look at these guys on the right.~~~~~>>>>>>>>>

Embedded caption

Osaka, Kansai : Back to civilization. This one was on the underground shopping of Namba in Osaka. It was a peaceful walk here. On street level, you would be bombarded with neon lights and mechanized signages. Lookout for giant crab and octopus on the wall!

Welcoming with all 8 tentacles at Osaka Namba

The claws could move1 at Osaka

Beware monster squid at an octopus balls or takoyaki outlet. A must try in Japan.

The claws of this mechanized decapod crustacean moved back and forth, beckoning visitors to enter.  

Floor plaque in Furano

Furano, Hokkaido : Known for its picturesque rural landscape. Not too sure what this manhole was trying to say. Maybe just a happy tourist letting out yahoos after being overwhelmed by the beauty of the place.

Of course grapes have to be included

Furano grapes destined for grape juice factory & winery near Furano town.

Kushiro manhole

Our hosts waving us on

MOO Seafood Reataurant

Kushiro, Eastern Hokkaido. No prize for guessing, fishing,  a major industry here. Locals and tourists came out in full force at night to enjoy seafood at the MOO Fisherman's Wharf. Happy customers equal happy vendors :)))

/

Salmon

Different pose

There are metallic fish embedded on the streets of Kushiro! Different pose too.

Pavement tile in Kushiro

These next three plaques were found along the Kushiro Fisherman's Wharf MOO.

Kushiro public transport then

It was within the vicinity of Nusamai Bridge.

No idea what was written on it

Scenes of Japanese life and history?

Its between Hosooka and Toya

Kushiro to Abashiri by rail

No. 1 on the left map was our station stop. The exact station signage.

Marshland owls

This manhole was found near Hosooka Viewpoint in the Kushiro Marshland. Local natives were owls and the Japanese Cranes but we did not see any. Probably we were too noisy and scared them away.

Japanese Crane bottom left, captured from moving train

On the plus side, I did capture an image of a Japanese crane in flight while travelling on the train. Only realized that when I was looking through the photos in the computer.

Strong Chinese presence in Yokohama

Chinese themed gateways aplenty in Yokohama

Port of Yokohama, home to the largest Chinese community in Japan. You can navigate Yokohama easily if you have a good command of Mandarin.

Night view of Yokohama from the harbour.

Great night view of Yokohama

Wandering 13 Days Japan for RM$6K ( USD$2.7K )

This trip was in two loops mainly

We travelled nearly 6,000 km for 13 days when we were moving around Japan in early spring. Spent less than RM$6,000 per person.

Flight by Airasia cost us RM$814.00 per person return.
The reasons it was cheap ;
- We booked months ahead.
- No checked in luggage en-route, only 20 kg on the return leg.
- No meals, it was a night flight to Osaka and we slept.
En-route home we had early dinner below at Sukiya chain of restaurants  inside Kansai Airport before we boarded the evening flight.

Our last meal in Japan before boarding

A typical Sukiya restaurant

The 14-Day JR Pass was more expensive at $1,850 vs $1,601 on the previous trip.
The internal flight by Jetstar was on promotion and we got it at  $198 per pax.

Day 1 was all about travel.
- Flew into Kansai International Airport, Osaka in the morning,
- Took Japan Rail ( JR ) and arrived afternoon at Narita Airport in Tokyo then
- Took Jetstar from Tokyo to Sapporo, arrived at night. Had ramen for dinner which was great.

Late dinner at this outlet

It was fantastic!

Our senior citizen cook doing her thing

This trip was in two loops mainly ;

(1) Eastern Hokkaido, which was more remote, covering cities like ;

- Sapporo as hub and down memory lane
- Asahikawa to see their famous zoo and ramen village
- Biei to see Panorama Road and Shikisai Hills
- Furano to see Farm Tomita.
- Obihiro to eat butadon butahage a super duper pork dish.
- Kushiro to see the Pacific Ocean, marshland and eat seafood at MOO.
- Abishari to see ice floes in the museum! Actual floes can only be seen around March.
- Revisited Otaru to catch the romanticism of this town and its seafood of course.

Ice floes

(2) Second loop encompassed parts of Honshu and Kyushu.
We flew from Sapporo to Tokyo and put up a night at the airport hotel.
The cities covered on this loop were ;



- Nikko to see temples & shrines, Kegon Waterfall and Lake Chuzenji
- Yokohama to see Japan's largest Chinatown plus sampling its gyoza
- Dashed to Kobe for the beef and went to Arima for a little bit of gold and silver onsen bath. This time around, was much more confident in the nude!
- Took shinkansen to Fukuoka just to touch base at Kyushu Island
- Hopped to Miyajima for day trip to see its large Torii in the sea
- Diverted to Hiroshima to feel the pain of war, no matter who was at fault
- Back to Osaka for flight out.

Kegon Waterfall at Nikko

For all of the above, our  average cost for 1 person was ;

Flight to Japan and one internal connection  RM$   814.00
13 Days Japan Rail Pass                             RM$1,850.00
12 Nights stay at Toyoko (member)            RM$1,338.00
Park fees, day passes &  meals                   RM$1,334.00
                                                                -----------------
Total                                                           RM$5,336.00

Details of this trip ....... later.