April 19, 2006

Explorgasm

Today I rode my bike into the mountains around my little town of Tara-cho. I ended up going about 20 to 30 kilometers! The day was lovely--and the smells! The wind carried the smells of the real Japan: the Japan of the mountains. I at several times paused to sniff with a look of elation on my face that I imagine was equivilent to that of a mother that has just given birh and is gazing contentedly at their child. Yes, this is why I came here, for the mountains, and the rotting buildings. I saw more than a few derilict buildings, cars, backhoes, barns, and bridges; the plants attempting to reassert control by growing wherever they could find purchase.
I've tried to convey how large Tara is. Absolutely massive and beautiful. Screw Tokyo, it's the inaka for me. Hopefully the vids will help me show some of the massiveness of the mountains...
Our tour of Tara begins with the mystery of the 1000 oranges...
Why were these oranges left by the roadside here? The nearest orange farm is a good 5 kilometers away. What is going on here? The mystery intrigues me.

Continue reading this post by expanding...
The mysterious bottle field. Anyone know what this one is for?
Two random videos appear before you!

You can actually hear me sighing contentedly in the background of the dam video.



A panorama. Please zoom this one.

Locked gate to a creepy shut down factory.

Another view of the gate.

This place was like a haunted playground right out of a movie. I loved it, naturally.



6 comments:

  1. On the bottles...
    Did they have anything in them? Maybe a sticky sweet liquid? They kind of remind me of the traps that gardeners down south set for beetles. Actually, the beetles in question were called "Japanese Beetles", and they would tear up your roses if you didn't do something to cut their numbers down a bit.

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  2. nothing in them, and nothing growing in the plot but grass on strange mounds. Sounds like a viable theory.

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  3. great photos!!

    sucks about the oranges i love oranges.


    ssbbm

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  4. The bottles... I've seen people hang from their door frames paper bags to ward off flies, and clear plastic bags filled with water,to ward off bees. Maybe these bottles are to freak out bugs to keep them away from what ever used to/will be growing in there? Something about how the bag looks to an insect's eye is supposed to make them want to stay away, and therefore out of one's house. Dunno...

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  5. Beautiful Clay! And I'm glad you are so happy with where you are living. That's fantastic.

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