Cityscapes & Shinto Shrines

Now that we are able to post pictures on the site we decided to go back to the basics, What does the city we live in look like? A couple of days ago on our day off we decided to walk around town and take pictures of the city.

This first picture shows the street that we live on. The tall dark yellow/orange building that pops out on the left side is OUR building. You cant see our apartment balcony because they face the other side and we only live on the 4th floor. If you look closely in the middle of the street there`s an area with benches and trees, this is the park. Yes that`s right, you don`t need green grass to call it a park around here. The white flag on the bottom right corner is from a restaurant. In Japan, when a restaurant is open they put these flags out by the front door.

On this second picture it shows the main road here in Sasebo, Route 35. Did you notice they drive on the left side of the road? The NOVA sign is just an advertisement billboard, that`s not where the office is located at. This picture doesn`t really show any cool different looking cars but we have seen some "cute" cars. They have `American` size sedans but they also have the tiny cars that look like you could use a remote control for. I (Steph) found a car model that I loved, it`s a Nissan that looks like a VW Bug but with 4 doors and much more room, it`s the perfect size.

We`ve noticed a lot of Disney characters around Sasebo and all of Japan. This liquor store however is the most interesting depiction of Disney characters. Nick calls this picture the "Seven Drunken Dwarfs".

We took a picture of the closest church to our apartment. This is a Catholic church which we were surprised to see since Japan is predominantly Shinto and Buddhist. Interestingly this church was built in the 1920`s before large number of Americans visited the area. This area has a history of Christianity that dates back 500 years, although for 200 of those years Christianity was banned and only practiced in private. (So mom please tell Abuela that we will be attending mass and light a candle for her soon). We found out from the Head Teacher at our branch that they have a 6am mass everyday, which we wont attend b/c of the time.　　They have one at 5pm on the weekends which we`re more likely to attend.

While walking around town we randomly came across a `Torii Gate`, the entrance to a Shinto Shrine. We then noticed that they had a large detailed map that showed walking trails to a number of different buildings.

Some of these buildings around the shrine are dedicated to specific gods. The Shinto religion is polytheistic (they believe in many gods such as fertility, sun, wind, etc.). We proceeded up the stairs for the next few pictures.

In this picture you can see that people have left offerings for a couple of different gods.

Some people also choose to tie small pieces of white paper (with a written wish/prayer) to tree limbs. In this picture Nick is standing by one of these trees, which appeared to be dedicated to people wishing for World Peace. The white pole to the left of the tree has "May Peace Prevail on Earth" written in Japanese and English.

Lastly, Nick took this picture of me ascending down the stairs and back toward the entrance of the shrine. This gives you another interesting view of the structures found in and around the shrine grounds.