LOST IN TRANSLATION - Chapter 5 Okayama

It was a brief stop in Okayama before going onto Hiroshima. Each garden we saw was different . This one was big. Bigger than the Botanical gardens we have in Paris and very varied in its set up. The Temple on the top of the hill would be a must. We wandered over bridges,




On a suspension bridge



and tried to look out for « falling objects »


But this tree fascinated me. Was it a story being told? Would a Japanese understand the story? Was it a Japanese graffiti ? However you looked at it, it was telling a story.



For the moment, just let’s look at the photos and the carps and revel once again in a silence…




Experimental gardens perhaps ?











The trunk of trees were being protected but from What,

Beautiful reflections again...
Maybe a garden map to see where you are going? - It didn’t help me…


Then the zoo. We heard the screeching of the crane some way off and stopped for a hot drink to listen to them.

 Strange noises. We found them. A moment  after our discovery , a keeper came in and separated the birds completely. Why? I’ll never know the answer.







SEPERATING THE CRANES, BUT WHY?




 

Now we would climb up to the castle.


I didn’t take pictures as frankly, there was so little to see. Or solely in Japanese and that was bewildering.

 A small contemporary exhibition but of what ?

The different castles in Japan





We didn’t take the boat across the island and even if it had been suggested, who would want to take a kitsch swan to the other side?


Over the bridge, a Japanese man (and a nice looking one in my book) stopped me. Where did I come from? His daughter had lived in France for a year…we moved on.
His English wasn't too bad either...


The castle was there - as were the school children sitting on the grass…we climbed.







The view was extraordinary - in fact a little too perfect ?

 Down we would go again to see a bus and take - yes - this time I was sure of myself, the Bullet train.




 But we did see this....


A small Bento aboard before arriving in Hiroshima.


And inside it...

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