This edition of the Linky Blog Party is about Transportation. There are many types of transportation available in Japan, but today I'll feature a few that are on Gotochi Cards.
Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture features some interesting boats called Hobikisen. They revolutionized the local fishing trade, which before the invention of this boat was a group activity. With the Hobikisen, fishing became an individual activity. I don't have a lot of knowledge about this boat, but this link leads to a rather informative article from The Japan Times that might be of interest.
Lake Ashi in Kanagawa has Pirate Ships! These are tourist boats that cruise up and down the lake with Mt. Fuji in the background. I have been unable to find any English history about them, but this website has some information about the tours and the cruises.
Saga City in Saga Prefecture is host to one of the largest Hot Air Balloon Festivals in the world. This festival has grown from humble beginnings. Wikipedia has a short article on this Fiesta, and a link to the English website.
Sad to say, but this is all that I have time for tonight. I hope you have enjoyed the Gotochi Cards that I have posted tonight. Please check out the other members of the Blog Linky Party to see more great postcards from all over the world.
7 comments:
Always a joy to see, the bright colourful shaped Gotochi cards! Thank you for sharing!
The hobikisen are a beautiful craft, seeing their stunningly white sails float across the lake must be quite a sight.
Thank you! I'm glad that you liked the cards. Sadly, I've never seen any of these in person, but hopefully I will some day.
I agree with Joy, the Hobikisen sound lovely skimming across the water. For me, I would really love to see the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. There is something quite romantic about Hot Air Balloons....maybe I've seen too many movies!
Hi Helen, I was heartbroken for not being able to experience the lake cruise with Mt Fuji at the background during my Nov trip there in Japan last year. I'm looking forward into coming back to try this in the future. Thanks for sharing these gotochi transportation cards from Japan. I'm also keen for a hot air balloon ride.
Thanks Maria! If it makes you feel any better, I've lived for 20 years in Japan and I've never taken that type of cruise! I've done a few of the lake or bay cruises and they are fun, but usually geared towards Japanese tourists rather than English-speaking ones.
I've been up in a hot air balloon once in Canada, but we didn't go anywhere. It was tethered and just to give us a taste for the balloons. I'd love to try it again.
I love the cards you showed, as usual. Gotochi cards are really colourful! I wonder if there are more people collecting them than actually sending them (because it's expensive, isn't it?).
The Hot Air Balloon Festival is something I would like to see one day.
Thank you Eva! I wonder that too. I have quite a large collection of them (obviously) and most of mine were swapped for, not sent directly to me. In the beginning of my Postcrossing time I received a lot of requests from overseas for swaps of Gotochi cards, but I couldn't afford to send them to everyone that wanted them.
These ones are very colourful. There are more than a few though that are quite ugly (IMHO) and boring to look at. Depending on the Link Up topics you may, or may not get to see some later!
Thanks for visiting :-)
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