Yokosuka, a neighboring city of Kamakura

Verny Park
When you get off at JR-Yokosuka Station, you will see a park named 'Verny Park.' The park was named after a French engineer F.L.Verny. It stretches from the east to the west. In the middle of the park there are two busts. One is of Verny's and the other is of a Japanese whose name was Oguri.
Verny came to Japan at the request of the Edo(=current Tokyo) Government to build an arsenal and steel mill in Yokosuka. They existed at the current park. In a memorial hall at the park Verny's achievements are being exhibited. The picture above is the whole scene of Yokosuka Steel Mill. His great grandson visited Yokosuka with his wife. To the right of Verny's bust there stands a bust of Oguri who was a local officer and contributed to the construction of the arsenal.Verny was also assigned to build a western-style-lighthouse in Japan. The picture above is Kannonzaki Lighthouse. Verny's assignment to build lighthouses was succeeded to Richard Henry Brunton whom I introduced in my yahoo blog.
US Navy Base To the west of the park there is a vast naval base of the United States of America. It is not easy to enter the base, so I took pictures from outside. This is a facility named Club Alliance. This is a gate of the US Navy Base in Yokosuka This is another gate. An anchor has been exhibited there.
Mikasa Park is to the west of the US Navy Base. Mikasa was a warship which was built in the United Kingdom. There is a statue of Admiral Togo in front of Mikasa. Mikasa was named after Mt. Mikasa in Nara prefecture.
The ship was built in a city named Barrow in 1899. The red mark shows where Barrow is. In Barrow there is a street named Mikasa St. as the picture above shows. To read detailed informations about Mikasa click here.
Commodore Mattew Calbraith Perry(April 10,1794-March 4, 1858) ; In 1853, United States naval Commodore Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay with his fleet of Black Ships and came ashore at Kurihama, in the southern Yokosuka, leading to the opening of diplomatic and trade relations between Japan and the United States.Perry's bust in front of a memorial hall at Kurihama
A big monument of Commodore Perry's landing on Japan This is a coast of Kurihama on which Perry landed.
 

A big present from my friend in Cleveland

I received a parcel from a postman of Yokohama Asahi Post Office.It was from my American friend 'Bruce Lieber'.There were a card and two T-shirts. His words were very warmhearted.I was pleased to see there were two T-shirts of the Cleveland Indians If I were young, I would have played for the Indians and led them to the world championship.
I'd like to contribute to the international relationship furthermore.

Written and posted by Mitsutoshi Masunari.
Bruce is an American who came to Japan in December last year. I took care of his tour in Yokohama, Kamakura and Tokyo. Since then I have made friends with him.

A special edition as an English speaking tour guide at Kashima Jingu Shrine

On April 13, '11 I went to Kashima City of Ibaraki Prefecture with a Britsh journalist. His name is Jon Mitchell. If you read my blog which was posted last July, you will come accross his name. Yes, he is the man who wrote an article about Kotobukicho of Yokohama in which I appeared as an interviewee. This time I went to Kashima-jingu Shrine as a tour guide and an interpreter. When we arrived at the shrine there were some local guides. Mr. Masayoshi Tsuda took care of us. He said, 'All of the trees in the precinct are naturally grown except this cedar. It was planted in 866.' Kashima-jingu Shrine's main hall which was donated by the second Shogun Hidetada Tokugawa. There was another hall which was donated by Iyeyasu Tokugawa in 1605 after he won the Sekigahara Battle. Heihachiro Togo, the Admiral of the Meiji Era who commaned the Russo-Japanese War wrote the title of the plaque ' Kashima Jingu' which is put on the higher part of the wall. As you may have noticed, Kashima-jingu Shrine enshrine a tutulary god of swords, archery,marshal arts and battles . The god is called 'Takemikazuchi no ookami' who puts a sword ' Futsunomitamano Tsurugi' on a stone so that a catfish can't move. From a picture of the mythology below a stone monument was built.The stone stone is called Kaname-ishi',a key stone which is pivotal to curb earthquakes by holding catfish underneath. This ia a picture of Kaname-ishi, a key stone.The explanation about Kanameishi, the key stone, written in Japanese. However deep people try to dig the ground, they couldn't find the bottom end of the stone. In 1634 Mitsukuni Tokugawa aka Mito Kohmon was curios about this stone and let his subordinate dig here for a week, but finally they abandoned because they sufferred from eczema. They washed their face with the water of Mitarashi Pond in the pricinct, then surprisingly their rashes were cured soon. We stood in front of a key stone 'Kaname-ishi' which is a guardian stone from earthquakes. This is Mitarashi Pond. On the coldest day 'Daikan',180 men and women bathe themselves here to purify their bodies. Mr. Tsuda said this is a power spot. Jon absorbed power from the tree so that he could get an idea for his article. Mr. Tsuda who is a local guide is holding an oblong wooden plate on which his haiku-poem is written. He was a high school teacher of Japanese, so he is good at haiku and tanka. This is a picture of the main gate which was detroyed by the earthquake. It broke the gate of Kashima-jingu Shrine but otherwise there were little damage. A poster of a festival 'Saitosai' which was held on March 9, '11. No wonder the Kashima Antlers is a strong football steam. They have a dependable tutulary god. At a restaurant which serves dishes of eels & catfish The mistress of the restaurant said,'These catfish were swimming comfortably without knowing that there was a big earthquake happenning.

RE
1. In Japan it was believed that catfish live in the ground and cause earthquakes when they struggle
2.In Yokosuka City of Kanagawa Prefecture there is Mikasa Park where Admiral Togo's statue is standing.
P.S.
The Japan Times Article about 'Kanameishi' was published on May 8, 2011.http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110508x2.html

Cherry blossoms are in full bloom at Tsurugaoka-Hachiman-gu Shrine

Today is April 11,'11. Although it is Monday today, there are many people enjoying cherry blossoms in full bloom. This pond has been named Genji-ike Pond. Genji means the Minamotos, the founder of the Kamakura Government's family. 'Ike' means pond in Japanese and its pronunciation is [i:ke].

There is another pond named Heike-ike Pond. Heike means the Tairas. The Tairas were the Minamotos' rival. So, there are fewer cherry trees around this pond.In front of the shrine there is a long avenue of cherry trees.A bride and a groom are being celebrated by sightseers. The bride is wearing a veil, 'tsunokakushi'. You can see the main hall of the shrine in the middle of the red gate.
Engaku-ji Temple's Buddhist priests are thanking for the girl's donation to the hardest hit area in the eastern Japan. Foreign tourists are gradually coming back. I explained to them about what people are doing on the stage(picture below). It is just one month since the Eastern Japan's Big Earthquake of March 11. Shinto-priests are praying for the recovery of the earthquake.