Route two along the Inland Sea.

Route one connects between Tokyo and Osaka. Route two connects between Osaka and Kitakyushu. The coastal cities located on the north side of the Inland Sea belong to zones around Route 2. This photograph shows a traffic sign on the Route 2. The names of three major cities are on the board. Himeji city is famous for Himeji-jou castle. Kobe city was hit by big earthquake in 1995 and recovered from the damage of the earthquake. Okayama city occupies an important position in railway transportations. From a viewpoint of tourism, Kobe is an independent tourist destination solely, though included in the Inland Sea zones. Himeji too. Meanwhile, we should not require Okayama to be like Kobe or Himeji. Strategically, Okayama should not be a tourist resort but play important roles as a Hub supporting the Inland Sea area.

 I would like to express my sincere condolence to the earthquake victims in Italy.

The Collectors.

A series of rituals accompanying with the 62nd Sengu of Ise shrine are going to reach the final stage in 2013. The Sengu of Ise has been conducted every 20 years since 1300 years ago. The previous 61th Sengu was conducted in 1993 and various memorial goods were sold then. Those memorial goods, I predict, will be promising targets for some kind of collectors. The memorial items sold in 1993, 1973, 1949 (postponed to 1953), 1929, 1909, …… can be found in Yahoo auctions. Perhaps, numbers of specialized collectors may increase in this field. As regards 1993, existence of various telephone cards symbolized the era. In 1973, the time before last, telephone card had not been sold.

 I think 59^th will be interesting segment in particular. In Yahoo auctions, a book on 59^th is sold for 1,000 yen. At least scholars in 22c will pay for it more than future value of 1,000 yen today. Even in the era of search engines, book would still continue being a contemplated existence for scholars related to history.

Ingredients in rice balls sold at convenience stores (2).

Sea tangle takes up a quiet position among the various kinds of ingredient contained in rice balls. As regards its taste, in my opinion, using sea tangle as an ingredient of rice balls is quite difficult, because their seasoning requires very delicate adjustment. For me, most sea tangle in rice balls sold at convenience stores tastes too sweet and every time I occasionally eat them, I feel as if I eat candies. But, if they were sold without strong seasoning, the sales would soon drop. In today’s cookery, the condiments are excessively used and the equilibrium point of sweetness is set too high. In such conditions, subtle difference of the taste of the stuff become under noise level. Innovations in seasoning methods are required.