After That News Post, Back To Thann, For This View Of The Thur Valley And The Vosges Mountains. On The

Arashio-beya

The quickest way to witness some sumo wrestling is probably to watch a morning practice session in a stable (though we'd probably use the word "club" in Europe). Arashio-beya in Tôkyô is one such stable, with the nearly-daily practice watchable from the street.

On some days, wrestlers may come out to meet the spectators and pose for some photos. This happened on the day I was there.

While researching for this post, it appeared that these two wrestlers may be among the stable's most successful. Arashio-beya was founded in 2002, and has had four wrestlers reach the top division as sekitori. Their first one is retired and now manages the stable, and their second was Wakatakakage, who won their first major tournament in March 2022 - and who probably is pictured left (I'm confident it is him based on other photos, but I'm couching it slightly just in case I'm wrong). Wakatakakage is the youngest of three brothers who all wrestle for Arashio-beya, and one of his brothers is the third sekitori from the stable. The fourth and most recent is Kôtokuzan, probably pictured right.

For someone who knows absolutely nothing about sumo, looking back at that morning, it's neat to think I was in the presence of people who would fulfill their ambitions.

The Osaka Monorail

The final post in this mini-series on the Osaka Expo 70 Commemoration Park is the obvious: how does one get there? Considering the Expo was all about bringing together the world's shared (or non-shared) visions of the future, the Monorail seems perfect! Except this line wasn't launched in time for the Expo - it was a later project, opened in 1990.

The straddle-beam monorail links Osaka Airport to Kadoma, and is due to be extended by the end of the decade. A short branch line pops out just to the East of the Expo 70 Park station, so a visit to the park is also a chance to see some mighty impressive sets of monorail points either side of the station, as the West side (above) also connects to the depot.

Hikone Sawayama: base

Walking North along the railway from Hikone station, one reaches the base of the hiking trail up Sawayama. After passing Nagabayashi Inari-jinja, a typical shrine dedicated to the shintô deity of prosperity with its succession of red torii gates, several temples appear, featuring monuments to two historical figures of Hikone, Ishida Mitsunari and Ii Naomasa. More on them when we reach the top.

This is Ryôtan-ji Sanmon, the "gate to the mountain" which leads us to the grounds of Ryôtan temple and starting the short, sharp climb. As we begin, we are met with more popular Japanese deities: the Shichi-Fukujin, or Seven Lucky Gods.

Apparently Ryôtan-ji has a fantastic zen garden, but we missed it.

"Take the aircraft engine out!" - the AP1-88 hovercraft

The Tim Traveller has just dropped a video about the massive SR.N4 car-carrying cross-channel hovercraft (which got a mention here) on display at Portsmouth, and he notes that there is still an active hovercraft service between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. That reminded me that I had a couple of pictures of that, and I thought I was primed for part 3 of "stick an aircraft engine in it". Two problems though.

First problem, the pictures aren't great. Taken in 2012 from the Mont Saint Michel ferry exiting Portsmouth harbour with my previous camera, which had a less powerful zoom and a lower resolution than my current one. It's still enough, in conjunction with the Wikipedia page on Hovertravel, the company that operates these vehicles, to narrow it down. The hovercraft can only be one of two vessels, the Freedom 90 or the Island Express (squinting at the bow it might be former), but the exact identity matters little. Both are of the same type: an AP1-88 built by the British Hovercraft Corporation, successor to Saunders-Roe who built the big cross-channel model.

And that's where the second problem arises: the AP1-88 is not powered by aircraft engines! It is powered by 4 Diesel engines, making it much quieter and more economical to run, while still capable of reaching 50 knots. It shows that passenger hovercraft transport is possible without gas turbines, and Hovertravel's current fleet consists of two Diesel hovercraft built in 2016 by Griffon.

Nonetheless, chalk up the hovercraft as something I have seen in action!

When I have the inspiration, I stage an Easter Bunny Massacre. Also it's April Fools' Day, so I wanted to post something funny. Lacking inspiration at the moment, I looked back at a previous Easter weekend.

Three castles above Éguisheim

The village of Husseren-les-Châteaux is a peculiar one: at 1.2 km², it is the smallest commune in Southern Alsace, totally surrounded by Éguisheim. Beyond the vineyards, in the hills above the village and on the border with Éguisheim, are three castles, separated by... nothing.

Unlike other places where several castles can be found, such as Andlau or Ribeauvillé, this was only one unit, with the Dagsbourg and Weckmund being extensions of the original Wahlenbourg in the middle. Each section had its own dungeon.

I visited with my sister on a very overcast day two years ago, with low cloud descending on the hills. It made for some moody shots. We weren't alone up there - which was probably helpful! Also we used a car, and the car park isn't far, so it wasn't a creepy hike up or down.

As for the castle itself, it was destroyed during the Six Deniers War in 1466. The Habsburgs intended to conquer Mulhouse, and used the flimsy pretext of a miller being owed six deniers to start the invasion. But Mulhouse found allies in neighbouring Swiss cantons (before the Swiss Confederation was a thing) and won, taking out the fortress of Éguisheim along the way... as well as the miller whose complaint gave the Habsburgs the excuse they were waiting for.

Something you don't see every year down South: ice! And not just a little, some proper icicles on this fountain on Place de la Trinité in Toulouse.

Plus a bit of snow sticking to the ground in the parks, as seen from the Natural History Museum.

How early is too early?

Christmas markets have been a staple of the month of December in Alsace and Germany, and the concept of local specialities and gifts being sold in chalets has spread far and wide. Most are open for around a month, ending on Christmas Eve, maybe pushing a couple of days more.

Japan also has a few markets, and, considering how differently the date is celebrated (New Year is the family holiday), you'd think a Christmas market would be a little something to bring some cosy European atmos to wandering couples in the week or two running up to it.

Holy cow, the 5th of November! That is by a long way the earliest Christmas market I've ever seen! This was the one in Ebisu in 2016, just outside the Skywalk from the station (nowhere near as spectacular as the Mishima Skywalk), opposite a big mall. It was very calm, much less busy than the big shops nearby, which were also already decorated.

Schirmeck castle

Overseeing the valley of Schirmeck, the castle, built for the Bishop of Strasbourg in the 13th century, is a short walk and climb from the town centre. As it was designed to protect a corner of the territory, that's apparently where we get the term: Schirm'eck. It was defeated by the Swedish during the Thirty-Years War, with some of the stone from the ruins being used to build other structures, such as the church.

Today, there's obviously not much of it left, though a square tower was restored and houses a small museum (closed when I visited). The Yoshi art was probably not part of the original episcopal aesthetic...

Neuviller-la-Roche

Quick post today - just a few views of climbing out of the village of Neuviller-la-Roche in late March 2022.