I reported on the Haneda Airport Garden last time, and there is a rather large event space or hall on the first floor of this mall. When I went there, there happened to be an event or exhibition like this.
Can you see it at a glance?
Title of the exhibition is “Japan Heritage“. It is a fairly large number of panels promoting various tourist attractions around Japan.
It was rather deserted event with few visitors, but when I looked into each panel, I found that many of them were arranged from unique angles I had never seen before, and the photos and catch copy were quite elaborate, which I can scarcely expect to see in a so-called tourist guide.
I took some photos instead of writing them down.
In Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, they feature two shrines where the first rays of the dawn sun go straight through the middle of the torii gate twice a year on the vernal and the autumnal equinox. When I saw this, I thought to myself, “Wow, I might want to go there and take some pictures.”
Here’s another one.
The story is that there is a railroad site in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, where a direct train was supposed to run with the Trans-Siberian Railroad across a regular shipping route. “Wow!” Don’t it makes you want to go see?
I’ll leave it at that, but it seems that these “Japanese Heritage” sites are government-supported projects backed by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. I also found this portal site later.
“The Agency for Cultural Affairs recognizes stories that tell the story of our country’s culture and traditions through the historical charm and characteristics of a region as “Japan Heritage” and supports efforts to comprehensively utilize various attractive tangible and intangible cultural properties that are essential for telling the story. We will support efforts to comprehensively utilize various tangible and intangible cultural properties that are essential to telling the story.”
That’s what it says. I see, so the slightly elaborate photography, copywriting, and the rental of this exhibition space are all state-funded. That’s why it’s so subtle and less commercial.
I don’t know how the project itself will turn out. Let’s not get the adult’s intuition that there will be some kind of profit-making or descent from the heavens through registration or certification.
It is a fact that there are more than 100 “Japanese Heritage” stories that have been registered as “valuable” by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and as I mentioned above, some of them are so attractive to me, which is wonderful and gratifying.
I am sure you will find it useful as a reference material for planning your own photo tours around Japan. I must download the pamphlet (available in the portal site above) and study it.
