It was a beautiful, beautiful, gorgeous day. The air was fresh and breezy, the sky was blue and I really can't believe it is the last day of July. Surely Japan was a lot hotter when I left last year??
There is a mountain called Sangane-san in Hazu. It is about 330m high, so not so high at all. But the view from the mountain towards the sea, hmmm yum yum. On a sunny day like this, you can see the two peninsulars in the distance. Every thing is still, everything moves slowly, and I get hungry. So I turn around towards the mountain.
And that's when I see all these random statues built on top of the mountain. Whooooo. These statues and memorials, were, in fact, built without any permission and are actually illegal. They were placed there in memory of the soldiers who died during WW2. And there are hundreds of them. There is even a Kannon goddess shrine called 'Phillipine-kannon', which is there to ease the spirits of the soldiers (japanese soldiers) who fought in the Phillipines. The problem here is that they were all built by the people who truly truly believe Japan was not wrong. Drive down the road for another 3minutes, and you will find the memorial of one of the most serious war criminal of WW2.
I am in no position to comment on this. Except that it is probably the only thing that freaks me out in this picturesque village. The worst thing is that most people in this town don't even know that these things exist on top of the mountain. whoa.
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