Thank you for the memories, Olympic and otherwise, Japan! (Photo-essay)

The Tokyo Olympics which many people (including a number of my Japanese friends) didn't want to go ahead -- at least not during a pandemic -- came to a close yesterday.  By the time it did, I had gone from feeling pretty apathetic about it to being grateful for the Olympics at least having given Hong Kongers a number of positive moments to cheer about -- including on the final day of the games which saw cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze win the women’s track cycling sprint competition's bronze medal race -- and in so doing, became the first Hong Kong athlete to win medals in two separate Olympic Games. (Her medal also brought Hong Kong's Tokyo Olympics total medal haul to six -- double the number of medals Team Hong Kong had won in the Summer Olympics between 1952 up to 2016!) 

 

There's a joke going around that Hong Kong did so extraordinarily well at the Tokyo Olympics because Japan is like the second home of many Hong Kongers!  At the very least, I get the definite sense that it's the country many Hong Kongers love to visit most -- and yes, it's definitely my favorite country to visit.  As it so happens, Japan was indeed the last country I visited before the still on-going pandemic put a stop to my travels.  And since I still have photos to share from that last visit (back in October 2019!), here's going ahead and (finally) sharing some of my photos from my visit to Yamaguchi Prefecture's Akiyoshidai plateau and Akiyoshido caves!

 

Misty day view of Akiyoshidai Plateau, 

Japan's largest karst plateau

 

It's underground, in Akiyoshido cave though, that 

the geology gets really visually interesting, spectacular even!

 

The rock formation known as Gankutso --

King of the Cave :b

 

A point in Akiyoshido where a stalactite might one day

join together with the stalagmite

 

I hope this photo gives a sense of how large 

this limestone cave system is!

 

 Is it just me or does it look like there's a roaring lion head

next to the raging underground river there?

Puppet Ponyo posing in front of Hyakumaizara --

the geological formation known as One Hundred Plates

which visually resembles a terraced rice field

 

Truly, if I didn't have to make sure that I'd catch the last bus

of the day out of the area, I'd have stayed way longer

to explore this incredible cave system!