Street View Page on Japan/Tohoku and Hokkaido


Outline

  1. Street View screen captures
  2. Links to Street View panoramas

3.      TripGeo Street View Animations

  1. Moore's Where to Invade Next

1 Street View Screen Captures

Nebuta Matsuri Festival, Aomori City

Nebuta Matsuri is a festival that happens the first week of August every year in Aomori City, Japan. This festival consists of fireworks, dancing and music throughout the week. But the main draws are the giant illuminated paper floats.

View of Hakodate City from the top of Mt. Hakodate

Lonely Planet Japan describes the view of Hakodate City from the top of Mt. Hakodate as one of the most famous views in Japan. Lonely Planet recommends seeing this view at sunset or after dark so you can see the illuminated city against Hakodate harbor and the Tsugaru Strait.

Sapporo Brewery and Museum in Sapporo

 Sapporo Japan is home to the oldest beers brewed in the country of Japan. Sapporo�s brewery has been up and running since 1876, and has a museum as well where tours are offered. At the end of the tour, you can taste different kinds of Sapporo beer that can�t be found anywhere else in the world. There is also a large dining hall inside as well, here you can find folks eating grilled lamb and vegetables (Ghengis Khan) and drinking plenty of Sapporo.

2 Links to Street View Panoramas

Insert three links with descriptions to Street View Panoramas here.

Example-1: Nebuta Matsuri festival, Aomori City https://mapstreetview.com/#oazav_2bsqjd_1d.h_6907

Example-2: View of Hakodate City from Mt. Hakodate https://mapstreetview.com/#ov1mg_2brrg1_3p.0_-j507

Example-3: Sapporo Brewery and Museum, Sapporo https://mapstreetview.com/#pmt7v_2c5pg4_8z.0_7807 

3 TripGeo Streetview Player

Route from Aomori Museum of Art to Ringobako

Link- https://www.mapchannels.com/routemaps2/routemap200.htm?saddr=Aomori%20Museum%20of%20Art%20Aomori%20Japan&daddr=Ringbako%20Aomori%20Japan&maptype=2&units=2&z=15&fi=50&fs=1&refresh=3&timeout=300&draggable=0&sw=240&svc=0&svz=2&atw=160&fgc=000000&bgc=CCCCCC&rc=FF0000&rw=3&ro=0.7

This streetview animation takes us between the Aomori Museum of Art and Ringbako in Aomori City. This route gives us an idea of what residential and business areas in the city look like. The final destination is Ringbako, this is a restaurant in Aomori where guests are entertained by musicians playing the shamisen.

 

 

Route from Mt. Hakodate to the Hakodate Museum of Northern Peoples

 

 

Link- https://www.mapchannels.com/routemaps2/routemap200.htm?saddr=Hakodate%20Yama%20Hakodate%20Japan&daddr=Hakodate%20Museum%20of%20Northern%20Peoples%20Hakodate20Japan&maptype=2&units=2&z=15&fi=50&fs=1&refresh=3&timeout=300&draggable=0&sw=240&svc=0&svz=2&atw=160&fgc=000000&bgc=CCCCCC&rc=FF0000&rw=3&ro=0.7

 

The island of Hokkaido is romanticized as the wilderness or last frontier of Japan. I chose this streetview route from the peak of Mt. Hakodate to the Hakodate Museum of Northern Peoples to show just how quickly one can go from driving on a rural mountain road to a busy city area. Interestingly enough, when people began coming to Japan from China and the Korean peninsula thousands of years ago, there were actual people already inhabiting the Japanese islands in the North who were called Ainu. The Japanese use to call the island of Hokkaido, Ezo and referred to the Ainu people who lived here as barbarians. Not much of the Ainu people or their culture remain, but recently Japan has agreed to recognize the Ainu as an indigenous people in Japan, and steps have been taken to preserve what is left of their culture. I would very much like to better understand the Ainu and what their way of life was like.

 

Sapporo Clock Tower to the Sapporo TV Tower

 

 

Link- Route Map and Directions: Sapporo Clock Tower Sapporo Japan to Sapporo TV Tower Sapporo Japan

 

Sapporo is the largest city on the island of Hokkaido, and the 5th largest city in Japan. Two of this cities most iconic sites (other than the brewery) are the Sapporo Clock Tower and the Sapporo TV Tower. As you can see from the screenshot above, when Sapporo was being built the city was based off of a North American city grid system. Sapporo even has its own version of Central Park in the middle.

 

 


 

4 Moore's Where to Invade Next

Moore's documentary is politically polarizing. Conservative columnists, such as Armon White, are sharply critical of the movie. First, comment on the validity of White's negative review. Then, putting aside politics, what can the movie show us about the value of travel in understanding our own country.

Armon White�s review of this documentary was just as partisan as the movie he was complaining about. Mr. White may feel like Michael Moore is unfairly comparing the U.S. to nations in Europe, White can still be proud to be a U.S. citizen and still admit that there are things that the U.S. needs to work on and improve. Politics aside, this movie can give us a better look at how other countries handle things like crime, how they run their prisons, and how other countries feel about gun laws. All of which are things that can be hot topics here in the U.S.


Submitted by Davis Clouse on April 4, 2019.