Images: Some Old Imperial Japan Banknotes

These Photos Are Not For Printing

 

 

So, they were tweaked a little, just in case any criminals are out there.

Most people, including the missus, say the notes are worthless.

Front view of a 1938 50 Sen Note

Identified by the views of sun shining on Mt. Fuji and cherry blossoms.

 Backside of 1938 50 Sen Note

Here's a 1942 50 Sen Note

The Yasukini Shrine, torii and, bird in flight are identifying marks.

Rear view of 1942 50 Sen Note

 

 

What's the Value of Two 50 Sen Notes ?

 

 

Back in those days, they added up to a grand total of One Yen.

Only a serious collector, would put any value on them today.

To find out what any coin or bank note, around the globe, is worth, go here.

You could have some old money worth millions !

Banknote World is a great resource for identification.

CoinQuest is a site, strictly for evaluating coins.

One character, spotted on Ebay, was asking $27.50 for one of these worthless bills ! 

Is that clever or, what ?

Nisshudo Cave in Kin Town is Where It's At (15 Photos)

The Starting Point

 

The day began here.  When I asked if I could tour the caves with a camera.

That's how I discovered I needed to make an appointment.

 2PM was the next available tour so, I said I'd be back.

Arriving early, I shot some photos of sake bottles, to kill time.

I figured there would be a big crowd of tourists.

Taking photos in a cave, with people moving around, isn't much fun.

But, I got lucky. Nobody else showed up.

It got me thinking, if the gal who drove me would leave, I could have the whole place to myself.

She flipped on the light switch and left, saying, "Come back this way when you're done."

Maybe, that's because, I think too loud.

All by myself, down there I went.

Man, I was happier than a kid turned loose in a toy store.

They have more sake bottles stored in there than anyplace I've ever been.

It would be a good idea to go back and ask them, how many are kept in there.

Thousands, would be my guess.

Maybe, there are tens of thousands.  I don't really know.

But, I know I fall asleep just singing 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

So, you really don't want to see me count sake bottles.

One spot in the caves, had a place where people left offerings of coins.

That made me remember, I needed to find a coffee machine so, back up, I went.

You could get lost in there, if you don't follow the arrows on the floor.

The gal who drove me there was sweeping the cave entrance when I returned.

So, I told her to take her time and shot this sign on the way back out.

This cave, I've photographed and written about before at CNN Travel and TripAdvisor.

But, today's excursion, was through a part I have never seen before.

There will be plenty coming on this gem of a cave.

I have to go back and get all the information and, shoot some more.

It's only a few minutes walk, from my office !



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Going Down How I Gotter Dun.  You Can Getter Dun Too

KABOOM ! 2012 Arrived Y'all. So, HAPPY NEW YEAR !

OK this isn't exactly how it went.

Last night I was having way too much fun to be fooling around with my camera.

So I dug this kaboom photo up from my stockpiles.

To the best of my recollections the sayonara party for 2011 was a blast.

People were singing, drinking, dancing, laughing and running to the powder room.

There was one guy I hadn't seen in years, an old friend, who showed up.

Once, after a barroom brawl, he sewed this man's finger back together while we were sitting at the bar drinking.  I can't tell you his name because he's a dentist.  They're probably not supposed to do those sort of things and I'd hate to see him get in trouble.  Don't you think the dentist or finger-sewing union would have something to say about that ?

The Old Year left.  The New Year showed up, right on time.

We didn't have any fireworks because somebody forgot to buy them.  I think it was me.

So, everybody just said, Happy New Year.

Then, started singing, drinking, dancing, laughing, maybe, some kissing and running to the powder room, again.

Around 4 in the morning I sneaked off to a dark corner of the bar to make sure nobody was sleeping on the sofa.  Then, that's what I did.

Somebody woke me up when it was closing time.  There were five or six of us left in the bar.

New Year's Day is when we make our visit to the temple.

We have a routine.  Everybody, who can walk, goes to the temple when we close the bar on New Year's day.

The photo above was taken New Year's Day of 2011.

There wasn't any crowd trying to get in at 6:30 this morning.

Only four people were ahead of us this year so, we got right up there.

Mr. T, my old friend who would make a superb emergency medical technician but became a dentist instead, was fumbling around in his wallet.  I think he was looking for coins.

So, I gave him some pocket change.  He stopped fumbling.

When you go up the temple stairs, you don't really go inside the place.

On the front porch you stop.

People pray or make wishes for the New Year.

There are boxes you toss coins into and boxes full of paper fortunes.

We tossed our coins, grabbed our fortunes and got off the temple porch to read them.

Everybody got good ones this year, I think.

If you get a bad one, you tie it to a tree.  Some people go back and try to get a better fortune and keep tossing coins until they do.  I think they are nuts.  Slot machine owners and temple keepers probably love those kinds of people.  Hah !

My fortune for 2012 is excellent so I stuck it in my wallet.   I'll read it later, whenever I find my wallet.

We went across the street from the temple to sit in a tent and eat some soba.

OKINAWA SOBA is some great food.

Sometimes, I call it Okinawa Sober 'cuz that's what it does for me.

It was daylight before we got home.  The dogs were jumping around at the door.

They helped me put their harnesses on and they took me for our first 2012 walk on the beach.

We had to hurry back up the hill to the house because I forgot to turn off the porch light and I had to use the powder room so bad, I almost went KABOOM.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

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