Awaji Island Keeping traditions alive Best Documentary HD
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Awaji Native name: 淡路島 Awaji-shima
Location-of-Awaji-island-en.png
Map of Awaji Island
Awaji is located in Japan
Awaji
Awaji
Location in Japan
Geography
Location Seto Inland Sea
Coordinates 34°23′N 134°50′ECoordinates: 34°23′N 134°50′E
Area 592.17 km2 (228.64 sq mi)
Length 53 km (32.9 mi)
Width 28 km (17.4 mi)
Highest elevation 606 m (1,988 ft)
Administration
Japan
Prefecture Hyōgo Prefecture
Demographics
Population 157,000 (2005)
Pop. density 265 /km2 (686 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups Japanese
Awaji Island (淡路島? Awaji-shima) is an island in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea between the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. The island has an area of 592.17 square kilometres (228.64 square miles),[1] and is the largest of the Inland Sea's islands.
As a transit between those two islands, Awaji originally means the road to Awa,[2] the historic province bordering the Shikoku side of the Naruto Strait, now part of Tokushima Prefecture The island is separated from Honshū by the Akashi Strait and from Shikoku by the Naruto Strait. Since April 5, 1998, it has been connected to Kobe on Honshū by the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world.[3] Since its completion the Kobe Awaji Naruto Expressway across the island has been the main eastern land link between Honshū and Shikoku. The Naruto whirlpools form in the strait between Naruto, Tokushima and Awaji.[4]
The Nojima Fault, responsible for the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, cuts across the island. A section of the fault was protected and turned into the Nojima Fault Preservation Museum in the Hokudancho Earthquake Memorial Park (北淡町震災記念公園?) to show how the movement in the ground cut across roads, hedges and other installations. Outside of this protected area, the fault zone is less visible.[5] The Onaruto Bridge Memorial Museum (大鳴門橋記念館? Ōnarutokyō Kinenkan) and the Uzushio Science Museum (うずしお科学館? Uzushio Kagakukan) are located near Fukura.[6]
History
According to the creation myth in Shinto, Awaji was the first of the ōyashima islands born from the kami Izanagi and Izanami.[7] Awaji constituted a province between the 7th and the 19th century, Awaji Province, and was a part of Nankaidō. Today the island consists of three municipalities: Awaji, Sumoto and Minamiawaji.
The Awaji Ningyō-Jōruri, a more-than-500-year-old form of traditional puppet theater, or ningyō-jōruri, daily performs several shows in the Awaji Ningyō-Jōruri Hall (人形浄瑠璃館?) in Minamiawaji, Hyōgo in the southern part of the island and is designated an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Japan. The Awaji puppets perform popular traditional dramas but have their origins in religious rituals.[8]
Starting in the 1830s, the local potter Minpei started producing what would be then known as Awaji ware, also known as Minpei ware.
Tadao Ando designed several structures on the island, amidst them the Hompuku-ji water temple (本福寺?)[9][10] and the Awaji Yumebutai,[11][12] both located in Awaji, Hyōgo.
In 1995, this island was the epicenter of the Kobe earthquake, which killed over 5,502 peopl
Earthquake demonstration at Nojima Museum Japan
Nojima Fault Museum is an earthquake memorial near the city of Kobe. On January 17, 1995 the Kansai region was struck by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (aka Kobe Earthquake--Moment magnitude 6.9). Kobe was the most affected.
Nojima Fault Museum preserves the fault along which the earthquake propagated and some buildings that were affected by the earthquake. The Museum is one of the best places to learn about earthquake and its effects.
The video shows the earthquake demonstration area of the museum. Dr Tetsuya Saka and Mr Iiu of Shimane University, and Dr Ranjan Kumar Dahal and Dr Ananta Gajurel of Tribhuvan University participate in the demo.
Places to visit in Japan - Awajishima 淡路島
Awaji Island (淡路島 Awajishima in Japanese) is a not-terribly-large island - about the same size as Singapore - that marks the eastern boundary of the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. Thanks to a set of new bridges and a cross-island expressway, most visitors just zip through on their way from Honshu to Shikoku.
to see
-To see the Naruto whirlpools, stop at the expressway rest area at the southernmost tip of the island near the Onaruto bridge. If you have money to spare, you can take a little boat cruise to see them up close; note that whirlpools only appear when the tide is coming in or out.
- Aside from whirlpools and burial mounds and onions, Awajishima's main claim to fame are its beaches, especially on the more sparsely settled northern coast. They're nothing spectacular by international standards, but a popular nearby summer getaway for Kansai-ites just the same, and Awajishima has many campgrounds that cater to the budget traveller.
-There are also a number of hot springs (onsen), the best known of which are Awaji's largest town Sumoto and the mildly radioactive(!) waters of Iwaya adjacent to the northern bridge.
-The Sumoto Castle [5] requires quite a hike but is a small beautiful castle at the top of a hill and can be seen from all over Sumoto. The view from the top is extraordinary.
-There are two buildings designed by famous Japanese architect Tadao Ando on Awaji Shima: Water Temple [6] and Yume no Butai.
- A section of the Nojima Fault, responsible for the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, preserved at Nojima Fault Preservation Museum.
- The Kiseki no Hoshi Botanical Museum [7]is a beautiful stop on the bus line. There are numerous exhibits indoor and out. It is connected to the Westin Hotel.
-Scattered here and there are a number of herb and biwa (loquat) farms. The southern coast, however, is essentially one long semi-urban sprawl filled with the (stink/scent) of ripening onions; the only breaks in the monotony are a fairly hideous (but huge) concrete statue of the Buddhist deity Kannon and the inevitable Onokoro Amusement Park.
Above information all copy pasted from wikitravel.org Click below for more detailed info.
Earthquake simulator
An earthquake simulator at the Nojima Fault Preservation Museum in Hokudan-cho, Awaji, Japan. The sign says that it re-creates a quake of intensity 7 on the Japanese scale, which is as high as the scale goes.
It didn't feel too bad, though, nor does it look too terrible on screen. I guess not having things flying across the room and the building collapsing around us took away from the realism a bit...
[HD] Awajishima Island / 淡路島
Date: 13 and 14 Feb 2010
Place: Akashi Strait, Nojima Fault Preservation Museum, Sumoto Spa., Kuroiwa Suisenkyo - a Narcissuses Park, Fukura Port and Naruto Strait
撮影日時：2010年2月13・14日
撮影場所：明石海峡、野島断層保存館（北淡震災記念公園）、洲本温泉、黒岩水仙郷、福良港、鳴門海峡
週末、淡路島を縦断しました。
野島断層保存館は、1995年1月17日5時46分に発生した兵庫県南部地震（阪神・淡路大震災）の際に地表に現れた断層を、風化せぬよう保存したものです。
洲本は、旧来からの淡路島の中心地ですね。
黒岩水仙郷は、淡路島南部の海岸沿い斜面にある水仙の群生地域のひとつです。
福良は、淡路島南部の要衝で港町でもあります。鳴門海峡の渦潮観潮船は、淡路島側はこの福良から出ています。