Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Meganebashi - Spectacles Bridge

Meganebashi 眼鏡橋 is a compound word formed of megane (眼 eye + 鏡 mirror) = glasses, and hashi = bridge. It refers to bridges having the shape of a pair of glasses. A famous such bridge is in Nagasaki.

I saw one "spectacles bridge":








There was a group of children playing nearby. It was a nice encounter. They showed me their school books, and gave me jelly bonbons, and plucked up courage to speak English. I am saying that because in most cases Japanese people are characterized by delicate shyness.




One child knew one single word in English: peace!




These beautiful children pinned unforgettable moments in my memory.


2 comments:

  1. A friend sent me a comment:

    "The megane-bashi is also in Tono.
    The megane-bashi in Tono is famous for having become a base of the novel called 'Night on the Galactic Railroad - 銀河鉄道の夜' by Kenji Miyazawa(みやざわ けんじ)."

    Thank you for this piece of information!

    I wrote about this novel in a comment on "Hanamaki Airport" two days ago.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In the photos above there is actually the Misaka Saifon Bashi, Megane-Bashi: 御坂サイフォン橋, めがね橋.

    Quote from the official website of Miki City, Hyogo-ken:
    "Misaka Syphon Bridge (the Spectacles Bridge) -
    British Major General Palmer designed this bridge 110 years ago. Of advanced design for its time, the bridge still transports water for irrigation from the hills across the valley to the rice paddies."

    ReplyDelete

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