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Crewman, hotel restaurant boat, Hita, Japan.

The ryokan (Japanese style hotels) along the river in Hita have a fleet of boats, like large covered rafts, that are used as floating dining rooms in the warmer weather.

They are not motorized, but are towed into position by a small, motorized skiff, which also ferries out to diners extra food, and such delicacies as freshly caught and grilled Ayu, a sweet river fish famous in the Hita area.

The crewmen are responsible for controlling the boats in the current, landing and docking the boats, and for passenger safety.

High School Band saxophone players, Kawabiraki festival, Hita, Japan.

These girls are part of their High School Band, and during the festival they walk from hotel to hotel, playing music for the customers at each venue.

The Kawabiraki festival marks the opening of the river season in Hita, including the opening of the Ayu fishing and cormorant fishing seasons.

All Japanese High Schools have extensive brass bands for the students to be a part of.

Hardware store proprietor, Hita, Japan.

This hardware store in Hita, a small city in Oita Prefecture, has been in business for 80 years.

The current owner, pictured, was born above the shop, and took over from his father.

The amount of stock in the shop is almost incomprehensible, and some of it could date back to the beginning of the shop itself.

Train driver, Sapporo to Tokyo night train.

The night train operating between Tokyo and Sapporo, Hokkaido takes about seventeen hours for the journey.

It is equipped with private rooms and luxury suites, in addition to its bunk bed compartments, and ordinary seating.

Train services and systems in Japan are second to none, ranging from the Shinkansen to this beautiful, elegant old train.

The driver will be changed several times, a replacement coming from the sleeper crew cabin that is part of the train.

Tourist tram conductor, Meiji historic park, Hokkaido.

The period immediately after the Meiji restoration in 1868 was marked by a rush to westernize Japan, which had been closed to foreign ideas for the 300 odd years of the Tokugawa Shogunate rule.

Their are many reconstructed Meiji period villages all over Japan, featuring housing and transport from that period.

This woman operates the horse drawn tram car that is an authentic replica of those that appeared throughout Japan at that time.

Rose grower, Saga city, Japan

Hobbyist rose grower, this resident of Saga city has over 100 different species of roses growing in her very compact but very beautiful house front garden.

Onion harvester packing boxes at Kashima, Saga, Japan.

Kashima is very well known as an agricultural area specializing in the growing of brown onions.

When you drive through Kashima in the harvesting season, the air is full of the smell of the newly dug crop, and the fields are full of local people doing the backbreaking work of digging, trimming and packing the bulbs.

Fisherman maintaining his nets, Saga, Japan

This man fishes the Ariake sea, a very shallow, large bay in Kyushu, southern
Japan, borderd by Saga, Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Nagasaki prefectures. It is a well
known source of nori, the seaweed used for sushi rolls, and fiddler crabs.
Fishing in the Ariake is now a precarious occupation, due to the decline of stocks,
some say caused by the many structural changes that have been made to the Ariake's
environment.