Tomonoura (鞆の浦) is a small fishing village famous as the location for several films: notably Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ), Wolverine and Detective Mitarai’s Casebook: The Clockwork Current (探偵ミタライの事件簿 星籠の海).
Tomonoura is a very pretty fishing village set against a circular quay – almost like a mini version of Sydney. The visitors centre had lots of information on where the Ponyo and Wolverine filming locations were, but we were able to only visit a few of them as some require a car to access.
Still, we spent a happy two hours exploring the port. There’s a beautiful view of the harbour from the top of the temple and we also saw some stray cats. The streets in town are extremely narrow and can barely fit a bike let alone a car.
We tools photos of the famous lighthouse as featured in the Mitarai movie and there’s even a cardboard cutout of Hiroshi (I shall forever remember him as “Chiaki-Sama” from Nodame Cantabile) next to the lighthouse.
Mention Japan, and a lot of people will associate it with Shinkansen (bullet trains). Trains of various kinds are a major mode of transport both within and across cities.
Nikko is a small town about 2 hours from Tokyo that is famous for the UNESCO World Heritage site consisting of a complex of shrines, temples and shogun mausoleums.
In recent years, Akihabara has become infamous not only as a place where you can buy cheap electronic goods but an epicentre for Japanese otaku culture.
Chris Tham is a co-founder of Visual Voyager Pty Ltd, the Principal Voigtländer Ambassador for Mainline Photographics and a Workshop Instructor for Mainline Photo Academy.
She brings over 35 years of experience as a photographer to her role, starting with a Yashica rangefinder belonging to her dad, joining the Photography Club in school, and developing her own photos.
More recently, Chris has been taking photos during her travels, and as a result has experienced some of the most interesting places in the world.
Chris focuses on nature, street, and urban architecture subjects in her photography.
