USHIMADO

The day after the rally pack split, some going to Ushimado and some of us going back to Nio to wait out the typhoon, the rally organisers had a problem.  They had a large party planned in Ushimado and half of us were in Nio.  No problem really, they organised a road trip.  The group of us in Nio were to take a car and drive to Ushimado over a hundred miles away and on the island of Honshu while Nio is on Shikoku.  This was only possible because the Japanese had built a series of five major bridges connecting the two islands not too far away from either destination.  The bridges use a few islands as anchor points.  We stopped off at one of these to stretch our legs and take some pictures.  It is amazing that everything runs so efficiently here; they post the train schedules from each direction and highlight the ones that will be crossing within view of the island.  Sure enough you can set your watch to them crossing.  During the road trip we realised the problems of driving in Honshu.  Once we crossed the bridges, we hit a major traffic jam.  But we still arrived in time to do the walking tour around Ushimado and get ready for another fantastic party.  The party was excellent and as it was the end of the rally for some, a very good call by the organisers to get everyone back together again.  We really enjoyed the food and the talk by Mr Furuno.  A lot of us on yachts use this equipment and it was really interesting to hear from one of the founders of the company.  We never realised it was a family business until this talk.  We had a conversation with him later ad were surprised to see how much knowledge he had of the various agents around the world.  He knew the agents personally from Singapore, Australia and the USA, the strengths and weaknesses of their companies etc.  No wonder the company does so well, even at the very top they pay attention to details.   

This is A Stop Off Point Halfway along the bridges where you
can take pictures of the bridges

Pretty Cool On Off Ramp

The train runs on the bridge underneath.  This picture was
supposed to show the trains crossing but some how the camera is not as
efficient as the trains 

Retro Vehicle?  These are not even made by VW but pretty cool

Temple in Ushimado

A parade Float.  Hand carved and very old.  It is
pushed around town every year during the festival