Hi there. It’s Mr. Wada back on duty. I would like to share our visit to Miyazaki prefectural government office this time.
Miyazaki Prefectural Government Office: Land of Sunshine in Kyushu!
Miyazaki is known as a Land of Sunshine (sounds familiar? Hehe). Tropical trees stand everywhere in the city. They are the official tree of the city called Phoenix which are originally from Africa. it is said that they are strong to disease and live long.
Outside
This Miyazaki prefectural government office is one of popular sightseeing spots. Since I’ve seen it only on TV, I wanted to take a visit while in Miyazaki.
Visitors are very welcome to enter the building. Camera is allowed as well. Turns out, it is like a part of a tourist spot. We could get information and learn history of Miyazaki etc .
Once you pass through the gate, only getting to the other gate (Edo side) would’ve been the toughest challenge. The officers would check you all head to toe.
Inspection
An interesting fact is that the officers would be way stricter to women from Edo. One reason is men normally would send their families away from Edo before acts of treason. So those especially women would have to have a pass and extra documents to confirm.
See they would even check women’s hair like that. I thought this person (on the left) is just combing the woman’s hair (on the right). It is said that the pass was not required for men but women. Also for people from Western Japan would be able to pass through Hakone Sekisho almost without being checked!
Rooms
Since officers and other employees would have to stay in Hakone Sekisho, there are different rooms for them. See how their lives would be like?
There’s a Hakone Sekisho museum in the same property as well. You could enter with the ticket of Sekisho. Unfortunately camera is not allowed. It’s got lots of materials to tell history of Sekisho.
Lookout
Would anyone tiptoe and pass Hakone Sekisho? Answer is yes, however, it would’ve been challenging. There used to be fences like the great wall (I don’t think it was that big though) which would give sneakers hard times on the hilly mountain road, plus they would be watching 24/7 from the lookout.
As mentioned that guys would be watching from the lookout all the time and on top of that, many villages in Hakone were assigned to report any suspicious acts, so even if you took different routes and avoid Hakone Sekisho, they would still come and get you! (>x<) Terrifying.
Escape!
Lastly
How do you find it? I wasn’t that excited about this place first but the more I knew how it would be like, the more I am interested! Hope it helps.
