I’m mostly back, but don’t have much time to write. So tonight I’m just going to make a quick post of a couple of pictures. They’re from the Masubuchi Reservoir which is in Kokura-minami and has a couple of dams, a suspension bridge, at least one turtle, and from the numbers of fishermen around, probably a good number of fish.

Again, these are from my bike trip into rural Kitakyushu last week. I think I only have a couple of more post in this series before I get back to the usual randomness. If you haven’t read the previous entries, here are the links: Introduction, Part 1: Snakes, Part 2: Not A Temple, Part 3: Frogs, and Part 4: Farming Grannies.

Actually, there weren’t that many fishermen—I think I saw less than a dozen—but that’s a lot considering how remote the area is and the large number of decent fishing spots between the reservoir and civilization. Plus, what they lacked in numbers they made up for in intensity. For example, this guy is pretty serious about angling.

From a distance it looks like he’s sitting in a one-man dinghy. Up close it’s a different story.

His lower body is underwater, and he propels himself around by kicking his feet. I’d guess that he’s wearing flippers. I’d seen a similar rig earlier in the day, on dry land beside the pond near the pet crematorium. I’d guessed that the guys who were carrying it were going to do some diving practice or somesuch. Little did I know. I’m not sure why he needs three fishing rods, but having a spare or two seems to be standard practice.

I’m also not sure what he’s doing in this part of the reservoir. It’s the furthest upstream, and for some reason the water is brown and muddy. This is in contrast to the opposite side, where the water is clear enough that I was able to see the fish that seemed to be evading the other fisherman. The only lifeforms I could see in the brown part were a turtle and a couple of dead fish, one of which the turtle was dining on. Perhaps the fisherman wanted to be alone—all of the other fishermen were on the other side of the dam, working the clearer waters—or maybe he hoped the murkiness would keep him hidden from from the fish.

[The next post in this series is Rural Kitakyushu: Dammed Rivers]