[Newsletter] My quest to find the Dragon's Aqueduct of Japan (Patreon)

▶︎ Watch the new video → https://youtu.be/POZZ7i7SH_I

As summer drones on, and the humidity reaches almost comical levels, I am drawn to ever more obscure but fascinating places to wander here in Japan.

This time, it's to an ancient aqueduct hidden in the fecund fields of rural northern Wakayama Prefecture. It has quite a story, even if (like me) you're not normally into things like agricultural engineering.

The story goes that the lands near the Kino River needed an irrigation canal to maximize their output. In the 1700s, some advanced surveying by a renown Edo-era engineer resulted in the Odai Canal.

Part of the canal required the use of an aqueduct. It was named "Tatsu-no-Toi", meaning (depending on how poetically you want to translate it) Dragon's Aqueduct.

I noticed it while looking around Google Maps at something, and it caught my eye. I'm surprised but glad it did.

The original wooden Dragon's Aqueduct was too often destroyed by floods, so in 1919, a new brick and stone one was built. Beloved in the local community, the magnificent structure still proudly stands.

To get there, you have to travel to the least-used station on the JR Wakayama Line. It's called Nishi-Kaseda and is used by fewer than 50 people a day.

When I went, it was an extremely humid day. But I'd become obsessed with this aqueduct, and was on a mission to find it and see it with my own eyes.

It didn't disappoint, and neither did the town itself. Especially if you're a fan of summery insects and explosions of green everywhere. And a glimpse into a tiny speck of a community that's responsible for a lot of Japan's most coveted crops.

It's great fun, seeing something on a map, and then venturing out and taking the time and effort to go there yourself. I felt like this was a true, pure experience. Hope you like it.

Note about the extended version

Patrons at the Travel Lover and higher level have access to the extended version. You may (or may not) notice a change in the video and audio quality in this part.

That's because I'd put my regular camera away, thinking the day was finished. But in fact I'd gotten on the wrong train, and ended up wandering around yet another quirky rural area.

Not knowing how far this unexpected adventure was going to go, I started recorded what happened with my iPhone, rather than dig the camera back out of my bag. And the phone isn't connected to the mic I was wearing, so it's just the phone audio. These things happen when you're in the midst of unplanned circumstances.

▶ TRAVEL LOVERS, PARTNERS, AND MASTERS: Watch the extended 20-minute ad-free version, including taking the wrong train, ending up stranded at another rural little stop, fresh peaches, and a curious orgy of jackals and helicopters → https://patreon.com/posts/134533027

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Everywhere is worth exploring!

–Jeremy