These traditional house gates are always impressive. They are expensive so you don't many this nice outside of rich neighborhoods. The dramatic clouds help.

This gate is huge and looks pretty expensive. The couple who lives here must be pretty well off. It looks nice, doesn't it? I like to take photos of these when I think of it.

Gates, Walls, Japanese Houses

One of the things that is a little strange about Japan when compared to the US is houses and yards. In the US houses usually have a front and a back yard; the back yard is usually private and often surrounded by a privacy fence, while the front yard is usually somewhat public—public in that it is on full display without being blocked by fence or hedge or anything.

In contrast, many Japanese houses consider the yard private and it is surrounded by a thick hedge or high wall hiding it from all eyes. Which you might think is ugly if you've never been here, but it is actually rather nice. One of the reasons for this is that people spend a lot of money making the wall or hedge look nice. Part of that is the gate.

The tree growing over the gate is also a common thing, by the way. A Shinto thing, I think—good luck. You see it on most houses that have yards.

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Copyright © David LaSpina 2018, but almost free to use due to the generous Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. Spiffy! More details here.

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Don't miss the other great photos in the Beautiful Japan photo series!

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	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More?

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