Harajiri Waterfalls a.k.a Niagara of the East

Hello all . It's been quite some time that I shared about my travel experience here in this blog through the Travel & Living segment. As for today's entry I'll blog about my experience while traveling to Bungo Ono city to visit one of Japan's 100 famous waterfall. Enjoy it!.

Lots of Japan’s summer activities are based around the places such as beaches, amusement parks and other family-oriented tourist attractions. We took the chance to visit a famous waterfall during the Ocean Day (umi no hi) holiday i.e national holiday to celebrate the ocean.

We went to visit one of Japan’s one hundred most picturesque waterfalls and selected as one of Japan's Top 100 Waterfalls. Harajiri Falls (in Japanese --> Harajiri no taki) is said to have formed from the accumulation of lava caused by a huge eruption of Kumamoto prefecture’s Mt. Aso about 90,000 years ago.

+- Masya Allah, what a breathtaking view -+

+- Really impressive view! -+

This waterfall, shaped like a 120-meter wide, 20-meter deep hole in the middle of Ogata plain, provides a powerful view when taken in from above and is majestically grand when seen from below. This waterfall is familiar to many through its pseudonym, “Niagara of the East”. The front of the waterfall can be viewed from the downstream bridge.

+- cuma air je yang berani terjun kat sini -+

+- The upper part of the fall -+

This waterfall is situated at Ogata which is a beautiful town in the country located South-West side of Oita-ken, and there are many tourist attractions in there besides Harajiri Waterfall such as the Miyasako-sekibutsu (Stone Buddha), Sanmiya Shrine, Ogata Mitino-eki and Suisha-dori (Water wheel passage. But we only visited the waterfall as we had other plan on that day.

+- mommy ♥ SN -+

+- SN was a bit cranky due to the hot weather -+

It was scorching hot that day that I have to wear the "gardener's hat" of mine together with the UV umbrella all the time. You may say I'm mengada-ngada bajet puteri lilin, but we were there around 12 noon so you can imagine how hot it is during that time and how 'nice' the sun rays is shining towards us.

+- mak budak yang bajet puteri lilin -+

This 120-meter wide, 20-meter deep waterfall provides a powerful view when taken in from above. There were lots of professional photographers seen taking pictures of the waterfalls when I went to the place. I feel a bit intimidating to stand near to the edge of the cliff so I settle with a pose quite far from the edge while hubby went nearer.

+- si penakut berdiri jauh dari tebing, budak kecik meronta2 nak lepas dari pelukan mommy sebab nak lari-lari kat situ. aiyoyoyo.. bahaya anak oiii -+

+- daddy geram nak gigit pipi budak kecik yang tak reti duduk diam -+

There are also restaurants and local shops selling handicrafts and other fresh product. Near the waterfall there is also a big wooden waterwheel. A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power.

+- syok pulak budak kecik main lari-lari kat depan restoran -+

+- large waterwheel in front of the restaurant -+

There are also a suspension bridge known as Takimi Bridge there but we didn't went on the bridge as our main intention is only to take pictures with it.

+- alamak, ter-blocking pulak suspension bridge -+

+- aaa, gambar ni baru nampak the whole Takimi Bridge -+

Interesting fact about this place is that in the springtime (April) every year there are tulip festival. The rice fields adjacent to Harajiri waterfall blossom into a large quantity of color as 500,000 tulips bloom. But as we went during summer season, the field was planted with paddy and the view of the paddy field brings my memory back to my hometown in Tumpat, Kelantan. The view has successfully made me misses my kampung badly.. sob sob.

+- sawah padi yang menghijau, terus teringat kampung halaman tercinta -+

Japan is still a terrific place for nature observation, despite the concrete jungles having rapidly overtaken most of Japan’s marshes, satoyama landscapes and forests. Do you know that 80% of Japanese land is mountain and 66% of it is covered in forest, and no matter where you are, you can never be more than 100km away from the sea with 2500 km of coast to be explored. I'll share another experience of us visiting other interesting places in Kyushu Island this summer, stay tuned!.

+- SN's family portrait at Harajiri Waterfall -+

#Info of the place gathered from: here

Psssstttt : musim summer kat Jepun adalah lebih panas berbanding dengan cuaca di Malaysia, maka kami harus lebih bertabahlah di bulan puasa nanti.

~ Thanks for reading this (^-*) ~