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Big Buddha

52 Comments

The 120-meter-tall Ushiku Amida Buddha statue looms above the rice fields in Ibaraki Prefecture.

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Kimochi warui

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Cool - great picture.

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It was a good idea building that statue - Gojira hasn't been seen in Ibaraki since they put it up.

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I agree with realist.

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Awesome.

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been there, nice place

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realist why "Kimochi Warui" ? I am not a japanese but I guess it means "How disgusting". Its very nice , isnt it ?

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How old is that statue? Does anybody know? It would have been a good way to keep peasants in order a long time ago. Big Buddha is watching you.

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How old is that statue? Does anybody know?

It's about 15 years old, quite new.

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Interesting pic. It almost looks ghostly.

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This Buddha statue reminds people should eat rice ,vegetables only... and leave all animals alone? awesome picture.

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A very beautiful photo and a very calm Buddha.

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Wow!!! The Ushiku Amida Buddha statue is so giant and watching over the beautiful yellowish field! The residents must be very lucky to live near this awesome statue!

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This is cool! But if I lived near it I would think its alive. But still very cool.

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http://www.ushikukankou.com/ushikudaibutsu.htm

* Weight: 4000 tons * Length of Left Hand: 18.0m * Length of Face: 20.0m * Length of Eye: 2.5m * Length of Mouth: 4.0m * Length of Nose: 1.2m * Length of Ear: 10.0m * Length of the First Finger: 7.0m

Madness!

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oh, and imagine the ghostbusters stomping around in that like they did with the statue of liberty ^_^

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What? Blame the fog for making the statue to appear like a ghost.

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What? Blame the fog for making the statue to appear like a ghost

You haven't seen Ghostbusters, have you?

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The classical statues, such as the Buddha in Kamakura are cool but this 1990's monstrosity in Ushiku is a blot on the landscape. Might not have looked so bad in a big city surrounded by other things but its out in the middle of nowhere, just looks weird to me.

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Wow.....a very beautiful photo. Great job Mr. DAVE MACDONALD. Keep up your photography skills.

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The statue is actually a Buddhist temple, accessible through an elevator in on of the heels. (No joke!)

Also, there is a zoo at the foot (feet?) of the statue that is home to exotic animals like squirrels, rabbits, and goats.

But I agree, it's a nice place to visit.

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is it fog or bad air quality?

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Nice smog there.

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it looks brilliant

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If I were to be living in that house then ..........perhaps it would feel like paradise...........

=======================================================

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is it fog or bad air quality?

Just a lack of contrast due to the distance I would say

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That's massive! The daibutsu in kamakura only measures 14.9 meters. Godzilla 50 meters...the Statue of Liberty a mere 40 meters!

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It definately was a most interesting photo, for so many of us in North America knew nothing about this statue. Which means that photographers will be looking upon other weather, air to times of day to take photos of the statue. Definately quite impressive when one takes is the size alone.

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scary..

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Looks like early morning Fog. Not a bad picture at all.

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Sebarashii:

You forgot about the monkey show!

I live the next town over so I've been there a couple times. Worth visiting but the view while pretty amazing could be better. The slits are so thin to see out of that you can't see as much as you'd like. You can take pictures but they don't come out at all. Still, pretty cool and so random that Ushiku was chosen for it.

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biggest personality cult in history

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How come this isn't promoted more actively? It is a lot bigger than the famous ones in Japan. I had never heard of until now.

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Wow...I've never even heard of this thing. Pretty cool. Nice picture.

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This is a fantastic picture -- well done to the photographer!

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Yoh! tokyochris mah maan! Check this comment out!

http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/rome-restaurantshut-down-after-charging-japanese-tourists-695-euros#comment_338609

I've posted it for another issue, but it fits your case here quite well!

Cheers!

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How come this isn't promoted more actively? It is a lot bigger than the famous ones in Japan. I had never heard of until now.

It's really inconveniently located for visitors. Easy to drive to, hard to train to.

It's sort of in the same category as the Perfect Liberty temple thingy in Osaka, which is another really massive (and really strange) building people outside of Japan - and many in - have never heard of.

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Very cool picture, I wasn't aware there were any giant Budhas in Japan

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Ulisse....... I don't get it? What does any of that have to do with me making a reference to how the ghostbusters stomped around New York in the statue of liberty???

If you think that what I said was disrespectful or ignorant, I'm sorry but I ask that you please have a quiet word with yourself if that's how you view it...

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I think they should outfit this Buddha statue so that it can stomp around Ibaraki, and, if it wants, Tokyo, at will.

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This is about the statue, not racial politics!

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Wow.....a very beautiful photo. Great job Mr. DAVE MACDONALD. Keep up your photography skills.

Are you serious? I was about to lend Mr MacDonald my camera for his future use....:) that was one horrible pic. Seems like it was taken on some disposable cameras...no offence..:)

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In fact, I think they should have Godzilla fight this Buddha statue in the next Godzilla movie:

Godzilla vs Buddha

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I like Sarge

lol, finally Sarge has found his soulmate. Thanks to Buddha.

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Nice picture. Just enough haze to make it appear that Buddha was walking throughout the land.

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I didn’t know about this Buddha, for such a large object it seems to have been a well-kept secret. Even my wife didn’t know about this one (she’s Japanese & likes visiting such places(( as do I)), but she tells me that Japan over the last few years (20ish) have started to build more Buddhas, a Buddhist revival perhaps?

The picture is a good early morning image, but really I would like to see this much more clearly, I think I will do some internet digging and knowing how a certain lady’s mind works plan for a future visit there.

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That picture is intriguing by the way! :-))

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Even Buddha did not care much about religion. If he did, he would have proclaimed or denounced hinduism. He was born in a Hindu family. But he just showed the way to live or something like that. Well said Ulisse. Yes, so much to learn even from Spongebob.

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with that mist it almost looks like a giant is kneeling off in the distance.. i love it!

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I'm not so sure it was built to be a "tourist" attraction. My wife's family is not too far from Ushiku and told us it is part of a cemetery.

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I've been there. It was not as exciting as I thought it would be.

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This statue can be seen clearly from the Ushiku Immigration Detention Center! Hahaha~

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