This week, we have an image supplied by Elliot. We got last week’s submission correct, though it nearly killed us: Shimla, India, from the parking lot of Christ Church.
First thoughts: Definitely looks Japanese. I wonder if this is Himeji Castle. We’ll see.
Not Himeji Castle, so let’s move on. Gonna start by googling “red pagoda Japan”. Nope, heaps of those. Okay, let’s refine it a bit and look for red “walkways” maybe? Kiyomizu Dera Temple keeps coming up, but those pillars aren’t red all the way down. Maybe we need to chuck “temple” or “buddhism” or “shinto” into the search. Hrm, Byodoin Phoenix Hall looks kinda similar. Let’s explore that.
It looks really similar, especially the bridge. I just can’t figure it out. Yeah, nah, Byodin doesn’t have bannisters like this one does. Onwards! In the background we’ve got a black bridge with red railings, quite elevated. I should be able to find that. Surely there’s a Wikipedia page or a blog with like, every single bridge at a Japanese temple? Surely. Let’s find that. Aha, 36 bridges on Japantravel.com… but none of them are ours. No way it’s the heritage gardens in Oamaru, right? No. Phew.
Shutterstock usually has a great “related images” section but there are just so many red bridges in Japan… jeez. This is gonna be tricky. Doable, though. The Wikipedia page for Japanese bridges has me looking for Itsukushima Shrine. Let’s check that out on google maps.
I reckon we could be looking at the right place, this bridge has the same sort of black staining that we see in the original. I reckon that’s pretty solid proof. Tricky, though, because the original photo conveniently obscures the posts on the bridge, so I was searching for ones with flat railings. I actually skipped over this bridge early on in the search because I didn’t think this photo had the arched wooden beams like we can see in the original (apparently making it a “Moon Bridge”?) but it does, I just didn’t look closely enough. Anyway, here’s a look at the Itsukushima Shrine, and I reckon the original photo was taken from the walkway in the background of this photo from Google Maps street view. Thanks goodness for those stains. I wonder if they’re intentional.
Final Answer: Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima, Japan. Took about an hour.
Want to send in your own picture? Send an email to maps@critic.co.nz and we’ll give it a shot. Correct answers will be published next week.