The “Three Views of Japan” are just like the Seven Wonders of the World, except they’re all in Japan. And there’s only three of them.

Firstly there’s “Matsushima”, a group of around 260 miniature islands which are all covered in Pine trees (or “matsu”, hence the name). The area is apparently so beautiful that Matsuo Bashō (considered by many the grand master of the haiku) wrote the following:

Matsushima ah!
A-ah, Matsushima, ah!
Matsushima, ah!

Well, perhaps Matsuo Bashō was having an off-day, or maybe he too had only seen Google’s current satellite image – because from up here Matsushima looks like, well, a bunch of tree covered islands.

Our second View is thankfully more exciting, the Torii at Itsukushima Shrine, which has been created in such a way that at high tide it appears to be floating on the surface of the water, and seen from ground level with Mount Misen in the background is a truly spectacular sight.

Not that we’d know of course, as this satellite shot sadly looks a little like a couple of sticks in a pond.

So, onto the final View of Japan! Well, we should be looking at a thin pine-covered sandbar called “Amanohashidate“, except that it isn’t actually on Google Earth yet…

Why bother seeing the world for real? Well, clearly these sights are better seen from the ground, but without the luxury of being able to go to Japan, we recommend that you check out this flickr gallery which really does contain some stunning images of all three of the famous Three Views of Japan.

Thanks to Stephanie and Dan W.

Clearly visible thanks to an enormous shadow, this huge saw in Tokyo looks to be attempting to cut the city in half.

Unfortunately it seems that the person using it has gotten off to a slow start, and must have nipped off for some noodles and a bit of a sit down.

From this ground-level photo you can see that this giant saw really is very big, but also that it’s actually a western-style plain-toothed Crosscut saw, and not a Japanese saw, or “nokogiri”. I wonder why?

Update: Ron Vogel points out that this is actually “Saw, Sawing”, a sculpture by the excellent public artist Claes Oldenburg, whose other works Spoonbridge and Cherry and Dropped Cone have been featured on GSS in the past. Ron also found a kml collection of all of the works by Claes and his wife Coosje van Bruggen, which is well worth checking out.

Thanks to Things in Jars.

This is the absolutely fantastic Rainbow Bridge that crosses Tokyo bay, Tokyo. A 570 metre-long suspension bridge, it has two decks that carry three transportation lines – the Shuto Expressway on the top, and on the bottom, Route 357 and the New Transit Yurikamome.

The Yurikamome is actually an automated guideway transit service, which looks like a monorail, but the carriages run on rubber wheels instead. It’s a fully automated system with no drivers, which carries 100,000 passengers a day to the artificial island of Odaiba. The system has become a tourist attraction in its own right, thanks mainly to the spectacular 270-degree loop which the Rainbow bridge has to make to get the Yurikamome up from ground level. Here’s a recent ground level shot of the loop.

See also our related posts on The Lotus Bridge, a Curly Bridge Over the Seto Inland Sea, Odaiba’s Ferris Wheels, and Utah’s Rainbow Bridge (which actually features in our book too!).

As always, you can read more about Tokyo’s Rainbow Bridge at Wikipedia. Thanks to Bill Kendrick, Terry Foster, Christian Willman, and anyone else who submitted this since I earmarked it for posting… 14 months ago!

Avast Ye! Today, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day an’ we’ve got a barrel-load of piratey-themed sights fer ye landlubbers!

Las Vegas’ Treasure Island be havin’ a daily pirate battle, ‘ere the swashbucklers by defeated by th’ booty-shaking o’ “the sirens o’ ti”. Not yer usual kind o’ booty neither!

Them “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie-films wi’ buccaneer Johnny Depp, they be based on a children’s ride! Those children orta be workin’ the sail and swabbin’ the decks! Arrr!

There be a swashbuckling ship maze on the Isle of Wight! Shiver Me Timbers!

This even be a plane in middle o’ Santa Cruz, ‘ere they be callin’ it ‘Th’ Pirate Plane’! Flyin’ Pirates? Whaterenext!

Be seein’ you also The Pirate Skull of Vegas.

Thanks to these scurvy dogs: Juan Manuel Gil, bruv, Virtual Globetrotting and Munden.

There are about 80 known whale species around the globe, the largest of which is of course the Blue Whale, which can measure up to a massive 30m long.

Such a giant beast should easily be visible on the aerial and satellite photographs of Google Earth, it’s just a matter of finding them…

To start with, there’s definitely a blue whale in this Japanese swimming pool, but I don’t think that counts.

The Route 66 landmark Blue Whale slide is so famous it even appeared in Sega’s King of Route 66 video game. More info.

Outside of UC Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Laboratory there’s an 85-foot long Blue Whale skeleton. The female whale was washed ashore of Pescadero Beach in 1979, after dying of unknown causes.

We’ve still not found any live whales though! Off the coast of Santa Barbara there’s a 10m long grey blob that could resemble a whale, or more likely a shark. Either way it would have to be very close to the surface to be seen so easily. I’m not convinced.

‘Reverence‘ is a sculpture by Jim Sardonis, which depicts two whales seemingly diving into the grass. The tails are each 12-13 foot tall and made of granite. More info.

Back in Japan, and Ueno Park has more than tails – there’s a life size Blue Whale diving into the ground. More info.

And finally, to Argentina, where there could just be real whales.

According to whale expert wildslide these are southern right whales who breed in this area during the months of May and October. Success!

Previously on Google Sightseeing: Whales! and Beached Whale

Thanks: The many people who thought they saw a whale, including: Jonathan_Tronson, FrequentFlyer, danescombe, bagabnoosh, kjfitz, Ralph Mettier, Nick, Jim Morton, Andrew, Rking, Yoshino, Barb, Caraurta, danescombe, Todd Pearson, Andrea from Italy, Nichole, James, A30 & John Hartnup