Niigata, part 2: Tourist Mode, TRANSFORM!

~Thanks to all who responded to the challenge in the previous post. I have been informed that the 'carstackers' operate by valet parking or, more accurately, "Easy money!". Speaking of Easy Money, take a look at this ATM I found while cruising around Nagaoka:

Above: If only I'd known about this magical ATM a few weeks ago when I was having money problems! Oh, the anguish that I would not have had to endure, had I only signed up for this ATM's bank. Financial opportunities such as this rarely knock, and...wait, where was I? Ah yes...
~Today's post finishes up my misadventures in Niigata. Shortly after being confused by the aforementioned carstackers, I came across a childrens' slide in the middle of nowhere:

Above: I managed to supress my desire to go down the slide, which was a good thing: there's a reason for that "Do Not Use" yellow tape. As you can see from the picture, the slide goes directly into the road! I can just imagine some stupid gaijin...I mean, stupid kid, sliding down, flying into the street, and being flattened by a truck. Game over, man, game over!

Above: A statue of apparent cultural significance. The text below the statues indicates that at certain times of the day, the statue makes different sounds. Sadly, I didn't get to hear any of these sounds, but it's probably just as well...

Above: Some interesting artwork on the fence in front of the river.

~Next stop was Hakusan Park, a beautiful park in the middle of the city. The park was filled with monuments, cherry trees, gardens, a lake, and a shrine. Here are a few of the more interesting things:

Above: One of a series of large stone monuments found all over the park (and all over Japan, for that matter). The running joke with these is to call them "Tax Stones", because most of them seem to commemorate variatons of the same story: a wicked lord imposes a tax on the peasants; some of them resist and are promptly slaughtered by heavily-armed samurai, only to be honored hundreds of years later with a slab of gray rock.

Above: This scary little guy and his brothers guard the path leading to the shrine in Hakusan Park...

Above: The shrine itself, quite large and impressive. As I was looking around, people were pulling the rope in the middle of the shrine (which rang a bell) and were tossing money into a pool to support the shrine. I felt a bit out of place...but as I said earlier, they really don't care if you walk around and take pictures.

Above: A smaller building off to one side of the shrine. I wonder what this building is for? Does anyone have any ideas?

~To finish up, here's some quasi-Japanglish for you:

Above: Look look look!!! It's Doping Panda and their first album, Dandyism! I say this is 'quasi-Japanglish' because I've seen American bands with stranger names; this is a band title that Dave Barry would appreciate ("Kung Fu Trees"? "Combat Alfalfa"?). Still, Doping Panda gets points for a creative album title.

~That's all for tonight, folks. In a couple of days I'm taking a trip to Sado Island, so I'll take lots of pictures to share with everyone. For now, good night...FROM THE FUTURE!