Miyazaki reminds me of southern Ontario in some ways. There are a number of small villages sprinkled throughout the low-lying places, and the hills are low and unpopulated. Small farms abound, and there seem to be too much space devoted to highways and or returning to wilderness. It is also the former honeymoon capital of the country, just as Niagara Falls once was in Canada. So both places are littered with defunct or little-used hotels. But the similarities end with the subtropical nature of the things that grow in southern Kyushu. In the lower left is aloe vera, for pete's sake (which they eat -- it has the consistency of something that you could well imagine being utilized in a skin-care product). I don't even know what most of the other things in this photo are.