Adachi-ga-hara 安達ヶ原: Yes! Happy Halloween!

I think it is typically a Japanese gender issue. Ages ago, Japanese mountains or deep forest was off-limit for women. I told you until about 150 years ago, Mt. Oyama 大山 (ASL 1252m) was closed for women (; my post on May 26, 2017). In the middle of Ura-Sandoh 裏参道 hiking route for the peak of Mt. Oyama, there still stands a big notice made of a stone saying “From here no woman is allowed to go forward”. Carefree Japanese old guys are often chatting like “Oh, yeah, that’s because the goddess of a mountain is often ugly, and so they are jealous of women entering in their territory, ha ha ha!” … I assure you, younger generation and women smile embarrassingly when we encounter such casual yesteryear remarks in this “#Me Too” age, even in Japan. But this notion could have some deep-seated something about Japanese traditional femininity, AND general attitude toward nature. This year’s program for Oyama Torch Light Noh Festival 大山薪能 happened to express such thinking in the most refined way. On October 2^nd, 2018, the theatrical troop led by Kanze Kiyokazu 観世清和 performed “Adachi-ga-hara 安達ヶ原,” a story of a witch living in a deep forest.

The ancient notice saying
 “No woman allowed from here” in Mt. Oyama

The drama is based on a legend of a faithful nanny, called Iwate 岩手, for a baby princess who was a daughter of a rich minister in Kyoto. The princess could not speak, even after her 5^th birthday. The parents worried a lot, and asked fortune tellers if there was a remedy. One of them recommended preparing her a meal made of inner organs of a living baby who was still in a womb. The parents were horrified, but ordered the nanny to cook such dish. This power-harassed employee departed Kyoto to procure the ingredient, leaving her daughter in Kyoto with her hand-made talisman. She reached to Adachi-ga-hara that locates in a deep forest of the present-day Fukushima Prefecture 福島県, and decided to stay there until ‘a suitable pregnant woman’ comes to her shabby dwelling. Years’ passed. Iwate became an old woman. One day, a young travelling man with a pregnant wife came to Iwate’s place and asked if they can stay for one night. Iwate was “delighted,” and let them in her hut. Soon the labor of a young wife started. Iwate cheated the young husband to go outside for a while, killed his wife, drug out the baby from the womb, and killed the baby to procure the magic ingredient. When Iwate began clearing-off the crime scene, she noticed the victim wore a familiar looking talisman. That was the thing Iwate hand-made for her baby girl. She realized she killed her daughter and grandkid. Iwate became a human-eating demon from that time on.

This year, Suzukawa River 鈴川 running next to the Oyama Noh Stage had
 really abundant water.

Noh play of Adachi-ga-hara is the after-story for this witch Iwate. Another years passed and a holy yamabushi monk of Yukei Tokoh-boh 阿闍梨裕慶東光坊 came to Iwate’s hut in cold forest after dark. He and his servants lost their way and asked the witch one night stay. She reluctantly allowed them to her hut, and let them see her “ordinary job” of spinning threads (Oh, so Jungian scenery …) while she lamented her “unlucky” and “painful” life. It grew late so that her stock of firewood became thinner. She told them she went in the forest to procure woods, and asked “Never open the door of my bedroom.” The party of the monks said goodnight for Iwate, and began napping. However, a servant of the monk could not resist the temptation to have a peep of the bedroom. (This is another symbolic development!) He slightly opened the door of the chamber and found a pile of human bodies dripping with blood. They were horrorstruck, and ran into the forest panicking. The witch found them escaping after discovering the contents of her bedroom. She was furious and chased them in a supernatural speed. The holy monk recited the mantra of Acala with all his might. Hey, presto, the witch could not trail them anymore. At the top of her voice, she cursed her tormented life and betrayal of male guests who not only forced into her shabby lodging but also saw her secret. She then melted in the dark forest … The end, … a sad story.

The stage on October 2^nd, 2018.

In Noh performance, the main actor (called “Shite” in Noh terminology) plays Iwate, and is expected to express a dramatic contrast between the old woman reluctantly accepted stranger in her domain, and the witch furiously chasing the rude guys for revenge on everything. The costume of the first half is understating greyish kimono called “Ironashi-Karaori” 無紅唐織 with the stylized face mask, named Fukai-no-men 深井の面, representing an elder woman. The performance is done mainly sitting. With the minimum gesture in front of the spindle, Shite by Kanze expressed irritation and hidden menace of a seemingly frail elderly woman. Then, for the second half of the plot, as a female demon, Shite wraps the upper part of Ironashi-Karaori around his waist, and wears Hannya 般若 mask representing female face filled with jealousy and resentment. The performance is a violent dance chasing for the monks. This year in Oyama, Kanze played the latter part in almost Kabuki like craziness in front of the real black pine of Oyama Noh Stage. The agony he expressed at Shite-bashira (the corner of the main stage that connects with corridor like space, Hashigakari) was something of heart-broken … The air of Mt. Oyama was damp and chilly on October 2^nd this year, which made the despair of a cursed woman more real in the forest. 

The Noh stage for Oyama Afuri Shrine.
 The scenery normally painted in the other Noh stages
 is made of real vegetation here.
 This is something.

Adachi-ga-hara, the story of Iwate, is a sort of prototype for female demon in Japanese culture. The tale has a backdrop of shining human city that is Kyoto, and a deep forest where the cussed woman was practically expelled. The tormented witch was swallowed by a cold forest at the end of the play. In contrast, the famous monk went back to the marvelous world of man-kind with a help of Acala. After viewing the play, I had an uneasy feeling of witnessing unfairness for the poor nanny, and for the forest of Oyama. I don’t know why this year Kanze Company chose this play in Mt. Oyama where once we females were off-limit. Deep in the forest of Mt. Oyama  the place once had even a cedar tree that was used for black magic to kill, which was often performed by women (; my post on April 14, 2017) … I don’t think the witch and the forest voluntarily chose to have such experience, oh yeah. If we can say something in the 21^st century, the problem Iwate had could have been avoided if she had said “No” to her abusive employer who ordered her to commit an abominable crime for their benefit. Women of the world, be brave and clarify to the world, No means NO! OK, OK, OK … It’s difficult, but we can do it, yeah. But how about the forest? The connotation of tormented female life and the forest is another creation of Japanese way of thinking. The place can be abused, but would devour us if it wants to ... Is it a perception we hold for such a long time? If so, what would we do for forests in this age of global warming?

The place once had a cedar tree
 specialized in the black magic.
 It was destroyed
 when the Great Kanto Earthquake
 caused a massive landslide here.

If you find an environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121 〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657

Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

Beyond the Sea: Damage in Kanagawa Prefecture by Super Typhoon Trami

Last week, I reported my experience with the forest for coastal erosion control along Shonan Beach 湘南海岸砂防林. It turned out not only the beach front but also inland areas of Kanagawa Prefecture 神奈川県 can be affected by seawater. The case in point: salt damages Super Typhoon Trami brought us on October 1^st, 2018. As a rule of thumb, in the Northern Hemisphere the Coriolis Effect gave the momentum to wind speed in the east of the eye of a storm. Super Typhoon Trami ran almost along the center of Honshu Island 本州, which meant Kanagawa Prefecture was on the east of the eye of Trami, i.e. we had mega punches of storm wind. Yokohama recorded 18.2 m/s of winds, and the Shonan Beach had 24.5 m/s by this typhoon. Not only the power of wind Trami displayed, but also it flung up the seawater and carried it to the inland until the wind hit high mountains that blocked the wind. Moreover, Trami did not bring enough rain water with it. The brine from the sea was not washed away. The results in our forests? We had lots of wringed trees by swirling winds and browned leaves by salt damage. The particles of salt and other minerals in the seawater blocked the pores of broad leaves. Poor leaves were suffocated, and died. Yeah, it’s not only near the sea, but in the inland we can find the effect.

Trees we can find along Hodogaya Bypass 保土ヶ谷バイパス near Yokohama-Machida IC of Tomei Express Way, early October.
 The place is about 14km inlands from the Port of Yokohama,
 beyond the hilly downtown.
 Still, the leaves turned brown.

NiiharuCitizen Forest 新治市民の森 near Yokohama-Machida IC of Tomei Express Way was hard-hit. Some members of Lovers of Niiharu who live right next to the forest went in there next day, and found lots of damages here and there. “Several large trees were uprooted and blocked trekking roads.” “Some bamboo forest became a tangled mess of broken trunks!” “Immature cones of cypresses were blew up and ended up covering the slopes. The route was like a slide with ball-bearings spreading the surface!” “Branches of plum trees were damaged severely …” Now, almost 3 weeks later after the Typhoon, the Lovers of Niiharu still devote the weekend activities to clean up the mess. Broad leaved trees like Quercus acutissima and Quercus serrata have browned and often desiccated outlook, which looks like autumn leaves for uninitiated, but definitely in more tired appearance. When weather is normal, deciduous trees in lower altitude of Kanagawa Prefecture, Yokohama included, change their color in early December. “Er, well, we should not expect bright autumn colors this year …” *Sign*

Wooooooooooooow … an uprooted tree in Niiharu.

Poor Quercus actissima in Niiharu …
 A large branch of this tree was wrung off by the wind.
 We Lovers of Niiharu were relieved that
 no one was hurt by such damages, at least so far …

The Niiharu Lovers are removing a broken tree
 threatening the safety of trekking roads.

For a large, well-rooted tree to be broken in this way,
 strong winds must have been swirling …

The Lovers swept the ball bearing,
 aka cypress cones,
 to the side of the slopes.

Salt-damaged reeds in a biotope of Niiharu.
 In October, they should have been green yet …

“Well, let’s leave the damages off the trekking roads.
 We have already plenty of things to tend!”

Niiharu Citizen Forest is some 14km away from Tokyo Bay 東京湾. Yadoriki Water Source Forest やどりき水源林 on the foot of Mt. Nabewari 鍋割山 is located about 23km inlands from Sagami Bay 相模湾, tucked in mountains of Omote-Tanzawa 表丹沢. Was it spared from the power of the Super Typhoon? Unfortunately, no. The place may have had larger damages than Niiharu. It is reported that Hadano Forestry Road 秦野林道 has new collapses … (That part is now closed.) Tall afforested coniferous trees some 50 or more years’ old were uprooted here and there. Walking trekking routes was literally wading through deep debris of fallen branches to open up the trail. The place had several “Forests of Growing 成長の森” afforested by kids some 10 or so years ago. They were protected by sturdy wire-meshed fences against hungry deer. Their fences were destroyed in several places by the fallen large trees. “We need to mend it ASAP. Otherwise, deer will come in and eat up the kids’ trees.” The slope of mountains were dotted with brownish colors that were not autumn leaves but salt damages. “We cannot expect a beautiful December … *Sigh*”

Few days after the storm,
 the tree behind the admin cottage of Yadoriki had
 yellow leaves of salt damage.
 We hope it can survive …

Beyond Yadoriki Bridge 寄大橋 on Hadano Forestry Road.
 Woooooooooooow.

This is … dramatic.

Destroyed fence.
 The Prefecture has allocated the budget to deal with it.

Believe it or not, ahead of us is a road.

It looks like a beginning of autumn leaves.
 They are not.
 Instead of turning into yellow or red,
 the trees with brownish color here have more desiccated tone.
 They will shed the leaves before December.

The other side of Tanzawa Mountains, there is Doshi Village 道志村. At the moment, National Route 413 (2020 Tokyo Olympics’ course for the road race) is closed around the border of Yamanashi 山梨県 and Kanagawa Prefectures, due to the massive landslide. i.e. Doshi Village had lots of rain with the Super Typhoon. Because of it, or seawater could not reach there? I don’t know. Early October, Japanese Rowan was brightly red in Doshi at ASL 600m. Villagers told me salt damage did not reach to their place. … I now have a renewed awe toward the Mother Nature … People say global warming will bring more frequent monster typhoons to Japan … Would it be difficult for us to expect regular joy of autumn leaves any more?

Early October in Doshi Village, this year.
 Trees are preparing for autumn leaves …

December, several years ago in Yokohama, near my home.
 If the condition turns all right,
 we should be able to enjoy this ...

If you find an environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121 〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657

Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

To the beach: a story of Shonan Seaside Protection Forest 湘南海岸砂防林

As I haven’t experienced the condition of the forest 100 years ago in Tanzawa 丹沢, I cannot say in definite the scree-covered forest floor is due to the crash of Philippines Plate and Eurasian/North American Plates, or because of soil erosion brought by the more recent deer problems. One thing for sure. Forest volunteers are in action for forest management, and feel the absolute power of the nature no matter what. Yeah, humans can annihilate the eco-system by dropping an atomic bomb, or even massive deforestation will cause serious problems. We volunteers are not interested in such things. Ours is thinning, mowing, pruning, in a tiny scale compared with the size of Fossa Magna. What we are doing is like “Hello forest, do you mind us helping you to welcome lots of living creatures, humans included?” We know even after a deep-seated slope failure, the vegetation will come back in mountains. Forests are resilient ... Or, are they? In Kanagawa Prefecture, there is another kind of forests. They are Seaside Protection Forests.

Shonan Seaside Protection Forest 湘南海岸砂防林 on both side of the Route 134

The seaside road, National Route 134 running the opposite shore of Enoshima Island 江の島 (my post on June 30, 2017), was a part of Tokaido 東海道, the most important artillery route connecting Tokyo and Kyoto. (Due to heavy traffic, the 21st Century Tokaido, aka Route 1, uses only partially the ancient parts, and the majority is expressways. Auxiliary national roads running in parallel to Route 1, such as Route 134, were often the former Tokaido.) Historically, during the Tokugawa Shogunate Period 江戸時代, the entire Tokaido was provided with the facilities, such as frequent road maintenance services and post-towns. The route along the coast was pine tree-lined in order to control the tidal erosion and to provide resting places for travelers. The Route 134 joins with Route #1 in the Oiso Town 大磯 where there are the remnants of such system. Having said that, despite of frequent road maintenances, the coastal road, especially between Enoshima and Oiso, has a serious problem even today of salt damage and accereation of sand from the Pacific Ocean. Typhoons and seasonal strong south-west winds between October and April could cover the road with sand, or destroy the entire structure. Do you know the construction work at Seisho Bypass 西湘バイパス in Oiso Town, due to the high-tide damage by a typhoon in October 2017, could continue beyond 2020? Moreover, beach front is always popular for housing and tourism, which makes the Shonan Beach 湘南海岸 a series of big cities, such as Kamakura 鎌倉, Fujisawa 藤沢, Chigasaki 茅ヶ崎, Hiratsuka 平塚, … People demands their laundry salt-free even their condo is within 10 minutes’ walk from the Ocean. Thus, both national and prefectural governments keep on tending the seaside route with providing the measure, i.e. planting the vegetation. 

Construction work is continuing for Seisho Bypass 西湘バイパス

The forest along the beach

The current Seaside Protection Forest of Shonan Beach 湘南海岸砂防林 was first afforested by modern methodology in 1920. Since then, there were the Great Kanto Earthquake with massive tsunamis, World War II when the Japanese military deforested pine trees and made Chigasaki Beach a maneuvering ground, and several big typhoons. Whatever. People have kept on planting. Academics from University of Tokyo, and Yokohama National University chose the flora that could survive on sand. Groynes, sand fence of many kinds, windbreak nets, etc. have been built. At the beginning it was only Japanese black pines and bamboo fences, but for these 100 years, Japanese brains for botany and civil engineering introduced more diversified afforestation with Euonymus japonicas, Japanese cheesewood, and many other plants protected by permanent structure of wire nets as windbreaker. Now, the Seaside Protection Forest is 11.4km long for 85.2ha. Its average width is 80m where more than 15 kinds of plants are intentionally planted by humans.

Afforested forest of Japanese black pines
 along Sodegahama Beach 袖ヶ浜,
 Hiratsuka 平塚

Japanese cheesewood near Nijigahama Beach 虹ケ浜, Hiratsuka 平塚

In addition to the above 3 kinds of trees, carefully chosen species were located along the beach. The list includes Carex kobomugi (ha ha, invasive plants for the USA), Beach morning, Autumn olive, Quercus phillyraeoides, Castanopsis sieboldii, Ilex integra, Machilus thunbergii, Daphniphyllum teijsmannii, Japanese cinnamon, Chinese bayberry, Japanese camellia, Dentropanax trifidus, Ligustrum japonicum, and Phaphiolepis umbellata. The way how they are planted is also controlled based on engineering. First, the grasses such as Carex kobomugi and Beach morning, are planted nearer to the shore to reduce the effect of acceration. Next, shrubby areas are created with Euonymus japonicas, Phaphiolepis umbellata and others. Together with the wind-breaking net behind the shrub, the structure acts as the frontline to protect houses from the shifting sand. Beyond the net is the forest of higher trees, including black pines, of at least 10m high. In the middle of the forest runs the Route 134, almost nestled in the forest. Moreover, planting is just the beginning.

I think they are dried Carex pumila,
 in Southern Beach, Chigasaki 茅ヶ崎.
 (Could you figure out Eboshi-iwa 烏帽子岩 over there?)
 It seems they were just surviving,
 but actually acted as a strong buffer for erosion.

The structure of windbreaker is like this.

Some old bamboo nets are remaining.
 According to Mr. Hiramoto of Kanagawa Prefecture,
 they think
 “It’s better leaving them as such to have as many fences as possible.”

Come to think of it,
 this photo may say something amazing
 about humans and the Ocean …

The next level is for shrubs like Euonymus japonicas. They are all slanted to the leeward
 due to continuously strong sea breeze.

Then there is a “forest” covered by windbreakers.
 Could you see the canopy
 forming a slope from the leeward to the Ocean?
 It’s thanks to the strategic planting.
 This part of the pines in Chigasaki is roughly 30 years old.

Next, people mow and cut the vines to make supposed-to-be tall trees to grow high enough for a better barrier. Also, as the entire Seaside Protection Forest runs along the busy (and fashionable) Route 134 and the residential area, tidying up the outer rim of the forest is the must to prevent the area from forest fires and “aesthetically problematic features.” Black pines are vulnerable to Monochamus alternatus (or pine wilt nematode which the beetle carries). Annual spraying of insecticide is the absolute minimum. Regular cleaning of the forest with fresh water is necessary to wash off the salt from the leaves. When a dry spell attacks, people irrigate the forest of 85 ha. Even with such efforts, die-outs and typhoon damages are not rare so that continuous supply of seedlings is important for replanting. Prefectural and contracted nurseries for the above 17 and more species are deployed within the prefecture. The researchers in Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター are busy creating more resilient black pines against salt, sand, wind, and pests … Supported by such painstaking efforts, the seaside afforestation can protect from salt and sand damage both several meters’ wide of beach spreading windward, and 2-3 hundred meters inland to the direction of leeward. Amazingly, these days some other kinds of broadleaved trees have naturally started to invade into the “80m-wide.” Together with such wild comers the artificially created forests guard the human settlement in Shonan 湘南.

The nursery for black pines at Fujisawa Civil Engineering Office at Shiomidai.
 The Office is actually facing to the Route 134, and circled by condos.
 Here, the officers collect pine cones from the nearby Seaside Protection Forest,
 and grow them to the seedlings, expecting the local pines have better DNA for survival.
 The ground is improved by manure and black soil for the babies which spend their first 5 years here.
 Mr. Hiramoto said
 “Well, they are pampered now, but have to endure far harsher environment later!” Indeed.

The Engineering Office also has an exhibition garden
 for the vegetation the Prefecture plants for the Protection Forest.
 Mr. Hiramoto:
 “This place becomes too much like inland,
 and it cannot receive shifting sand, which is problematic.
 Those grasses in the garden need regular covering by the sand to thrive.
 They are losing the momentum because of over-nutritious environment.”
 Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Natural Environment Conservation Center has
 a nursery of new-breed of pines in Tanzawa.

When we stroll along the Shonan Beach, the forest on the leeward looks “natural.” But the reality is something of human creation. Yeah, after 100 years of struggle, we can now find some “natural invaders” in the forest, including vines, but its conditions are very different from the afforested but “natural” coniferous forests of Tanzawa. One September weekend, I had a chance to volunteer vine cutting at one of those forest blocks in Chigasaki City. Mr. Hiramoto for the Prefecture told us the engineers added black soil and fertilizer before planting to the sand some 50 years ago. Now the pines are taller than 20m. Good, good … but I found the ground inside the forest was sandy nonetheless, and annual spraying inevitably limits the biodiversity with a smaller range of vegetation. I had a conflicting feeling of cutting Paederia scandens and Pueraria montana var. lobata … Oh they were so resilient that can start to grow on yet very sandy soil. But if we allow them to form mantle vegetation by choking off the afforested trees, relentless winds from the Ocean can quickly cover them with lots of sand and salt. They will be killed off soon. The point of forest management in this case is, just let the planted trees to grow, and keep the forest floor modestly populated with the plants that do not hamper the growth of human-introduced plants. Er, well …

Pueraria montana var. lobata is covering
 the artificially planted vegetation
 at this part of the Protection Forest.

The outer rim of the forest shows lots of
 invading Vitis coignetiae and Farfugium japonicum wrapping the afforested Euonymus japonicas.

From outside,
 the Protection Forest looks having a rich forest floor …

But actually the inside is like this.
 It’s far from a “jungle.”

Vines here.
 I found they tend to be vigorous at the edge of the Protection Forest.
 It would be due to enough sunshine …

Volunteers exchanged the gossip about the Shonan Seaside Protection Forest. I learned the City of Hiratsuka and Oiso Town has a problem of homeless housing within the Seaside Forest. The authorities want to let them out, but especially during winter it’s a popular refuge … When I first heard the story, I imagined the forest floor of Tanzawa with vampire leeches … Wrong. Inside of the Seaside Protection Forest has still a limited biodiversity. It’s like a very artificially created park where boulevards are intentionally omitted by planting the trees closely. Yeah, the place would be comfortable to sleep outdoors during winter … It’s a very synthetic, vulnerable man-made forest. Can it survive without heavy human intervention? Another gossip among us was about progression of coastlines. The sandy beach in front of Enoshima Aquarium 江ノ島水族館 was at least more than 20m wider 20-or-so years ago, some locals say. Beaches in Chigasaki and Hiratsuka are regularly receiving sands from Sagami Lake 相模湖, some 30km away in a deep mountain, when the Water Authority of the Prefecture dredges Sagami Dam 相模ダム. The endeavor does not stop the narrowing of Sodegahama Beach 袖ヶ浜 or Southern Beach. When the authority dredges the Oiso Fishing Port 大磯漁港, gigantic pipes are passed over the wall to the neighboring Oiso Beaches. The divers vacuum the bottom of the Port and the gathered sand is spewed off from the pipe to the Beach for sunbathers to relax … Concreted estuary of rivers, in order to prevent floods in the coastal cities, changed the supply route of sands from Tanzawa Mountains via the rivers. People put groynes off the rivers to control the flow. It did not contribute much against the encroaching sea … 

“Over there years ago,
 groyens were built to control the flow of sediments from Sagami River.
 Now we know the tidal structure was changed in definite,
 but there is not much effect for stopping beach erosion.
 Beaches in Hiratsuka these days are shrinking.”

This is Sodegahama Beach, Hiratsuka, now.
 Come to think of it the place looked far wider
 when I was an elementary school kid …

I a kind of understood why the people living along the Shona Beach, next to the Protection Forest, were so “urbanized” This forest is not the forest of Mother Nature. Rather, it’s to resist the force of nature from the Pacific Ocean ... extremely inner-city situation in the guise of “natural forest.” Does human effort win the contest? I doubt it. Rather, rising sea level could overwhelm Japanese tradition of coastline afforestation sooner or later. Global warming ... Not all the forests are resilient, I guess. Though, the planet Earth is almighty.

If you find a problem in Shonan Seaside Protection Forest, please make a contact with

Fujisawa Civil Engineering Office at Shiomidai 藤沢土木事務所汐見台庁舎
1-7 Shiomidai, Chigasaki, 253-0033 〒253-0033　茅ヶ崎市汐見台１－７
Phone: 0467(58)1473
Fax: 0467-58-4953

The Office has an exhibition garden to show the vegetation they plant in the Seaside Protection Forest. The place is open to the public, 24/7. 😄