Gate Tower Building With a Highway Through it

One of the most curious building in Japan is the Gate Tower Building in Osaka, Japan. The 5th, 6th and 7th floors of this 16-story office building is occupied by an express highway - passing right through the building. On the building's floor information board on the ground floor, the tenants for the three floors are listed as the Hanshin Expressway. You can’t alight there tough as the elevator skips from the 4th floor to straight to the 8th.

The Gate Tower Building is actually the result of an unusual compromise between the land owner and the Japanese government. The land has been occupied by a wood and charcoal processing company since the early Meiji period, but the gradual move to other sources of fuel resulted in the deterioration of those company buildings. In 1983, the redevelopment of the area was decided upon, but building permits were refused because the highway was already being planned to be built over this land. The property rights' holders refused to give up, and negotiated with the Hanshin Expressway corporation for approximately 5 years to reach the current solution.

Aside from the intrusive highway, business at the Gate Tower Building is almost normal. The highway does not make contact with the building, and a structure surrounding the highway keeps noise and vibration out.

Seagaia Ocean Dome: An Artificial Beach in Japan

Aritificial beaches are gaining popularity all over the world. We can see them in Monaco, Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin, Rotterdam, Toronto and others, but the biggest among them is Seagaia Ocean Dome in Miyazaki, Japan.

The Ocean Dome, which was a part of the Sheraton Seagaia Resort, measures 300 meters in length and 100 meters in width, sported a fake flame-spitting volcano, artificial sand, artificial palm trees and the world's largest retractable roof, which provided a permanently blue sky even on a rainy day. The air temperature was always held at around 30 degrees Celsius and the water at around 28. The volcano becomes active every 15 minutes and spews fire every hour, and incredible waves lashes the beach for surfers’ delight.

The beach can accommodate 10,000 tourists, and the kicker is that there's an actual beach only 300 meters away.

It opened in 1993, and visitor numbers peaked in 1995 at 1.25 million a year.

Naqsh-i Rustam: Colossal Tombs of Persian Kings

About 12 km northwest of the Iranian city of Persepolis, lies a rocky hill. Engraved on the almost perpendicular façade of the hill, at a considerable height, are rich ornamented reliefs dedicated to the Achaemenid kings belonging to the early first millennium BCE. This area is known as Naqsh-e Rustam, and also as Necropolis.

Naqsh-i Rustam (the Throne of Rustam, in English) was considered a sacred mountain range in the Elamite periods. The façades of Naqsh-i Rustam became the burial site for four Achaemenid rulers and their families in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, as well as a major center of sacrifice and celebration during the Sasanian period between the third and seventh century CE

The oldest relief at Naqsh-i Rustam is severely damaged and dates to c. 1000 BC. It depicts a faint image of a man with unusual head-gear and is thought to be Elamite in origin. The depiction is part of a larger mural, most of which was removed at the command of Bahram II. The man with the unusual cap gives the site its name, Naqsh-e Rostam, "Picture of Rostam", because the relief was locally believed to be a depiction of the mythical hero Rostam.

The tombs are known locally as the 'Persian crosses', after the shape of the facades of the tombs. The entrance to each tomb is at the center of each cross, which opens onto to a small chamber, where the king lay in a sarcophagus. The horizontal beam of each of the tomb's facades is believed to be a replica of the entrance of the palace at Persepolis.

One of the tombs is explicitly identified by an accompanying inscription to be the tomb of Darius I the Great (c. 522-486 BC). The other three tombs are believed to be those of Xerxes I (c. 486-465 BC), Artaxerxes I (c. 465-424 BC), and Darius II (c. 423-404 BC) respectively. A fifth unfinished one might be that of Artaxerxes III, who reigned at the longest two years, but is more likely that of Darius III (c. 336-330 BC), last of the Achaemenid dynasts.

The tombs were looted following the conquest of the Achaemenid empire by Alexander the Great.

Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach

Punalu'u Beach Park is the most famous black sand beach on the Big Island of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The beach’s black sand is made of basalt and created by lava flowing into the ocean which explodes as it reaches the ocean and cools. Punaluʻu is frequented by endangered Hawksbill and Green turtles, which can often be seen basking on the black sand. This is a perfect place to enjoy the scenery, explore the black sand beach, watch the sea turtles, and swim or snorkel. Swimming is dangerous as the area is very rocky. Instead, you can also spread out a blanket under a towering coconut tree for a midday picnic or afternoon siesta, or sit for hours watching the action in the park's beautiful freshwater fish pond.

The beach has a large amount of underground fresh water that flows in it. This fresh water is very cold and looks almost like gasoline mixing with the water. Legend has it that in the time of drought, the ancient Hawaiians living in the area would dive underwater with a jug to get their fresh water.

Punalu'u Beach Park is located off Hwy 11 on Puna district's south shore, south of the town of Hilo.

Africa From Above: By George Steinmetz

Best known for his exploration photography, George Steinmetz, spent ten years flying above the African landscape in a gas-powered paraglider, engine and propeller strapped to his back, camera in both hands. This experimental aircraft enables him to capture unique images of the world, inaccessible by traditional aircraft and most other modes of transportation. His expeditions culminated in a gorgeous book – his first - called African Air.

George Steinmetz is a regular contributor to National Geographic and GEO Magazines in Germany. He has explored subjects ranging from the remotest stretches of Arabia's Empty Quarter to the unknown tree people of Irian Jaya.

Born in Beverly Hills in 1957, George graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Geophysics. He began his career in photography after hitchhiking through Africa for 28 months. George has won numerous awards for photography during his 25-year career, including two first prizes in science and technology from World Press Photo. He has also won awards and citations from Pictures of the Year, Overseas Press Club and Life Magazine's Alfred Eisenstadt Awards.

Evoking a scene from biblical times, caravans arrive at the salt mines of Lake Asele, 381 feet below sea level. For centuries salt blocks, called amole, were used throughout Ethiopia as money.

Workers at Lake Afrera process raw salt. Production was temporarily halted last year when a volcano in neighboring Eritrea erupted, blanketing the salt in ash.

At a salt-extraction facility in northern Ethiopia, briny water is pumped from hypersalty Lake Afrera into evaporation ponds.

Ancient lava flows near the Awash River in Ethiopia resemble the vertebrae of a fossilized beast.

Sulfur and algae turn hot springs into pools of living color. The water is condensation from hot gases rising from magma chambers. As the water evaporates, salts and minerals form a vivid crust.

Groundwater heated to boiling goes up in steam at a geyser field northwest of Lake Abbe.

A lake of lava bubbles atop Erta Ale, the region's most active volcano.

Restless faults have tilted these massive slabs of bedrock like dominoes. One of the canyons provides a highway corridor for truck traffic moving between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Sculpted by winds that consistently blow from east to west, sand dunes called barchans migrate across an ancient seafloor, rising about six feet and spreading 20 to 30 feet across.

Ramparts of salt, mud, and potash, some 80 feet tall, rise above a maze of canyons and crags on the flank of Dallol Mountain. The tortuous shapes are the work of storms and flash floods.

Spires called travertine chimneys are fashioned by mineral-bearing vapor rising from underground magma chambers. As the vapor evaporates, it deposits minerals around each vent.

Djibouti's Lake Assal is one of the world's saltiest lakes. Intense heat and strong winds fuel rapid evaporation, leaving a bathtub ring of minerals around the lake's shore.

Lake Assal marks Africa's lowest point, 512 feet below sea level. A Djibouti-based salt-production company calls the lake the "largest undeveloped salt reserve in the world."

Matchstick Sculptures by David Mach

Scottish sculptor and installation artist David Mach's  artistic style is based on assemblages of common household objects including newspapers, car tires, matchsticks and coat hangers. Many of his installations are temporary and constructed in public spaces. For example, one of his early sculptures Adding Fuel to the Fire, was assembled from an old truck and several cars surrounded by about 100 tons of magazines. Another sculpture exhibited in London in 1983 consisted of some 6000 car tires arranged as a lifesize replica of a Polaris submarine.

In the early 1980s Mach started to create smaller-scale works assembled using thousands of matchsticks pressed into a clay mold to form the likeness of Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Mahatma Gandhi and Ben Kingsley, among others. Mach uses Japanese matchsticks because their heads come in all sorts of different colors. After accidentally setting fire to one of these heads, Mach now often ignites his match pieces as a form of performance art.