Age of Discovery

Age of Discovery

[December, 2011] This is a view of sunset in Lisbon.

The monument on the left was built in 1960 to commemorate 500th anniversary of Infante Dom Henrique’s death.

He was a leading figure of Portugal’s powerful era of ‘Discovery’.

I remember that we were taught at school that the Portuguese had reached at Tanegashima and Japanese people learned about guns from them.

From their point of view, Japan was ‘discovered’, I suppose.

In those days, Portugal was one of the most powerful countries in the world, but time has passed and now it has got the image of a small country struggling with its debt.

Well, another time will pass and I am sure the image will change again.