<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/a95e673c-627f-42e4-86ff-44accb66c8c5/26F6209E-B7AF-4166-9314-1417EAA3505D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html" href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html" style="font-size: 11px;">search.japantimes.co.jp</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/search.japantimes.co.jp/img/5D56162C-2457-44F8-B871-E90EB1DA5A4F" alt="News photo" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><FONT size="1"><B>Rocks of Ages: A composite photo of the Oshoro Stone Circle in Otaru, Hokkaido </B> ANDREW KERSHAW</FONT></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><DIV id="writer">By <B><A href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/JTsearch5.cgi?term1=MICHAEL HOFFMAN">MICHAEL HOFFMAN</A></B></DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><P id="paragrah">In 1861 at Oshoro, southwestern Hokkaido, a party of herring fishermen, migrants from Honshu, were laying the foundation for a fishing port when they saw taking shape beneath their shovels a mysterious spectacle — a broad circular arrangement of large rocks, strikingly symmetrical, evidently man-made. What could it be? An Ainu fortress?</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><P id="paragrah">They would have been astonished to learn, as in fact they never did, that the Oshoro Stone Circle is a relic from a time before even war — let alone fortresses — likely existed in Japan.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><P id="paragrah">Oshoro today is part of the city of Otaru, on its western fringe, 20 km from the city center and 60 km west of Sapporo.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/search.japantimes.co.jp/img/CBC9E1BE-5675-466E-8C62-1A7E58B30B47" alt="News photo" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/search.japantimes.co.jp/img/2963C75E-E616-4F4D-B1DF-1F3585DBC0AF" alt="News photo" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/search.japantimes.co.jp/img/B6B155ED-30F6-4D93-BBDF-CF88BA4D6C0F" alt="News photo" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20081214x3.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/search.japantimes.co.jp/img/6763A89F-C8E9-45E7-A117-A45BD3557183" alt="News photo" /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/26F6209E-B7AF-4166-9314-1417EAA3505D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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