The building Is.....

 A train station.

The creature is a kappa, a water sprite.

Tanshimaru Station

This town is east of where we live, nestled at the foot of the Mino Mountain Range. Between the mountains and river is a vast fertile plain.

Tanshimaru has become famous for fruit picking, especially grapes. There are also wineries, I know of one but I think there are others.  There are a lot of places to visit in the area. Each season offers different things, spring there are cherry blossoms, autumn the beautiful leaves. All seasons the view from the foot hills are spectacular.

For the more adventurous there's a hang glider launch site. I've watched people jump off the mountain and glide down to the valley. Even just watching I've found myself holding my breath, hoping that they can find a safe place to land!

The creature being depicted is a Kappa, a water sprite or water demon.  

Kappa watching the trains at the station

The kappa are supernatural creatures that live on land and in water. They are the size of a small child, have a shell on their backs and a bowl of water on their heads that holds their life spirit or supernatural powers. There are tales of kappa harming people but also of them helping people.  Some of the images of the kappa make them look cute and playful but other images make them look like demons. 

Living in this area I've heard about kappa many times, I know they like cucumbers but never really bothered to the read about the stories associated with them.  There are so many different gods, ghosts, supernatural creatures and monsters in Japan, some the legends go back to the earliest settlements in these islands.  Looking for information on kappa I've come across a few interesting web pages.  Christopher has an interest in these things so I can ask him later.

Yesterday I got a call from Hannah. She was on her way home from work, she told me to go out and look at the moon!

Hannah's photo of the full moon

I went out and saw the moon rising, very full and very large. My phone camera doesn't do it justice.

Full moon

One thing with living in the countryside is that there is very little light pollution, the stars were very bright last night!