Hirauchi Kaichu onsen, the tidal pool in which the man and I were poaching, is on Yakushima, an island whose cedar forest earned a spot on Unesco's World Heritage List (and was the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's anime classic "Princess Mononoke").

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The man-made pond, which is in a city-owned forest, is estimated to be 4 to 5 feet deep with a capacity of about 50, 000 gallons.

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This time round, in the constituency of Wyre Forest, just to the south-west of Birmingham, it is a man in a white coat.

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"I joined Man City when they were in the old Second Division and it's the same sort of thing as there is at Forest now, " Taylor told BBC Sport.

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