Chūgoku Trip: Days 7 and 8 ４月２４日と２５日

Day 6

My last full day in the Inland Sea (nay, in Japan itself) began with another Japanese-style breakfast at the Hostel Setoda Tarumi Onsen, following which I checked out and was given a lift by one of the owners to Setoda 瀬戸田, the port town for the island of Ikuchi-jima 生口島. It was only around 9 in the morning, and I wasn't ready to return to the mainland just yet:

Setoda has a couple of sightseeing attractions, and after stowing my bag in a locker at the ferry terminal, off I went down what passed for the town's main street, somewhat quiet at this hour of the day (and it didn't pick up much, either, as the day went on):

Setoda's main claim to fame is what has to be Japan's oddest temple, Kōsan-ji 耕三時. The story behind this place lies with Kanemoto Fukumatsu 金本福松. Kanemoto became a wealthy man in the 1920's by manufacturing steel tubes, mainly for use in weapons. However, he seemingly lost his faculties when his mother died, devoting himself to building a temple in her honor, Kōsan-ji, which opened in 1936. But Kōsan-ji wouldn't just be any old temple - Kanemoto had it filled with halls, towers, gates, caves and statues, many of which were modeled on famous temple structures throughout Japan. From the colorful front gate on, the visitor knows they are in for something different here:

This five-story pagoda houses the remains of Kanemoto's beloved mother:

In some cases, Kanemoto didn't just imitate something well-known, he actually had additional details put in, as with this facsimile of Nikkō's 日光 already over-the-top Yōmei-mon gate 陽明門:

The main temple building:

To the right of the above hall is the Sembutsudō 千仏洞, the "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas". You first walk through an underground tunnel showing you the tortures of eternal damnation that await the sinners...:

...before coming through a series of dark hallways filled with Buddha statues...:

...before finally emerging to face a 15 meter (49 feet)-high statue of Kannon 観音, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. It's quite a trip:

From Kannon-sama, it's a short walk to the Hill of Hope 未来心の丘, filled with strange marble statues and great views overlooking Setoda:

Kōsan-ji's most interesting attraction is Kanemoto's mother's vacation home, Chōseikaku 潮聲閣. Part of the house is a traditional Japanese wooden-style building...:

...but with an early-20th century Western-inspired structure grafted on. The sitting room in the Western wing had furniture imported from China:

So did Kanemoto, the good son, go bonkers when his mother passed on? Considering the admission fee of ¥1200 ($15 - and worth every yen, by the way), the countless paying customers who show up throughout the year and the fact that religious income in Japan is tax-free (as it is in many other countries), I strongly suspect that there may have been a method in Kanemoto's madness.

Setoda's other main attraction is of a much more refined character. The Hirayama Ikuo Museum of Art 平山郁夫美術館 showcases the works of one of Japan's most well-known modern-day painters (and a native of Setoda). Hirayama is best noted for his Silk Road sketches and paintings, but I was most impressed with his Holocaust at Hiroshima - Hirayama was going to junior high school in Hiroshima 広島 and witnessed the dropping of the atomic bomb:

http://red.ap.teacup.com/tengaifubunroku/128.html

Throughout Ikuchi-jima, there are signs showing visitors the spots from which Hirayama made his many sketches. After the museum, I set off in search of one of them, the view of Setoda and the Inland Sea 瀬戸内海 from behind the pagoda at Kōjō-ji Temple 向上時, which was itself pretty attractive:

Found it:

All that sightseeing served to work up a healthy appetite, so I came down from the hill and looked for something to eat along the still-quiet shōtengai 商店街. I soon found it in the form of the sushi set meal 寿司定職 at a place called Keima 桂馬. This is what could be had for a mere ¥1200 (not including the bottle of Asahi Super Dry アサヒスーパードライ, of course):

Who says Japan is an expensive travel destination? Ethnocentric travelers who think all of Asia should cost as much as it does on the stops along the Banana Pancake Trail, that's who.

A last walk around the port area (that's Kōneshima Island 高根島 in the background), before retrieving my bag and taking the 2pm ferry to Mihara 三原, where I arrived 28 minutes later:

Mihara is small industrial city, with a population of 103,000, located in Hiroshima Prefecture 広島県. You won't find it mentioned in any English-language guidebooks except as a transport connection (in addition to Inland Sea ferries, the bullet train 新幹線 makes stops there), and I doubt Japanese-language guides give it much thought, either. So why did I choose to stay there? Mainly because I needed to be at Hiroshima Airport 広島空港 for check-in starting at 7:00 the next morning, and Mihara had a very convenient bus leaving at 6:20 am, arriving there 38 minutes later. Also, after three days without access to a computer while staying in Onomichi 尾道 and Setoda, I figured Mihara would have an Internet cafe. I figured right.

 Mihara as it looked in the days of olde

So what was there to see and do in Mihara, other than kill time by checking one's email? A lot more than I had expected, as it turned out. After checking in and dropping off my bag the Mihara Terminal Hotel 三原ターミナルホテル, I went out to have a look and very soon came across a signboard outlining a hiking path on a mountain called Sakura-yama 桜山, looming behind the schools across the street from the hotel. Despite having left my hiking boots, bottle of water and towel back in my room, I couldn't resist the siren song of the mountain goddess, and it wasn't long before I found the start of the trail:

The sign asks that you kindly close the gate behind you so as not to let any wild boar 猪 or stray dogs 野犬 loose upon the neighborhood. If that wasn't worrisome enough, someone put this up by the spot where the path started to climb up the mountain:

Fortunately, the only wild creatures I encountered on the way to the top were mosquitoes. It only took 15 minutes to reach the 183-meter (600 feet) summit, where there were good views to be had:

Like many old castle towns, all that remains of the one that once stood in Mihara are its moat and parts of the original wall. At the top, I asked a group of excited high school girls to take my picture with Sakura-yama in the background, a request that must have made their day. They were suitably impressed when I told them I had just been at the top, a reaction that sure made my day. No wonder I like this country so much:

I then took a stroll through an older shōtengai area close to the castle ruins, where there were some attractive wooden buildings:

From then on, it was just a matter of finding things: a place to eat (easy, as I'd learned from living in Yokkaichi 四日市 - just look for the local AEON shopping mall, where I treated myself to a reasonably-priced steak dinner); an Internet cafe (just inquire at the local tourist information office, located in Mihara Station 三原駅); and a Mister Donut ミスタードーナツ in order to pick up some donuts for a quick breakfast the next morning, before catching the bus to the airport (just ask the clerk at the Internet cafe to point you in the right direction). Walking back to the hotel from Misdo, I took this shot of the moon and Venus over Mihara:

A final nighttime panoramic view of the plaza in front of the train station (the panorama function was working fine again after the previous day's difficulties)...:

...and then it was time to get back to my room, watch the end of the Hiroshima Carp 広島東洋カープ baseball game on TV, take a shower and crawl into bed. The next morning I had no problem waking up early, catching the bus to the airport and taking the flight back to Taiwan. Thus ended my one-week holiday in the western part of Japan.

Until the next time. And, who knows, considering both my background and the journey my family and I are getting ready to embark on, it may not be that long before I'm back in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Don't touch that dial...

Chūgoku Trip: Day 6 ４月２３日

Day 5

Breakfast at the Hostel Setoda Tarumi Onsen. My love of Japanese cuisine usually doesn't extend to the first meals of the mornings as I'm not a big fan of sitting down to grilled fish and pickled vegetables soon after getting up, but for a couple of times out of the year I'm OK with the above.

Back in 1971, Donald Richie wrote a book about his travels through the Inland Sea 瀬戸内海, titled, appropriately enough, The Inland Sea. It was a nostalgic look at a less-developed part of Japan that was already at that time feeling the effects of the country's rapid economic growth. Still, the islands have remained a relative backwater compared with the rest of the archipelago. I passed through these parts briefly back in the summer of 1990 when I took a ferry from Imabari 今治 on the island of Shikoku 四国 to Hiroshima 広島 on the main island of Honshū 本州. On this day, the sixth day of my visit, I intended to explore at least one of them, Ōmishima 大三島, on the seat of a rented bicycle.

The initiates in the cult of the Taiwan Cyclists, who should get out of the island more often (see Tip #9), would enjoy the possibilities (not to mention the infrastructure) waiting to be explored in Japan. For the Inland Sea, it's possible to ride along the Shimanami Highway しまなみ海道. The distance isn't very long (the whole route could probably be done in 7-8 hours just on a normal bicycle), but there are numerous possibilities for detours to the various islands that are passed along the way. There's nothing in Taiwan that even begins to compare with the Shimanami HIghway. 

In my case, I only followed the highway route long enough to cross the waters from Ikuchi-jima Island 生口島, where I was staying, to Ōmishima. My journey began around 9am, with the short walk from my hostel to Sunset Beach サンセットビーチ, site of the nearest rental facility. The system is simple, and well-organized. Daylong rentals are ¥500 ($6.25), plus a ¥1000 ($12.50) deposit. If you return your bike to where you rented it from, the deposit is refunded to you. If you choose to drop off the bicycle at another station along the route, the deposit covers the relocation charges. The cycles themselves are hardly performance bikes, being what the Japanese call Mamachari ママチャリ, or a "Mother's chariot", meaning those two-wheelers with the metal basket in front used by homemakers on their daily shopping rounds. But here being in Japan, the bikes are in excellent condition, and the only problems I had were due to my physical limitations and not those of my chariot.

So by 9:20 I was off on the road to Ōmishima. It wasn't long before the Tatara Bridge 多々羅大橋 came into view:

What you need to watch out for in these parts of the woods:

Getting ready to cross to the other side. For cyclists, it was a mere ¥100 ($1.25) to ride across:

The view from the Ōmishima side:

The main reason for choosing to visit Ōmishima (other than the obvious fact it was the closest island to where I was staying) was to pay my respects at the Ōyamazumi-jinja Shintō shrine 大山祇神社. The shrine's origins date back to the 12th century, when it began to be used as a place of worship for Japanese pirates 倭寇, until they were brought to heel by the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 in the 16th century:

On the shrine grounds is a 2600 year-old camphor tree:

The main hall dates from the Muromachi period 室町時代 (1338-1573):

There is always time to do a bit of shopping. Pictured below are an ema 絵馬, a wooden plaque used to write requests to the gods; an amulet お守り for protection from traffic accidents (an absolute necessity in Taiwan!); and an entrance ticket to three on-site museums:

The three museums were the Shiyōden 紫陽殿, Kokuhōkan 国宝館 and Kaiji Hakubutsu-kan 海事博物館. The first two contain what is probably Japan's largest collection of armor and swords from the feudal period (photography wasn't allowed, but the picture on the entrance ticket gives a good idea of what is on display). Most guidebooks describe the displays as being rather dry, but they do bring out the inner samurai 侍 in all of us. The latter museum showcases both a research vessel called the Hayama-maru 葉山丸 and many of the animal and plant specimens it collected on its voyages through the Inland Sea. The ship was commissioned by none other than Emperor Hirohito 裕仁, who probably wished he could have been a marine biologist instead of a cloistered monarch:

Bidding farewell to the kamisama 神様, I left the shrine and walked across the street to a restaurant, where I eagerly dug into a tonkatsu teishoku set meal 豚カツ定食, washed down with the absolutely necessary bottle of beer. That's how this cyclist watches his protein intake!:

After Ōyamazumi-jinja, there was nothing more to do on Ōmishima except explore the southwestern part of the island at a leisurely pace for the remainder of the afternoon. Which is exactly what I did. 

The quiet port town (hell, the whole island is quiet) of Miyaura 宮浦:

I couldn't have asked for better weather, though less wind and fewer hills would've been appreciated:

Koinobori 鯉幟 flutter in said breeze:

At one point, I stopped off at the Tokoro Museum ところミュージアム大三島 to see the sculpture on display, and to take a toilet break. This day being a Monday, however, the museum was closed (most are in Japan on Mondays, unless the Monday is a national holiday, in which case the museums will not be open on the following Tuesday). The staffer manning the desk did unlock the bathroom so that I could use it, however, and she also let me walk around to the back of the building to check the great ocean views. If I keep hearing how uniquely kind the Taiwanese are...:

Just down the road from the Tokoro Museum was another museum, this one dedicated to the architect Toyō Itō 伊東豊雄, known in Taiwan for Kaohsiung's 高雄 World Games Stadium 國家體育場, as well as the design for the mayor of Taichung's 台中 vainglorious opera house project. This place was also closed, but commanded a scenic viewpoint:

Had it been summer, I would've stopped off at some of the small deserted beaches along the road to have a swim and to check out the underwater sea life with my prescription diving mask. Not in April, however:

A ship passes by, with the world's longest suspension bridge, the Kurushima-kaikyō 来島海峡大橋, looming in the far distance. It marks one end of the Shimanami Highway:

The generally balmy weather of the Inland Sea is ripe for fruit cultivation:

OK, I admit it - I got lucky with this shot. I was expecting the bird to hold still while I took the picture:

One of the numerous small islands of the Inland Sea:

Eventually, I came full circle back to the Tatara Bridge, completing the loop around the southwestern half of the island. Before crossing back to Ikuchi-jima, I walked up a steep staircase to an observatory for one final look:

At this point, the panorama function on my camera started to act up for some mysterious reason, so I made a short video instead:

I had the bike back to its Sunset Beach rental outlet before 4:30 pm, making for a ride of about seven hours in total (and getting my ¥1000 refunded to me by doing so). With time to kill before dinner back at the hostel, I took a walk around. This is the view looking back at Sunset Beach - the white building in the center was the place where I rented the bicycle, while the yellow sculpture is one of a series of art installations located around Ikuchi-jima:

It ain't called "Sunset Beach" for nothin':

Monday night's dinner. I shared the table with a retired couple from Fukuyama 福山 in Hiroshima Prefecture 広島県 who were on a brief fishing swing through the area. The husband had been involved in "fish propagation" during his career, which saw him and his wife living in Papua New Guinea and Malawi. I may end up in either place myself at some point in the future:

Needless to say, the bath felt great: