Kicking the bucket...list: Day 12 - Not the anime or manga

 

Onaruto Bridge

The twelfth day of my most recent trip to Japan would turn out to be one, if not, the nicest in terms of weather. Before the onset of the rainy season and and an early, unexpected heat wave, this day would have clear skies and very warm (but not oppresively hot) temperatures. I began the day after breakfast with the short drive to the top of Bizan 眉山, the 280 meter/919 foot-high mountain that overlooks central Tokushima 徳島. The views were panoramically impressive:

Among the things to check out at the top (in addition to the observatory) were this stupa, called the Tokushma Pagoda and dedicated to the memory of Japanese soldiers who served in Burma during World War II...:

and the small Kenzan-jinja, dedicated to the kami 神 of the mountain: 

From Bizan I got back in the car and drove 13 kilometers/8.1 miles north to Naruto 鳴門, not the name of a popular anime アニメ and manga 漫画 series but of a city in Tokushima Prefecture 徳島県 with a population of 55,000, famous for the whirlpools that roil the waters of the Naruto Strait 鳴門海峡. And it was to see this phenomenon that the first thing I did upon arriving in the area was to head to a small port that is home to the Naruto Whirlpool Sightseeing Boats 鳴門観光汽船. The whirlpools are an unreliable phenomenon, so it's best to check the tidal schedule beforehand, which I did both on the company website and at the tourist information office in Tokushima. On this day the peak viewing time was listed at 14:50, with a 90-minute window on either side for when the tides are at their strongest. I therefore booked a seat for an excursion set to sail at 13:45. 

With a few hours to kill until then, I drove to Naruto-kōen park 鳴門公園. At a small cafe across from the lot where I parked by car I had the Naruto udon set, plus a Sudachi Cider すだちサイダー: 

The Naruto Mountain Lookout 鳴門山展望台 provided me with my first real look (as opposed to just driving underneath on my way to the sightseeing boat port) at the Ōnaruto-hashi 大鳴門橋. At 1629 meters/5345 feet long, with two towers each standing 145 meters/476 feet high, the bridge itself is 42 meters/138 feet above the strait. Completed in 1985, the Onaruto Bridge links Shikoku 四国 with the island of Awaji-shima 淡路島, the largest of the 3000 or so islands of the Seto Inland Sea 瀬戸内海:

Uzushio Kanchōsen offers two whirlpool boat tour services, and I had a ticket for the Aqua Eddy, a small high-speed boat with underwater viewing (though there wasn't much to see except bubbles once we got up to speed): 

As the boat neared the bridge we were directed to come out onto the deck from below to take in the dramatic maelstrom unfolding in front of us:

Seeing the natural phenomenon upclose from the boat was an exhilirating experience, but I wasn't done with whirlpools just yet. After disembarking at the port I got back in the car and returned to the park. From there I observed the whirlpools from above (45 meters/148 feet high) on the Uzu-no-Michi 渦の道 walkway on the Onaruto Bridge. Tobishima Island 飛島 as seen from the catwalk:

A reproduction of an ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print depicting the Naruto Strait and the whirlpools: 

Returning to dry land I decided to see the bridge from one more vantage point. The view from the Ochaen Observation Deck お茶園展望台:

I drove back to Tokushima in the late afternoon, stopping for gas along the way (and being complemented on my "excellent" 日本語 skills by the attendant who filled the tank, thus elevating the risk that I would turn into an insufferable egomaniac before the end of my trip*). That evening I tried to have dinner at a pub but showed up too early - rather than wait for the public house to open I ended up eating too much at another restaurant closer to the station: 

Back at my hotel:

As noted above the weather on this day was ideal for what I had set out to do. The good climes would continue the following day as I left Tokushima to make my down the scenic Anan-kaigan 阿南海岸 coast. 

*Not to worry - later language missteps would bring me back down to earth. It was nice while it lasted...