08/12/2019 / Last updated : 31/01/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Oyashirazu, where the Japan Alps meet the sea　親不知

May 2019, The trip begins as we set out after lunch and take the Chugoku expressway. We pull in to the Kasai service area at around 9pm, after a long, smooth drive. The Chugoku Expressway is almost always deserted. After dark, the insects were hitting the windscreen like rain. The second day is another long drive, in 32-degree heat, on the traffic free highway. For some inexplicable reason, the speed limit is 80k. sometimes, equally enigmatically, dropping to 60k. Oyashirazu Leaving the highway, we stop at Oyashirazu in Niigata prefecture. We park the car at Tenken community square, near the Oyashirazu Kanko Hotel and walk the community road to the […]
Ohmi Shrine
17/08/2019 / Last updated : 27/10/2021 d.d Kyushu Circumnavigation December 2017

Ohmi Shrine and Kimigayo rocks　大御神社

December 13th. Ohmi Shrine Kimigayo rocks　　大御神社さざれ石 Our first stop of the day is Ohmi Shrine. This is a pleasant place in a small cove at the end of a long sandy beach. The Shrine is a modest, unadorned, wooden structure perched on an interesting rock formation. Basalt columns, I guess. There is also a large rock called ‘Sazare-ishi’ garlanded with a ceremonial rope that, D. was surprised to discover, features in the Japanese national anthem. The rock is a large lump of conglomerate, that stands next to a natural, circular pool that was important in Jomon era dragon ceremonies. All this and a sandy cove too! A short walk through […]
Eiheiji temple
29/07/2019 / Last updated : 01/02/2023 d.d Temple / Shrine

Eiheiji Temple in Fukui 　永平寺

October 2017, Post typhoon, the morning is bright with watery sunshine and a lot of fast moving, ragged cloud. We set off for Eiheiji Temple arriving about 10.30. On the road there is a lot of debris from the Sugi and other trees. People are out clearing up everywhere. We note more serious typhoon damage here and there, mainly vinyl houses and advertising signs but, occasionally, bigger problems where roof tiles have been lost. Eiheiji Temple The temple is large, with numerous buildings connected by covered passages and stairs but, as it nestles in a narrow mountain valley, it is necessarily compact. There is a spacious, tatami floored hall with […]
Noto peninsula
25/07/2019 / Last updated : 01/02/2023 d.d Arts / Places of interest

Noto Hanto Art and Tiny Rice Terraces　能登半島

October 2017, Well, what a wet night at Himi michi no eki and, sadly an equally wet morning. We are marooned in the car as the rain lashes around. About 10 am the rain begins to ease, and it is possible to venture outside in the, still, intermittent rain. And so begins our tour of Noto Hanto (peninsula). We drive, in a very leisurely fashion, as there is little else to do. Pulling into the michi-no-eki at Noto Shokusai Ichiba, we look at fish. We leave around lunchtime and head on up the peninsula. Mitsukejima　　見附島 At Mitsukejima or Gunkanjima (warship island) we make a stop, so called because the steep […]
Kushimoto Hashiguiiwa
29/03/2019 / Last updated : 05/11/2021 d.d Japan Road Trip Autumn '16

Nanki Shirahama, South Wakayama Coast　南紀白浜

Day 78 Kii Oshima, Kashinozaki Lighthouse　　紀伊大島、樫野埼灯台 After a wet night, the rain is still lingering at michi-no-eki Kushimoto Hashigui-iwa so we start the day slowly as the rain is forecast to ease. Kii Oshima is our first destination where there are views of some, apparently, interesting rock formations. We discover a stone lighthouse ‘enlightened’, as the plaque would have it, in 1872. This lighthouse was one of 6 designed by British engineers due to some treaty with the Edo Bakufu. The lighthouse was surrounded by narcissus brought from Britain by the engineers. There was also an English Oak planted in 2002 but it didn’t look too healthy to me. In […]