Day trips from Hiroshima

On Sunday, Ben drove us to Kurashiki, a small town noted for its old warehouses lining a small canal. I had planned to travel there independently en route to Kyoto, but Ben had never been and was keen on bringing his family. I told Teresa it was great. I could visit another town on the road to Kyoto. We entered the phone number of a museum in the center of town into the GPS and were soon on our way.

The road was clear, the hills were covered with trees. I remarked to Ben how beautiful the drive was and he agreed. He told me it was the route to his golf course. Traffic was sparse and we made Kurashiki in less time than I would have imagined.

The area of interest was small. We drove past the canal en route to the museum and parked. Busloads of tourists were disembarking at the same time. We hurried ahead, and Ben noted that the groups were full of men.

Teresa found the town overly touristy. It had been preserved, but made somehow antiseptic. The canal area was picturesque, however, with willows lining the paths along the canal. It reminded me of an amalgam of Lijiang and Zhouzhoung in China. We ate at a restaurant by the canal and quickly made our way through the toy museum. Teresa decided to tour the local art museum and I went to the folklore museum, as interesting for being able to walk through one of the old buildings as much for what it held. Ben took the kids to feed the fish in the canal. We made arrangements to meet back at the car at five, but we all ran into each other in the small town far before the appointed time.

On the road to Kurashiki, Ben and I had begun to talk about iPods, and he determined that he was finally going to buy one that day. We got back into the car and made our way back to Hiroshima.

The electronics store was a sensory attack. Everywhere you looked, there were advertisements for products or signs to direct you to other products. You could barely see the products themselves for the text that surrounded everything. Soon the signs devolved into textured patterns, and I just followed Ben to where he needed to go.

The next morning, we sent the kids off to school and Teresa and I walked to the train station and boarded a train bound for Onomichi. The ride was uneventful and I napped en route. The town itself ran along the coastline, rising up a hill as it receded from the sea. It is noted for the hundreds of temples and shrines that dot the town, some hidden down small alleys and lanes. Directors have long used the town as settings for their films for its narrow streets and for its atmosphere, and local tourists walk the tourist path seeking out locations used in famous scenes.

We set out from the train station along the path and soon found ourselves deep in the warren of streets that run through the town. We had climbed uphill and from certain vantage points we could see the sea. At one point we took a ropeway up to the top of the mountain, and then we could see the entire town below us, tumbling towards the inland sea. We ate ice cream as we enjoyed the view.

Walking back down the hill we made our way to the main covered market, searching for food. We had read about the local ramen, which had achieved some notoriety in Japan, and went off in search of a restaurant recommended for its preparation of it. We found it down a main street running perpendicular to the market street and were surprised to find no line. We ordered in the front and took our seats. The noodles were delicious, the stock being a blend of fish and pork seasoned with fat.

After lunch we walked back up the hill to tour a few more temples and soak in the atmosphere and then made our way back towards the main part of town. Walking past the restaurant, we noticed a line had begun to form; we had just had our lunch early. We walked back to the train station along the coast, which was more a series of working docks for fishermen, with boats tied to the docks, rather than a tourist promenade. We caught an early train back to Hiroshima and bought delicious mochi cream snacks in the basement of the Takashimaya department store before going home to greet the kids.
Posted by eku at December 4, 2007 2:41 PM