Bridge-Viewing: Travels Through Northern Hyogo

Reading: The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova

Listening: "If I Ever Feel Better," Phoenix

I am now facing my THIRD attempt to finish The Historian. I will get through this book!

Friday, August 17

Another exciting day at work. Mushy egg salad sandwich for lunch.

Chris drove down in the evening, and we hooked up with the new Kasai JETs--Curtis, Matt (and wife Jen), Sarah, and Clay (who we already knew) for yakiniku. Mmm!

[Note: Kasai is located two cities west of Miki.]

The Kasai team, all first-year ALTs, are genki and anxious to begin work, which made me nostalgic for my Japan arrival last summer. More on that in another post, I think. Jen and Matt treated us to dinner, and we spent the remainder of the evening talking story at their place.

Saturday, August 18

Chris and I left Miki bright and early for Kasai, where we pulled Clay from the darkness that was his well-curtained apartment. Before setting out, we stocked up on baked goodies from the nearby Grimm Bakery, which sells an eye-popping assortment of pastries (Baikinman / Anpanman / Totoro-shaped treats) and delish sandwiches (tandoori chicken with cucumber!).

We drove up the Bantan Expressway for northern Hyogo, where we would view a ライトアップ (Light Up) of the historic 餘部鉄橋 (Amarube Bridge), which will be shut down this summer. (Several people died when the train fell off the bridge in the late 1980s due to high wind.)

A decoration for 香住町 (Kasumi-cho), where the bridge is located.

Our traveling trio arrived too early for check-in at our inn, and we went wandering.

Oni at the local (empty) temple.

We made our next destination the beach.

The bridge was our sightseeing aim for the trip north, but the many Japanese visitors we saw had come for the beach. I imagine that the waters of the Sea of Japan are frigid for most of the year, but that day they were cool and refreshing.

It's a sad Hawaii girl who forgets her bathing suit.

I contented myself with exposing my pasty legs to the sun. Furthermore, I fell asleep on the sand and left with ugly red marks on my shoulders.

Beach.

We finally checked in at our ryokan and left early for the bridge viewing.

The bridge overlooks a small town.

The sign reads, "Goodbye, Amarube Bridge. Thank you, Amarube Bridge."

Seaside location.

After viewing the bridge in daylight, we searched for food. 関西人 that we are, we were hungry for okonomiyaki. We took counter seats at a little spot called タカの巣 (Hawk's Nest), where we were served by a little old woman with a bump on her nose--a perfect Miyazaki ばあちゃん. As would be expected, her food was delicious.

"Italian."
Flour pancake filled with cheese, tomatoes, onions, sausages, and peppers. (Topped with okonomiyaki sauce and aonori.)

I was initially skeptical of this choice, but it was one of the best okonomiyaki I've ever eaten.

広島焼き
Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki features noodles!

そばめし

My request. Sobameshi is Kansai soul food of chopped noodles fried with rice. This version included diced chicken, carrots, and onions. Topped with ginger, green onions, and toasted nori. うまい！

One of our fellow diners, well-informed on the train schedules, suggested that we view the next passing train outside.

[For nighttime pictures of the bridge and train, please see the blogs of Chris or Clay.]

Following the viewing, we returned to the ryokan for long dips in the onsen. With no other women around, I happily swam my way through the hot water. We finished the evening with The Last Samurai, dubbed in Japanese.

Sunday, August 19
Ryokan breakfasts are large and filled with fresh pickles and plenty of rice; we left the inn feeling quite full. All the same, I couldn't pass up ayu kamameshi at our first roadside stop of the day.

Ayu is known as "sweetfish" in English and is often served roasted on a skewer. The Yadagawa region, through which we were passing, is famous for this delicacy. I removed the flesh from the bones and gently mixed it with the lightly flavored rice. The hot metal of the pot slightly chars the rice, adding a new flavor and texture.

Our next stop was at 但馬大仏 (Tajima Daibutsu), a large temple hidden high in the hills. According to the English pamphlet we received, the old temple underwent a lengthy series of re-construction thanks to $25 million of donations from wealthy Buddhist patrons.

This statue, protecting the entrance, surely ate up a chunk of those funds.

The area is peaceful with a view of lush green mountains.

These three statues dominated the main hall, but the walls were flanked with hundreds of smaller statues.

View of the main hall from the pagoda.

Chris enjoying the breeze from the top of the pagoda.

Driving back south, we stopped at several 道の駅 along the way, filling my new Stamp Rally Kit with station seals. For each entry, in addition to obtaining the station stamp, I write on the overall appearance, food/souvenir selection, and of course, the soft cream (flavor availability/price/taste). Yes, this is my life.

Blue soft cream, ramune-flavored.

We had plans for attending 小野祭り (Ono Festival) that evening, but the thunderstorm we ran into on the drive south was discouraging. Even so, I changed into my yukata, and we ate a festival-icious dinner at Bikkuri Ramen back in Kasai. We later met up with Curtis, and now a group of four, we drove into Ono, disregarding the wet weather around.

We parked at Ono SATY (a department store), in which the festival wound up thanks to the rain. The shop halls were lined with festival booths selling shave ice and other treats. After dinner in SATY, we looked outside for more booths, but apparently the festival was over. We snagged the last serving of takoyaki from one of the booths before admitting to defeat and heading back to Clay's apartment for grocery store snacks and Dr. Tran laughs.

Chris and I returned home exhausted from our latest road trip, but hungry for more.