Year 9 in Kyoto – episode 2 (Part 2)

Here I am back in front of the computer, ready to take the long journeys (again)! All of these epic journeys, except the last one, required the use of our car – and quite a bit of time.

Our first journey took us to the Japan Sea side of Kyoto prefecture, to a town (Miyazu) famous for the beach area known as Amanohashidate (which basically means heavenly bridge, or bridge to heaven). Amanohashidate itself is a sandbar which is 3.6km long, between 20 to 170m wide, is covered in thousands of pine trees and spans Miyazu Bay. It is renowned as one of the three scenic bay views in Japan. There is a viewing point very close to the sandbar, accessible by a cable car, or a chairlift, so that you can get the full impact of the ‘bridge’.

The drive there took over three hours, taking us through mountain ranges (sometimes literally, with one tunnel being over 3km long) and past the many small farm areas growing Kyoyasai (Kyoto grown vegetables) and rice. It really was a very scenic drive, and we saw many traditional houses which were still being lived in. What I did notice, though, is that most of the houses which would have had thatched roofs in the past, now have metal clad roofs. They are still amazing looking houses, none the less.

Once we arrived at Miyazu, we chose to take the chairlift up to the top of the viewing point to take in the full vista of the bay before we walked down to the beach area. Apart from the viewing area there was, in fact, a whole mini theme park up there, with ferris wheels, a merry-go-round, a mono-rail pedal train and various shops.

After looking around up there, we made our way to the sandbar. We were looking for a place to have lunch and a wee dip in the ocean. Luckily we found a small concrete table area, with a roof because, just like everywhere else where there is water, there are Kites and they really want to steal your food! So we ate, then headed to the water. Craig and Triscia went out into the deeper water (with the jellyfish) and I stayed close in – however I did sit down in the water 😊. Within an hour some weather started coming in, so we headed back home, but it was really nice to see a beach!

The next day, we set off for Muko city, which is a lot closer at around one hour’s drive, to visit a bamboo park which was not like the usually very crowded Arashiyama. The other attraction at this park is a Kofun burial mound (tumulus), in the shape of a keyhole, built early in the Kofun period, in the 4th century CE. We started by visiting the Rakusai Bamboo Park, which has a museum dedicated to all things bamboo and a garden with more than 100 varieties of bamboo planted. It was really interesting walking around the lovely garden, seeing all the different varieties, with my favourite being the Buddha’s Belly, and the best part is that we had the place to ourselves!!!

After we left the garden, we then walked along the Takenomichi (Bamboo Road), which is around 1.8km long and is lined with bamboo fences, in eight different designs. There were a few people walking along the road, and, as it is a road, there were some cars, but still lovely and quiet and plenty of people free photographs. The Kofun tumulus I mentioned is along this road, so we were able to walk there to view it. This one is around 95m long and is one of five in the Muko city area. Excavations of this tumulus found it had burial chambers in both the round section and the square end section, with the round end chamber being larger. Grave goods were found in both chambers, though there were signs of grave robbery.

Over 160,000 Kofun tumuli have been found in Japan, of varying shapes and sizes, with the largest being the keyhole shaped Daisen tumulus located in Osaka prefecture, in which the mound is approximately 500m long and 300m at its widest point, while the entire tomb area is 840m long, including three moats which enclose it.

Our third grand adventure took us to Fukui, to the land of dinosaurs – the Katsuyama Dinosaur Forest Park and the Fukui Dinosaur Museum. The drive to the Dinosaur Valley area took a bit longer than the drive to Amanohashidate, but it was worth it. The route took us along the western edge of Lake Biwa and into the mountainous area of Fukui Prefecture, where they have found skeletal remains of dinosaurs and some preserved eggs. So far, no-one has decided to try to bring any to life, although it felt a bit like they had in the forest 😊.

The museum was very good, with many skeletons on display, some dioramas and some full size displays, including dinosaurs with moving parts and making noises. There was also an animatronic T-Rex!!! This amazing creation is over 7m tall and is unbelievably life-like. I’m not sure, but I think it might have had movement sensors in it, so that your movement was registered and it reacted to you. It could move in many ways and also could roar. As I was standing there, taking thousands of photos (slight exaggeration), it bent right down and looked directly at me, I think it even sort of sniffed me. After a shortish while I found myself talking to it 😊…

Eventually I pulled myself away, we continued wandering around this huge building, went into the shop (I only bought one dinosaur friend) and then headed toward the forest. Wow!! This is truly an amazing place. It appears as though they envisaged it as a place for children, but nearly everyone wandering around in the forest was an adult. It is hard to really describe it fully, but it is huge, has many realistic looking dinosaurs ‘wandering’ about with some being animatronic, there are sounds all around the path which heighten the realistic feel, and it is just fantastic. This park, including the museum is easily one of the best experiences I have had and, as I said before, definitely worth the long drive there and the entry fee.

The next day we took a shorter trip, around an hour and a half, to a small village called Kayabuki no Sato. It is a rural village nestled (I had to say that) in the mountains north of Kyoto which is composed mainly of old thatched houses and is being carefully maintained as a cultural heritage site The day we were there a group of workers were actually in the process of re-thatching one of the houses.

It is a very picturesque place where you can wander around amongst the houses and they have a few small cafes and shops where you can have a coffee and buy some mementos, along with a restaurant. There weren’t too many visitors there on the day we went, possibly because it was the middle of a very hot summer, but I did wonder how intrusive it would be if you lived there, especially during peak seasons.

Our final outing with Triscia took us to Kobe, to visit the Kobe Art Gallery. The exhibition displayed a large portion of the gallery’s permanent collection to coincide with the Osaka Expo, along with a special exhibition focusing on two Japanese artists who left Japan pre-WWII, one going to the US and the other to Europe. Interesting over-all, though I don’t recall it as richly as the Dinosaurs 😊.

That’s all for this episode – it was very eventful and enjoyable, and a wonderful way to spend 10 days in the middle of summer. It is still hot now – 38°C outside today – and we have had a number of thunderstorms since that time. Very tropical, but that’s for the next episode…

Cheers for now!