Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとうございます！(Happy New Year in Japanese, of course)
I traveled roughly 15,000 km to the United States to see my family and friends for Christmas. It was a lovely time, but now I'm back in Japan, and ready to be a better, or at least more reliable, blogger. Call it a new year's resolution. We'll see how that goes...
Right now, my friend Yao is visiting me all the way from Shanghai, China. He works for a Japanese company and had training in Tokyo at the beginning of this week, and decided to swing out to the inaka part of the country to see what he could see. The answer being an excessive amount of rice fields.
For today's adventure, I drove him out to Mihonoseki to see the Mihonoseki Light House. Mihonoseki is a tiny historic fishing town known for Miho Shrine and for having the oldest lighthouse in the Sanin area, which is comprised of Shimane, Tottori, and northern Yamaguchi prefectures.
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| Yao showing us the beautiful Mihonoseki Lighthouse. |
Apparently, this lighthouse is considered one of the top 100 lighthouses in the world. I had no idea there was such a list, what a lighthouse must do to get on said list, or who decides such things, or why. Just know that this one is top 100 baby. You can walk around the lighthouse and see some nice scenic views of the Sea of Japan, then drive back down the hill and go to Miho shrine. I think doing both those things took about an hour, maybe a little more, which is not much in comparison to the 45 minutes it takes to drive there, then the 45 minute drive back to Matsue. But, it was nice, something to do. Plus, if you like fresh seafood, you can get it in Mihonoseki for cheap.
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| Mihonoseki Lighthouse, and attached cafe and souviner shop. |
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| The Sea of Japan. South Korea is far far far in the distance. |
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| The view from behind the lighthouse. The Oki Islands are about 3 km away and can be seen on clear sunny days using high powered binoculars according to the sign, but we only saw water. |
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| A little shrine hidden behind the lighthouse. |
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| It's a lighthouse! Of French design, so I've read. |
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| Where the lighthouse is, on the tip of the peninsula out into Miho Bay. The 2 blobs floating above are the Oki Islands. |
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| There was a sundial! It's 2:00pm. |
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| A little tiny trail that goes around the side of the lighthouse back the parking lot. You can look out over the Sea of Japan or Miho bay when there's breaks in the trees. |
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| This sign explains how the trail maintains it's マジクイマジ (magic image) with plants that have big thick leaves that stay green even though the cold sea breezes come through. |
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| I must say, it was very green, especially for January. |
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| The sign in Mihonoseki for the shrine and the lighthouse. Check out that fishing boat! |
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| A bamboo, paper, and dead fish pole. There were a couple of these here and there. They're to bring the good fortune of good weather, plenty of fish, and safe boating to the fishermen. |
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| Nearby where I parked, there was this cute orange bridge. |
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| It goes to a tiny man made island with a little shrine on it. |
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| The big entrance torii of Miho shrine. The road on each side up to the torii (gate) is lined with stores selling fresh seafood. |
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| Stop and wash your hands before entering. |
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| Miho Shrine is dedicated to two deities and so it has two different styles of architecture. That's pretty rare. It's also the head shrine of all shrines built for the Ebisu deity. So, it's a boss shrine. |
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| The gate into the main courtyard. |
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| Giant straw rope over the gate. |
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| A miko (shrine maiden) carrying a tray of something or other. A family with an older boy and a priest followed her into the main building. I'm guessing they're getting the boy blessed so he'll pass his university entrance exams. It's that time of year, and he looked to be the right age. |
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| Fresh caught squid, hung out to dry and to catch the eye. |
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| So creepy. I think Yao wanted to buy some, but I said "No way that's going in my car!" |
It was a good little excursion. Now Yao is taking a nap on my floor, and my legs are toasty warm under my kotatsu as I write this. However, my bum is definitely going numb. Curse you low Japanese tables!
