Awaji-shima & Tokushima: Bridges
January 17, 2005
On the last two days of the year, the woman and I went on a little road trip. It was our first getaway in a few months and the first time we took the car out for more than a run to a restaurant or her house. Due to time limitations and end of year closures, my earlier idea to drive to Hiroshima was scrapped and we had to settle on a much closer, Awaji island.
By any measure, 淡路島 (Awaji Island) is not an island of any interest or note. It sits in the Inland Sea (surrounded by Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu islands) as the biggest island. The Lonely Planet has only about a half-page of writing about this place. Still, I was in need of a retreat out of the city and it was as good a place as any. One of its claim to fame is that just north of the island, somewhere in the water was the epicenter of the 1995 Hanshin earthquake which killed over 6000 people. In fact, it happened exactly 10 years ago today.
Because this was our first car trip and because we were aware that many people would be returning to their hometowns for New Years, we thought we’d get up early to beat the traffic. Well, early in our book meant 10am and by the time we had lunch and the woman got a temporary phone to replace her busted one, we didn’t set out until 1pm. We paid the price though, the expressway from Osaka to Kobe was packed.
Here’s the breakdown of our two day trip.
Day 1 [Osaka - Kobe - Awaji-shima]
Our itinerary for our first day was not exactly ambitious. We were going drive to Awaji and on the way stop at any place of interest that catches our eye. By evening, we would get into our hotel, have dinner, and then hit the sack.
The drive from Osaka through Kobe to Awaji took roughly 2 hours and being Japan, completely crowded with cars, trucks that speed, and bikes that fly by the side with death wishes. Once we got onto the Akashi Kaikyo bridge, it was smooth driving. This bridge connects the northern tip of Awaji island with Honshu (the main island of Japan). It’s with this bridge and the other bridge on the southern tip that people can cross over to Shikoku (another main island of Japan) with ease. Incidentally, these bridges also transformed Awaji into a somewhat bustling little island. The bridge itself is quite a good view. It’s a huge suspension bridge that also lights up at night and changes colours.
We stopped at the first service area after the bridge. There were several food stands and most importantly, washrooms. The washrooms are rather cold in the winter (as they’re open entranced) so be warned. It might be a good idea to pick up some tourist maps from the information counter here if you’re out of ideas as to what to do here. From there, we got off the expressway which runs through the island and went onto the “main road” of the cities. Route 28 was very nice driving. A combination of people being at home for end of year relaxation and this place being very quiet made driving a true pleasure.
On the map, one can see several tourst traps. A “Monkey Center” on the south end looked interesting but being the dead of winter, it was too cold to do anything outdoors. For this reason, we scratched off a bunch of parks and temples too. The onsen must’ve been nice in the cold but I hate onsen. One (or seven rather) interesting thing was the 七ç¦?神, or “7 Gods of Fortune”. There are seven distinct temples scattered over the island, each housing one god of fortune. It would’ve been fun to go see all of them and take pictures. Driving down route 28, we also passed this big ass white statue of a standing buddha. It might have been nice to take a picture of it but in front of it was a big giant sign that said “America” something. Any buddhist statue with a big sign of “America” was probably not very sacred or holy, so we passed on. No offense to my American friends.
In the end, the only place we stopped was this park complex called, “夢舞å?°“, or “Dream Stage”. It’s a nicely designed architectural complex surrounded by spawling parkland and gardens. Had it been spring with flowers in full bloom, it would’ve been a very beautiful sight. Unfortunately, at the end of December, this place was ridiculously boring. The complex design completely made me think it was a Quake 2 level. It had strange turns and twists and even sniper areas. I kept telling this to the woman but strangely enough, she wasn’t interested in the least.
It was getting dark so we slowly drove to our 旅館, or traditional Japanese hotel . For dinner we had a tai (red snapper) dinner. They had cut up half the fish with pieces of meat ready for the hot pot. While we were eating it, the eyes and mouth kept moving. It was rather cruel but we only looked at it for about 10 minutes before our server came back and took the fish for grilling.
It probably wasn’t until dinner when I fully realized how much more relaxed people on the island were compared to Osaka. They walked, talked, drove, and worked slower. They seemed a lot happier too. Unfortunately for me, because they worked slower, I was constantly figdeting wishing people would finish pouring tea, giving change, making a left turn, or just walking across the street.
So that was our first, uneventful day.
Day 2 [Awaji-shima - Tokushima - Osaka]
Our second day was a bit more tiring. Sometime in the night, it had started raining. Rain and cold weather… bad bad bad. Our original plan of going on a boat ride to see the Naruto whirlpools was basically scrapped. I didn’t want to spend the morning soaking wet and freezing on a boat. We opted to drive to Tokushima, the north eastern most prefecture on Shikoku island.
When we got there, everything was pretty much closed but we managed to find a small ramen shop just opening. We were the first and only ones there and the guy who ran the place was so nice. Tokushima ramen doesn’t compare with my favorite ramen joints in Osaka but it was great anyway.
On our way back, we went to Naruto park. This place had the best view of the second bridge, Naruto Kaikyo Ohashi, which was home to the famous whirlpools. When the tide is in and the weather conditions are right, the whirlpools can span 20 meters across. The boats mentioned earlier take you through the “Uzu no Michi” strait (literally, “street of whirlpools”) and into the whirlpools. The best time to go is in spring. We went to this observatory that’s built right under the bridge. It had some glass floors through which you can see the whirlpools and it had a great view of the inlet. Near there is a museum that’s very boring – save your 500 yen here as it’s all just boring pictures of how the bridge is built, what the area around is like, and some pictures of whirlpools.
We didn’t really do much after because it was December 31st and everyone was going home to celebrate the New Year. We walked through a park, bought some CDs for the trip back, and just went home. After a long wait on the expressway and fearing road closures, we finally got back around 7pm.
And here are the pictures from our very uneventful trip.
Additional Resources
The tourist association on the island has created a very nice English website with lots of information about the island. I took a quick read and although it’s a great site, it still doesn’t do much to make the island any more interesting. Their first listed delicacy in the shopping page is onion. How much better can an onion be? I bet you couldn’t tell the difference.
Suggestions
Be sure you have a good map because the expressways, on-ramps, and off-ramps can be quite confusing. The woman tried her best in her first role as navigator but there were many times when I felt rather frustrated by her inability to read the shitty map we had. Along the same lines, traffic was quite bad at certain toll gates – sometimes an expressway was probably slower than travelling by local roads.
Be careful that some expressways can be closed without warning from snow or traffic accidents. There are electronic signs intermittently that warn you of this (unfortunately in Japanese only). This is where the map comes in handy because you can plot an alterate route.
Another driving tip: those tolls really add up. Tolls between Osaka to Tokushima ranged from 700 – 5000 yen. Be sure to bring a bit of extra cash.
Near the under-the-bridge observatory, there’s a sign that directs you to å?ƒç•³ç›´. Walk towards it and you’ll notice some stores and photographers and a good view of the bridge. Look for a small coffee shop located on the second floor of a souvenir shop. An old couple runs this place and made great coffee and tea. They also have probably the best unobstructed view of the bridge through the windows.
January 20th, 2005 at 05:56
I cannot believe you didn’t check out the Monkey Centre! You disappoint me. You say your trip was uneventful but I bet you’d have so many more stories and pictures if you had visited the Monkey Centre. I don’t know what’s there, but I imagine it’s a place where you commune with monkeys?
How did your car handle the trip? You didn’t mention how much the gas bill was for this trip, I’m curious as to how bad gas prices are in Japan.
January 20th, 2005 at 06:16
I’ll be visiting Mino one of these days. Mino, where monkeys attack and steal your water bottles. Gas wasn’t too bad. Given the current oil prices, it’s nearly the same as home. A full gas up cost about 60 bucks. My little Honda cost 40 bucks.
January 20th, 2005 at 19:12
I like monkeys. But they sure as hell can be scary! I visited lopburi in Thailand, monkey capital of Thailand where monkey’s are deemed sacred so they aren’t killed.
They all have a head monkey king, and usually it’s the oldest and fattest one of the group. If you’re lucky, the monkeys you see will do back flips from outrageously high tree branches into pools below. Then they gang up on you for your fruit, steal your glasses, and hitch rides ontop of buses into neighboring towns. Yeh, no fucking joke. Them monkey’s are crafty!
January 20th, 2005 at 19:29
Umn. Is this who i think it is????
http://www.drfish.ca/index.html
January 21st, 2005 at 05:15
Yes that’s Nuri.
Monkeys are the best. They will take your stuff and then fling feces at you. No animal can possibly beat them in terms of coolness!