Japan, Okayama to Iwakuni Trip, August 2010 – Day 3: Iwakuni

Iwakuni located in the Yamaguchi prefecture of Japan, is a city only about 40 kilometers away from Hiroshima, making it an ideal side trip if you are looking for something extra to do when you’ve got a day free. Although it is slightly off the beaten path for most tourists, who usually don’t frequent its graces, it is home to one of the most eye catching bridges in Japan: The Kintaikyo Bridge. While you are in the area you can also check out Iwakuni Castle that is also within walking distance from the bridge. We started the day off by renting a car from Mazda Rent a car. It cost about 6090 yen for half a day meaning we would need to return it by 5 PM or something, more or less half a day in Japan means you don’t get to keep it over  night. The drive to Iwakuni from the center of Hiroshima took about 1 1/2 hours, and on the Interchange you are hit with a 1100 yen charge for using the highways. The drive itself is nothing spectacular and you can expect the better part of the journey to be typical Japanese highways with nothing but buildings in the main cities, and rice fields if you head out of the cities. Now while we did opt to drive, there is obviously a train station at Iwakuni, which connects you to a bus that will take you to the bridge. This is the more ideal way to get there if you are a tourist without a car. For more information please click the Iwakuni link above. 

Arriving at the bridge it was quite refreshing there was a cool breeze, and it wasn’t so crowded like your average Japanese city would be. There was also hardly any foreign tourists in sight, thus showing its popularity between the foreign population. Nonetheless we had come to see this bridge as it is one of the more famous bridges in Japan and thus we were finally here. If you wish to go across the bridge you will need to pay (yes that means you need to pay to walk on the bridge). There is ticket booths on both sides and they sell a wide array of tickets depending on what you wish to do in Iwakuni. The ticket we had purchased was 930 Yen for an adult and this included return walking on the bridge, the ropeway up to the castle and the castle entry itself. All up they worked out to be about 300 yen or so each so the value was definitely not bad. We took several different shots of the bridge from several different angles before moving on towards the castle. Once you pass over the bridge there is a huge array of shops that you can pick up souvenirs, soft serve ice cream, and a lot of different food. We skipped all this so we could make it to the next ropeway in time as they don’t depart very regularly. We passed by fountains with kids playing in the water. If you’re here with your kids there are plenty of opportunities to get them wet with the large amount of fountains that are dotted around the area. The people here are a lot more lax than their city counterparts and don’t really care if you go in and have a splash around with them; just make sure you bring your bathing suits. The water was crystal clear and looked very appealing considering the blistering heat that was shining down on us. We hoped at the top of the mountain we would be a little bit cooler and have a bit more shade than out here in the open. 

Iwakuni Castle is only accessible via ropeway as it sits on top of a mountain (pretty good natural self defense in the olden days). At the top of the ropeway there is a musical clock (which is more of a gimmick clock) that has a strange show every hour or so. There is also a little covered area that allows you to buy a drink from one of the several vending machines and take a rest while waiting for the musical clock. When your ready you venture into Siroyama Omoshiro Park which is a densely covered tree canopy pathway that has a couple different paths to get to the castle. We were happy that the tree coverage protected us from the sun’s rays and we continued to walk towards the castle with a new found energy from the breeze before us. The walk to the castle is about 300 meters (the shortest path) and once your there you’ll be met with some pretty amazing views of the local area. The entry to the castle itself costs 300 yen by itself without the set ticket you can pick up at the bridge. Iwakuni Castle itself is nothing special on the outside compared to some of the more grand castles of Japan, but the coupled with the leisurely walk to the castle it is definitely worth visiting. The castle is home to arguably one of the nicest collections of swords and Japanese weapons than most other castles in Japan. upon entry you are greeted with a 5 kilogram katana blade that is 2 meters long. With it’s sheath it easily wags 8.5 kilograms. Which is more than enough to cut a horse in half if it is wielded by a massively strong man, or a team of Japanese men. The castle is also great because you can take photos everywhere in the castle without and restrictions. If you head to the top floor there is stunning views of the Kintaikyo bridge, all of those fountains I talked about and the surrounding city of Iwakuni. If you have a great lens you can actually get perfectly zoomed pictures of the people walking across the bridge! Overall the view from up here allows you to appreciate how peaceful this city actually is with hardly any noise pollution down below and the mountains in the background. 

Once you have finished admiring the castle head back down towards level ground and stop by one of the main soft serve stores. There is one particular store that has been on TV for having over 100 Flavours of Ice cream. Yes I typed correct, 100 different flavours of soft serve ice cream. If your game you should try every one of them. You might feel a bit sick afterwards but you can easily say to your friends that you have tried 100 different flavours of soft serves. A little hint though, there is a stop next to the takoyaki store that also sells soft serve’s, the quality here is far superior to that of the 100 Flavour shop, but it is not as well advertised. Go here if you want really good tasting ice cream. Once your down, I suggest picking up a local souvenir (possible some Kintaikyo shaped biscuits) before heading home via JR or car. Overall it was an interesting day, it was definitely hot but we got to see a few snippets of Japan that most tourists don’t usually visit. I definitely recommend Iwakuni for those in the Hiroshima area. 

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