IN A NUTSHELL: Traveling During Golden Week? What Was I Thinking?
Iwakuni Iwakuni (a coastal town an hour south of Hiroshima city in the next prefecture down)
is famous for one thing: a elegant
all-wooden 5-arch bridge originally built in 1673 that samurai used to walk across. I really did not think
it was a popular Golden Week destination. I mean, it's a BRIDGE. Okay, it is next to a hilltop castle
and surrounded by a pretty garden and
picnic area, but those kind of things are all over Japan.
Since we wanted to make it back in time for my friend's ferry, we had a time schedule, which began to run
short after spending forty minutes in bumper to bumper traffic. Ironically, though,
we found a really good parking spot. We paid the toll and walked across the bridge.
It was elegant and all, despite being packed full of people (I wondered what the weight limit was.)
It looked like it was being re-done since many wood slats seemed quite new. Also, I saw a lot of
things that looked like nails, despite that it is famous for having been built without
using nails. Maybe the people who did the reconstruction in the 50s were too lazy.
The Famous Iwkuni Bridge
(Photo from Japan National Tourist Org)
White Snake We decided we did not have the time to wait in line for forty minutes
to take the cable car ride up to the castle, so we wandered the garden instead. Within the garden is
a small habitat where you can catch a glimpse of Iwakuni's famous "white snakes" (not to
be confused with an 80s band.) Indeed, I caught
a glimpse, and indeed, they are white. I enjoyed chatting with the cute kids in line more.
"Gaikokujin da!" They were adorable. We did the typical teacher things and asked them easy questions
in English. But we also spouted out Japanese at random to impress them. Later, near the fountain, I took
a photo of two really cute girls. We didn't see many foreigners there, but it was a friendly place.
Random Cute Kids in Iwakuni
