Tsuwano is a town with a long history. Around here it’s also called “Little Kyoto,” and tourists come flocking every day. Sweetfish (ayu) was the main reason for the trip, but since I’d driven eight hours round trip to get here, I couldn’t skip looking around this lovely town. I parked at a local supermarket and went for a short walk.
Gorgeous weather.
I’d assumed it would be a sleepy backwater, but the place is really well kept. That’s one of Japan’s virtues.
Railway bridge
It has an old-fashioned look that reminds me of Nagasaki.
Monster-size carp
They were overwhelmingly big.
They just let them swim around like this.
What made it even more striking is that they keep them in such a narrow channel..
The church
Small in scale, as you’d expect in Japan, and as far as I know it’s the first church in Japan.
A vertical shot..
It’s a lovely building, but the trees hide it so it doesn’t come out well..
Stained-glass light on the tatami
Unusually, there are tatami mats instead of pews. I’d honestly never seen anything like it, but the light falling on the tatami is really magical. It feels like a truly Japanese-style church.
Inside the church
Statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.
Shrine entrance
After the church I wandered around for quite a while. There’s a fairly big shrine halfway up the mountain, and this is its entrance.
The train
An old-style steam train kept running for tourists. It makes one round trip from Shin-Yamaguchi Station to Tsuwano, on weekends only. I was really lucky and managed to catch it pulling out. Kids would love it. Just watching it was a lot of fun for me too..
The whistle
The smoke is pollution and the whistle is noise pollution, but it’s fun all the same. Unlike today’s vehicles, it’s kind of cool how hard it works to let everyone know it’s running.
A train on display
Looks like a photo spot..
I climbed up to the shrine halfway up the mountain.
The view is really stunning.
Tsuwano High School’s baseball field
High school baseball fever runs hot here.
Apparently this shrine is dedicated to the god of wealth and prosperity.
Lots of people come here. Even the part-time shrine maidens were pretty cute, way above the usual country-town level. The town must make a good living from tourism.
A ritual underway inside
If you look closely, they’re holding a newborn baby. It’s a ritual to bestow a blessing, and you have to spend a bit of money to get a private one like this. It’s one of the shrine’s main sources of income, too.
The shrine
It looks freshly renovated, all shiny and gleaming.
Tsuwano made a great day trip. The historic sights and the train chugging along blowing its whistle alone make it worth visiting at least once. I might come back next summer to eat sweetfish again..