This post was written in 2007. Some information may be out of date.
I used a rare long weekend to visit Onomichi. Onomichi is a port town about 80 km from Hiroshima, and like Okayama it’s a transport hub with an expressway linking Shikoku to the mainland. The main goal of this trip was to try the nationally famous Onomichi ramen, but beyond the food, Onomichi itself is small yet well set up for tourists, so it made a nice day trip.
A dinosaur park at the Yokohama Tire factory, found while I was lost
There’s an old town and a new town (I was headed for the old town, but while hunting for free parking I ended up all the way over in the new town, ugh), and the port on the new-town side was really big for the size of the city.
Tyrannosaurus
A dinosaur made of tires. Pretty elaborate.
Houses in the old town
After finding free parking and leaving the car, I took some shots of the residential area. It’s a cramped little town, but the hills are insanely steep… a real hillside shantytown…
Onomichi Station and Onomichi Castle.
As you can see, the station is tiny. There’s nothing much inside either.
The railway cutting right through the middle of town.
Somehow I really liked the old-fashioned atmosphere…
After eating Onomichi ramen, today’s main goal, I head up to the observatory on the hilltop.
Onomichi seen from the observatory
The hills and the sea sit right up against each other, which is what makes a view like this possible. It’s a town where the traditional and the modern blend together.
The observatory, a classic date spot
The view is great, but the observatory sits on top of the hill, so walking up isn’t easy. (There’s a ropeway that takes you almost right up to it.)
The port seen from the observatory
Apart from the observatory there’s not much to see, so I head straight back down.
A Ferris wheel out of service
I guess it’s out of service because it’s winter… A lonely sight.
Plum blossoms
It’s plum blossom season in Japan right now. Really beautiful.
Onomichi Castle
It looked abandoned…
The port seen on the way down
White plum blossoms
I thought Japan only had cherry blossoms, but there are quite a lot of plum trees too… Since they’re showy flowers you see in the cold, dry winter, just looking at them cheered me up…
The railway at Onomichi Station around sunset
The sun is going down.
Onomichi Castle, looking up from below
It’s insanely high. Climbing all the way up there wrecked my back, sob.
Onomichi is famous nationwide because films set in the town in the ’70s and ’80s were big hits, but that probably means nothing to Koreans. (Tomoyo Harada doesn’t look all that cute when you watch her now, either.) For people living around Hiroshima it might be a decent day-trip date spot, but going twice would be a bit much… I’d thought of stopping by if I ever got the chance to travel to Shikoku, but I don’t think I’d miss it if I just passed it by…