This post was written in 2007. Some information may be out of date.
Yamaguchi is home to Akiyoshidai, the largest karst plateau in all of Japan. It’s only about 30 minutes by car from Hagi, so we had a light breakfast and set off.
As you’d guess from the name Yamaguchi (“mountain mouth”), there are big mountains everywhere you go, but the moment you drive in here the scenery suddenly turns into grassland.
It was cloudy that day, so I didn’t get many good shots. Maybe because I hadn’t taken photos in a while, I also felt my eye had gotten a bit rusty. It had been quite a long time since my last trip, which was Bali. You really have to travel regularly to keep improving your photography and to shake off the stress…
Grassland that looks like flocks of sheep should be frolicking on it.
A curious forest standing in the middle of the grassland. It’s called Chojagamori.
Inside there’s an open clearing. It felt like a nice spot to set the mood if you were trying to win someone over. You could shoot a film here, too ^_^
In the forest
This is what it looks like from outside.
From the outside you’d never imagine what’s inside, right?
Taking some scenery shots as we drive along at an easy pace.
The grassland
The scenery is great, so quite a lot of people come here for a drive. We even saw a Harley-Davidson club of about 20 middle-aged guys. There were also plenty of expensive sports cars, mostly driven by middle-aged men too, which probably explains the noise. Apart from that, it was truly stunning scenery.
A photo taken from the Akiyoshidai observatory
It’s really vast.
Scenery
Dolines
These dimple-like hollows are a distinctive landform you only see in karst terrain. The rocks jutting out of the ground are another hallmark of karst. Seeing it once in a place like this will stick in your memory far better than memorizing it from a geography textbook.
Scenery
Scenery
More dolines
From the car on the way back
This is roughly what the landscape looks like.
It’s truly a place Yamaguchi can boast about to the whole country. I doubt you’d easily come across scenery this beautiful anywhere else in Japan. It was the highlight of this trip.