This post was written in 2006. Some information may be out of date.
The 17th was Marine Day, a public holiday in Japan too. It was a rare three-day weekend, so I just hit the road with no plan at all.
The destination was Kanazawa, about 500 km away. That’s roughly Seoul to Busan, but on the national highways it takes about 12 hours.
The first stop was the Tottori Sand Dunes. It’s the only desert in Japan. Ah… I’d guess most of you
had no idea Japan even had a desert..
A huge hill of sand.
If you look closely…
Later I climbed over that dune myself. It was tough.. and since the ground is all sand, my feet were burning.
A shot I took while climbing the dune. Looks like a scene from the Silk Road ^_^
From the top of the dune.
The East Sea, or the Sea of Japan, seen from the top of the dune. As an aside, from Japan the East Sea lies to the west. Getting Japanese people to call the East Sea
the East Sea is a really hard sell.. ^_^
Taken from the bottom of the dune
The whole view.
The star attraction of the Tottori Sand Dunes: camels! A ride costs 1,200 yen, and taking a photo costs 500 yen. It feels a bit silly, but the line is pretty long.
In the background you can see someone carving letters into the dune.
In the manga Honey and Clover, the Tottori Sand Dunes show up in volume 8. Reading it made me really want to go,
but seeing it in person, it wasn’t exactly romantic.. Still, I’m glad I came. I got to see real camels, too..
Once is fine, you won’t regret it.. but twice.. I’m not so sure..