Back in June, I had to visit Hiroshima Prefecture. It was during the rainy season, so I was not fully excited, but it was fixed. Still, I made a small room to adjust my itinerary according to the weather.
There is an old town called Tomonoura in Fukuyama City, east side of Hiroshima, where I had been interested in visiting. It is a small old port town with an old lighthouse.
I decided to make an overnight stay at Tomonoura, take a boat to Onomichi, and from there take a scenic train on the Kure Line along Seto Inland Sea to Hiroshima Station. Although it was initially a short weekend trip only from Saturday to Sunday, I would be able to enjoy much of Seto Inland Sea if the weather is good.
As usual, I looked at the weekly weather forecast many times and found that the weather for Friday was supposed to be good but the weather for the weekend might not. I considered to forcefully change the original plan and started with a visit to Itsukushima Shrine in the afternoon on Friday.
Except for a short visit to a bar in Onomichi about 20 years ago on my way to Shikoku Island, this was my first visit to Hiroshima Prefecture in about 40 years. I remember seeing the Atomic Bomb Museum and Itsukushima Shrine and looked forward to riding “Blue Train,” a sleeper train, back to Tokyo when I was in elementary school. Even after digging up those memories, I have a few recollections, including the oddly long ride on the streetcar from Miyajima-guchi to Hiroshima City.
Anyway, for this time, I found that high tide at Hiroshima Port would be around 2:00 p.m. on the Friday. This was matched to the time of my visit. With expected sunny weather and high tide, besides I was in Hiroshima Prefecture anyway, I decided to go to Itsukushima Shrine.
The Itsukushima Island was full of tourists. When I looked the famous torii gate on the Sea, there were many buildings behind, on the other side of the Inland Sea. Not sure what I really expected, but Itsukushima Shrine was in a suburb of Hiroshima, which was a big city. Still, the view of the large torii gate on the sea was spectacular, and the background buildings could be removed by Photoshop.
As I was sitting on a bench and looking the torii gate, I imagined that my family had not checked the tidal condition when I first visited here. It might be difficult to completely forget the beautiful scenery at high tide. On the other hand, I heard that I could walk to the torii gate when the tide is low, which would have left me with some strong memories. From the fact that I do not remember any at all, I must have come here at a halfway time. As a result, all I recall in Hiroshima were that horrified memory at the Atomic Bomb Museum and long streetcar ride, but nothing on Itsukushima Shrine.
With these thoughts in mind, I paid my respects at Itsukushima Shrine and took pictures and then headed to Tomonoura.
It was cloudy in the early evening at Tomonoura but cleared up just before sunset. The entire sky turned pink just after sunset and gradually became dark blue. Because it was on a weekday, there was no tourist, locals do not seem to care. I enjoyed very colorful yet quiet evening.
I took a bus back to Fukuyama City center and visited to an old bar “Akatsuki”, which I had visited its Onomichi branch about 20 years ago. I recalled they had operated two bars back then. I have heard that the Onomichi branch was closed few years ago, but the Fukuyama branch was still in business. To my surprise, the bartender was 80 years old running his bar day-by-day.
It was a very satisfying day.
The next day was cloudy as predicted, and I continued my trip as planned. I drank sake while eating sushi lunch in Onomichi, drank cocktails on a scenic train which had a bar, and ate okonomiyaki with whisky highball in Hiroshima City. They were what I could not been achieved as an elementary school student. 40 years are long time. Some of years may have been wasted in my life, but I am glad to become an old man.
Although there are no Blue Trains anymore, I was able to fully enjoy Hiroshima Prefecture after the 40 years.