Luckily, I had planned a possible excursion from Hiroshima down to a city called Iwakuni and beyond there, to Yanai, so it seemed like the time to pull out that card and use it, despite my slight nervousness about using local train lines to more obscure destinations considering my lack of Japanese.
Iwakuni is a well-travelled destination - there's a US military base there as well as the famous bridge that was the main reason I wanted to go, but Yanai... that's another story. I had found snippets on Wikitravel to attract me to it in the first place, but no-one else on any forum I looked or asked could give me any more info. Consequently it was little more than the sketchiest of destinations in terms of knowing what to expect or how to get there.
But fortune favours the bold, right? Or at least that's what i told myself. Along with the reminder that on a day that's hotter and more humid than a sweaty dog's left bollock, sitting on clean, air-conditioned trains and riding around the countryside admiring the views was probably a more sensible use of my time than slogging around a city centre.
So it was that I ended up catching the streetcar back down to the station in the late morning, then getting back on the same train which the day before I had taken to at Miyajimaguchi. This time though, I kept on going through to the terminus at Iwakuni, before changing there for an onward train to Yanai. I could have explored Iwakuni first, but it made more sense to me to go to the furthest destination first (and also I knew that the bridge at Iwakuni - my main interest there - stayed open all night ]with an honesty box], whereas I had no idea about Yanai).
Yanai and getting to it was the part I was mostly nervous about, since I was aware that beyond Iwakuni I was getting into less travelled by Western tourists territory, just like I did when I was visiting Natadera, and I have an irrational paranoia about getting on the wrong train (even if really, it doesn't matter much since I had a JR Pass and could just get off and change again for no cost if I had to). But fortunately my shorthand Japanese was sufficient to ascertain that the train waiting on the opposite side of the platform to the one I exited at Iwakuni was indeed the onward train that passed through Yanai, and I am very grateful to the two train drivers/conductors in peaked caps and white gloves who efficiently and cheerfully answered my query, especially since they were clearly off-duty.
Up until Iwakuni, and even just beyond it, things were fairly built-up, since the stretch between Hiroshima and Iwakuni is urbanised, but as the train passed into less metropolitan areas the view opened up accordingly; clearer views of the sea interspersed with rural fields of green and the hard industrial architecture of power stations and factories. It's a contrast I am particularly fond of, having grown up in a Yorkshire that was still a giant among the coal-mining counties of the '70s. I never tire of that kind of aesthetic and greatly regret that tendency these days to try and separate the two as if modern life cannot tolerate the (apparently) unholy bond of industry and agriculture (or indeed to try and pretend that in many ways they're not entirely alike at this point in time - hello battery farming). The effect was especialy heightened by the fact that the further I got from Hiroshima the more ominous the skies became, and it was pretty obvious that at some point the rain was coming - I just hoped that given my lack of an umbrella, my luck on the weather front held up long enough to get me back to Hiroshima without a soaking.
I took far more pictures than are on display on my Flickr feed as a result (most of them didn't make the cut later due to bad lighting - I had to be harsh to make sure I had enough room on my phone to take more), and no doubt was an object of curiosity to the locals for my interest in the kind of view most tourists pass through with their eyes closed. But hey, I stood out like a sore thumb at this point anyway, so what do. I think all in all the journey took the best part of two hours, but I did manage to establish that I was on the right train, and I did manage to get off at Yanai just fine - into what was possibly the smallest station I passed through on the entire trip. It even had less platforms than Kagaonsen, due to the fact that the fast trains all take a different route along the (further inland) shinkansen route, and none stop in the city itself.
I had established enough from the info on Wikitravel to know that I had to head directly away from the station to the historic part of Yanai, the so-called "street with white walls". But to my surprise, as soon as I stepped onto what was clearly the main road through town, I found signage for the cultural sights in both Japanese and English. Granted, they were just general direction signs with distances against them, and they would serve to confuse me further within 30 minutes but HEY, the point is that even in a city (and honestly it's pretty small for a city) off the normal western tourist track, there was English signage. Which I think is pretty impressive compared to what you might expect in reverse in a smaller town in the UK.
I liked their roadside maps less, since I wasted another half an hour trying to find a Tourist Information Centre which it later transpired I had passed several times.... because it was closed and had no outside signage *gnashes teeth*. This had completely messed up my direction-finding because it had deprived me of something to anchor my landmarking on (TICs are great fpr this purpose, and I often use them in my head as map-centres). So we will gloss over the amount of additonal walking and swearing that occurred during that portion of my visit and until I accidentally stumbled on a second Tourist Information Centre, which explained some of the confusion surrounding my attempt to find the first one (I think I got some of the signs for the one confused with signs for the other, and thus was going round in a circle).
However, YAY, TIC - and that means I managed to acquire a map which had English information on it, even if the person staffing the TIC did not speak any herself. Yes, it was one of those "artists impression" maps that were the bane of my life while I was in Japan, but at least it gave me a vague notion of what I was looking at as I retraced my steps through the historic "Street with White Walls". Yanai really is very pretty, despite the gloomy weather and the lack of people (Mondays in early July are obviously not a busy day for tourism of any kind), so I ambled around the streets and alleys just enjoying the Edo era ambience and architecture and being greeted cheerfully by locals. There were quite a lot of them about, occupied with cutting up tree branches, decorating them with paper goldfish and placing them randomly about the town. I assume, though I didn't have the Japanese to ask, that this activity was related to the upcoming Tanabata but either way, it stopped the streets from being completely empty, which was nice.
I didn't go into any of the designated museums while I was in Yanai, mostly because I was conscious of time (the afternoon was ticking away and I still had Iwakuni to visit) and because I had a sneaking feeling that they didn't cater to the English visitor save for the one that was a long way from the centre of town. But I did decide that I had to go and see the willow tree that is said to be the origin of the name of the town - and this was where I found out just how helpful the people of Yanai really are...
There are two types of pedestrian crossing in Japan, you see - one kind operates automatically with no required input from those waiting to cross UNLESS you are blind/partially sighted and wish to press a button for audible alerts. The other kind is much like pelican crossings in the UK, in that you have to press a button to get the lights to change. I know this. I knew this in Yanai. I had run into both kinds early on in Kanazawa and noted the difference in regard to the buttons you need to press and the signage that marked them. Also, if in doubt in Japan, you NEVER cross unless the light is green and invites you to. It's a bit like Germany in that regard, though not quite as strict. Generally though it's best not to risk jaywalking - apart from anything else, having observed this from inside taxis as well as from the roadside, Japanese drivers don't respond quickly or well to it if you misjudge your crossing. Anyway - despite my familiarity with pedestrian crossings by this point of my trip, on this afternoon in Yanai I was preoccupied with a map and the fact that it was just starting to rain, after hours of grey skies. I'm not sure how long I had been waiting, in the rain, peering at a map - but long enough I guess that a car unexpectedly pulled up across the road (which was practically empty) so that the driver could get out, walk across to my side of the street, press the button on the crossing and bow/smile at me. Hahaha, well, that was probably about as stupid as I felt the entire holiday. It was kind of worse in that this wasn't something I didn't know, just a lack of observational skills. Ah well.
Another local pointed in the appropriate direction when he saw me pause and consult the map for specific directions to the willow tree and so I found it with minimal fuss but moderate embarrassment. I really want to go back to Yanai again one day, preferably armed with a bit more time and Japanese knowledge so that I could tackle the museums with more confidence. It was one of those towns that you can't help but feel affectionate towards.
In general, good coffee is hard to find in Japan (though goodness knows, Kanazawa seems determined to crack this problem, what with its proliferation of coffee shops on every corner). Not to say you can't buy coffee pretty much everywhere, it's just usually pretty awful. And I say this as a Brit, whose nation's coffee culture and quality standards aren't exactly fantastic either, let's face it. Like Japan, we're also largely a tea culture, and no amount of Costas, Starbucks or Neros are ever going to change that, or the fact that instant coffee sells like gangbusters in supermarkets over the real stuff, while instant tea fell into relative obscurity before the first adverts were even fading on the billboards.
Personally I am an equal opportunity hot drink fancier, and while I can tolerate a fair degree of mediocrity in all directions (just no sugar in my tea thanks, you heathens), it is a distinct pleasure to actually have something that tastes decent now and then. I had little expectation of Hayashi's Coffee, especially given the evident surprise and moderate uncertainty on (presumably) Mr Hayashi's face when confronted by a slightly damp Western woman clutching a wilting map and with only just enough Japanese to wish him a good afternoon and indicate an interest in purchasing hot beverages. To his credit, he got over it fast, gesturing to me to sit down and bringing over a menu (all in Japanese of course, but it didn't really matter since all I wanted was coffee and cake, which was pretty simple to work out). And once I had picked out a cake I liked the look of and asked for a coffee with milk, I sat back to watch Mr Hayashi at work and check out the shop.
Basically the cafe bit is just a couple of tables and a bar at the back, the tables having rather incongrously been dressed with what looked like tartan travel rugs in blue and green. There are signs up indicating that mobile telephones are not allowed (I can't remember about smoking) and there were a couple of shelves of art books (in Japanese) over on one side - presumably intended for patrons to browse while they drink their coffee. All in all, I suspect that Hayashi's Coffee is probably the Japanese equivalent of independent coffee shop heaven.
I have no idea how Mr Hayashi came to be the owner of that shop, given that the old guys who were lounging at the bar indulging in his coffee while I was there looked more like farmers on a day off than anything else - between the three of them (including Mr Hayashi) it could have passed for a scene from the Japanese equivalent of Last of the Summer Wine. Maybe this is a retirement gig for Mr Hayashi? Maybe it's a late midlife crisis? Who knows. I speculated on it quite a bit, but didn't draw any conclusion, except that Mr Hayashi might be something to do with the city council or trade association, since he seemed to be in charge of some kind of calendar depicting the area, which he was showing to his cronies. They seemed to find this quite funny, but there were no nudes, so I detected old-friend-ribbing at work.
At any rate, Mr Hayashi took his time with that coffee, making it from scratch just in the same way that the lady in Kanazawa's Yamada tea shop had with my pot of assam. It's the longest I have waited for a cup of coffee in a long time, but it was also the best cup of coffee I had the entire time I was in Japan, and his cake wasn't half bad either. I would have taken a picture of the shop, had I not had to make a dash to the station after I left in order to avoid the rain. Oh - and before I left Mr Hayashi offered me a plastic bag for my sunhat too, bless him, although I declined with many thanks. So if you're ever in Yanai, stop by Mr Hayashi's place and give him some business - he totally deserves it, and there are worse places to spend an afternoon than Yanai in general, really. It ended up being one of the highlights of my trip, which just shows that getting off the well worn track can be well worth the time and effort.
- More pictures of Yanai and the trip out are on my Flickr here
- I was warming up for the upcoming BUCK-TICK gigs when I went to Yanai, and when I walked through the Street of White Walls, it was Solaris that was playing in my head.
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