The north-western side of Japan where we’ve been basing the Days 07 to 11 and second segment of trip continued to see snowfall for the second day. On Day 09, our itinerary was to head in the direction of Fukui, and visit (up to) three places: Oshima Island, Tojinbo, and Eiheji Temple and in that sequence.
Even though it’s just three places, all three locations aren’t exactly near each other: it would have taken us over an hour to get to Oshima Island from Kanazawa Station. We’d need to take a 36 minute south-bound train to Awara Onsen Station, then hop on Bus 85 for another 39 minutes to get to the nearest stop to Oshima, then walk a bit more to get to the actual bridge that connects to the tiny island. Tojinbo was to follow next, which while is a short 5 minute bus ride away, is not walkable in winter. So, just wait for the next bus to Tojinbo? Er… that bus that was operating between these two locations only runs every hour.
Not that it finally mattered: because we got snow + rain + wind when we reached Awara Onsen Station, and made our way to the bus stop for Bus No. 85. We had to make a quick important decision: if we stuck with the original plan and get off the Oshima Island stop, if for any reason the weather was too much, we would be literally stuck there for an hour before the next bus came by to bring us to Tojinbo. And we weren’t sure if we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere. In Tojinbo’s case, we were certain at least there would be dining and retail establishments for us to duck into to sheltered from the chilly weather. So, we decided to defer Oshima until we’d visited Tojinbo first.
That turned out to be the right decision: because after we visited Tojinbo, we learnt that Oshima was closed for visits until end-December. That is if the weather we got this morning had actually made it easy for us (it was not) to brave the walk across the bridge connecting the mainland to the small island.
Fukui weather in 19 Dec.Map of the Tojinbo area we visited. We got off the 85 bus at roughly where the 64-1-166 marker is. After that, it’s a couple of minutes walk to the viewing area.
It might not be easy to tell from these pictures below, but we had strong winds from the Sea of Japan, combined with rain, and heavy fall of snow pellets, all mixed with badly overcast weather. Some editing in Lightroom was necessary for the pictures taken using Canon G7X II, but it was really cloudy.
We caught bus 85 at the bus-stop in front of Awara Onsen station. Do note: IC cards can’t be used, so you’d need to pay for the bus fare using cash. The bus had a note to coin exchange machine, thankfully. The one-way ride to Tojinbo cost ¥790/adult.Lightroom edited picture from the Canon G7X II. I didn’t bring out the Sony A73, as it would had been difficult to wipe raindrops off the lens filter. It was just that much easier protecting the lens-front on the G7X II – when not on use, I tucked the compact camera right back in my jacket pocket!Also edited in Lightroom. Matt ventured down the rocks for a closer look – none of us else dared – but even he didn’t stay long there.Adjusted in Lightroom. A cacophony of sounds: the billowing wind, the crashing of waves against the cliffs, and the pitter-patter of snow hail hitting the ground.Adjusted in Lightroom. Initially, we weren’t sure if we were at the right place to view the cliffs, so we explored the area best we could. But as far as we could tell, the viewing deck in front of Iwaba Cafe is about the best you can manage in this kind of weather.We read that a sight-seeing ferry operates in calmer weather to get a closer look at the cliffs. No such service was running today: the waves were choppy.So near, and yet so far. Oshima Island got skipped: the tiny island is connected to the mainland by the 224m long bridge, with bridge fencing that looks like it’s just half a meter high. On warm summer days, the wind already blows strongly. On a winter day like today, at 1 degree C, snow hail, rain, and those kind of waves, we took one look and said our child survivability would probably be one of two kids! Not that it finally mattered, because entry to the island was closed. This is as close as we got looking to the island from Tojinbo cliffs, a few kilometers away.Seeking shelter inside Iwaba Cafe. The beverages there are a little on the pricey side for small cuppas, but the cafe offered shelter and warmth from the cold and snow hail.This isn’t only lightly edited in post-processing – the scene is roughly looking exactly that in reality. About 45 minutes after we arrived, we got a few minutes of sunshine. Everyone – OK, it was just us and about half a dozen other visitors – rushed out to take pictures. Then that light was gone and replaced back again by the gloom.Lunch at Kominamitei restaurant: we had the pork cutlet curry, fried rice, and fried soba noodles. Food was pretty OK, and they accept credit card payment.
A note about camera equipment: the DJI Osmo Pocket came out for a few videos, as did the Canon G7X II – but both went back into my jacket pockets after the rain got too much, as I worried if both would survive the dunking! The only waterproof toy I had was the S21 Ultra: which handled the picture and video taking responsibilities thereafter.
