Amanohashidate (天橋立): Nearby Sights and 'the bridge'

I didn't get a shot of the famous busy Shibuya crossing... but here's one crossroad on my way from Capsule Ryokan to Kyoto Station. (Mental note to self: More attempts to find a seat in Starbucks in Shibuya which is said to have the best view of that crossing and watch the world go by)

Breakfast for the day - swiss roll with coffee before I make my way Amanohashidate.

Amanohashidate or "Bridge to Heaven", is actually a 3.6 kilometers sand bar planted with 8,000 pine tress. This sand bar spans across Miyazu Bay on Tango Peninsula in northern Kyoto Prefecture and it ranked as one of Japan's three most scenic views (nihon sankei) along with Matsuhima in Miyagi Prefecture and Miyajima in Hiroshima Prefecture.

It takes about 2 hours to get to Amanohashida from Kyoto. Hashidate are direct trains from Kyoto to Amanohashidate with a brief stop in Fukuchiyama.

I took Hashidate 1 which had 7 cars. Car 1 and 2 were reserved seats, car 3 to 7 were non reserved. However car 5 to 7 stopped in Fukuchiyama and not proceed to Amanohashidate. I am not sure if it happens to all trains but worth to confirm before boarding the train.

JR pass does not cover the whole train ride, only up to Fukuchiyama. I paid 1380 yen (one way) from Fukuchiyama to Amanohashidate. The conductor only collected the fare at Fukuchiyama as it was covered by a different company.

There was a ticket sleeve at the train seat. I later observed the person sitting at the opposite seat left his ticket on the sleeve so that the conductor did not need to wake him up to check the ticket.

As the travel to Amanohashidate took some time, one may want to also visit some other sights.

Chion-ji Temple Monju-do which popularly known by saying "Out of the counsel of three comes wisdom of Monju". This gate said to call the Golden Tower.

Next to this temple, a few tea shops sells a popular delicacy, a type of mochi - Chie no Mochi (Wisdom Rice Cake).

Kaisen-kyo (Rotary Bridge)

Likewise the name, this bridge is said could rotate. I didn't exactly see it in action but I think it works the same like Pyrmont Bridge.

View from the bridge...

Nearby to the bridge, one can find "Chie no Wa" (Ring of Wisdom). It is said that you may grow wiser after you pass through the ring three times (not sure exactly if it meant to throw a hoop over it or literally passing through it). There was another one at the Kasamatsu Park viewing deck.

The beginning of the walk on 'the bridge'

Yeah, I walked crossed the sand bar and awarded myself with a can of hot chocolate drink. :P

Pine trees and beach partly covered with snow. The photo on the title bar was taken in Amanohashidate, when walking cross the sandbar.

The blog post is getting a bit too long, I'll split it to another part.

Reference: Japan-guide, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), Ama no Hashidate View Land



Side note: *Yawn*