Shimonoseki on the 1st day

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Kaikyo Yume Tower



We decided to go to Kaikyo Yume Tower, which is one of the landmark towers in Shimonoseki. We went to the reception to buy the tickets. The receptionist heard that I was telling Mark that the ticket was ¥600. She told me that the foreign national is half price; Mark was asked to pay ¥300. I told her that I’ve got British passport. She said, ‘Wow!’ And she asked me if I could show my passport. She asked me how I got British citizenship. I told her that I’d married to British husband and have been living in Britain for nearly 20 years, and became a British citizen in 2006. She asked me if I took the test. I told her that I managed to avoid the citizenship exam, which was introduced a month after I had applied; luck is a part of my skills. I was as well given half price for the tower.



We got on the lift – it was a see-through lift surrounded by glass walls and allowed visitors to see the views of the cities – I found it a bit scary while the lift was going up. We first looked out at the views from 30^th floor. From large windows of the observatory, we were able to marvel at panoramic views, overlook the city, harbour, Moji harbour, several islands and a stream of freight ships and passenger ferries in the Kanmon Strait. I pointed out Ganryujima Island for Mark and explained that there were two famous warriors Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro and they fought at the Ganryujima Island in 1612. I also pointed out the direction of Karato, where we were going to visit the next day.



We went down and found the restaurant and the café, both of which have tables facing to the windows which would allow diners to see panoramic views.



On the 28^th floor, we overlooked the views of the city and the harbours from the observatory. We learned that Shimonoseki Kaikyo Yume Tower is one of the tall towers in Japan and the Sky Tree in Tokyo is the highest tower as of 2019. We also noted the staff charmingly made the art work for Easter celebration.







Afterwards, we went back to the hotel. We did check-in and were given the en-suite room. We had a bit of rest in our room.







Otoshi Jinja



After 4 o’clock, we headed for Otoshi Jinja near the station. We walked up on the long stairs to the main hall. This peaceful shrine was the place where historic events took places – it was said that Miyomoto no Yoritsune visited to pray for luck for the battle of Dannoura in the 12^th century; Takasugi Shinsaku hoisted the military flags in the Meiji Restoration in the mid 19^th century. There was a picture of seven warriors, which illustrated the history of Meiji Restoration. This historic shrine was transferred to the current place for the construction of tunnel for Kanmon Railway in 1940. We could see the harbour and Kaikyo Yume Tower from the site of the shrine.







After visiting the historic shrine, we went to the tourist information centre in the station, strolled through the gift shops displayed with fugu (blowfish – Shimonoseki is home to fugu and fugu-orientated gourmet) featured snacks, drinks and accessories and the supermarket. Mark was amazed at a wide variety of fresh food, drinks, commodity goods, toiletry goods, stationery items. He was also impressed with the fact that all the shelves are fully stocked and all the staff were very attentive and helpful to customers.







Yakiniku restaurant, Green Mall



Shimonoseki has a friendly relationship with Pusan and deals with regular freight ship services. In line with long term trading, Shimonoseki possesses Korean shopping districts, Green Mall, which area is nicknamed as a little Pusan.



We decided to have the evening meal at Yasumori, Korean style Yakiniku restaurant. The restaurant looked authentic and possessed pictures of celebrities – this proved this Yakiniku restaurant was a reputable one.



There were already a lot of diners and we were asked to wait a bit for the table for two people. We were invited to the tatami room and given the menu written in Japanese/Korean. Mark could see pictures of dishes. There were so many choices; I couldn’t decide what to eat. In the end, we decided to have a set meal for two – beef & pork slices, vegetables to grill, wakame (seaweed) soup and Korean mixed rice and Korean pickle – and ordered drinks. As soon as meats and vegetables had arrived, I started cooking them on the grill. Meats were quite thin; they were ready to eat quickly. As usual, Mark enjoyed Yakiniku meats, vegetables, soup and Korean style rice and pickles. As the time went, we realized a group of people came; they were having a party at this reputable restaurant.







Dormyinn Hotel had hot spring facilities – inside and outside communal bath and sauna rooms – all these facilities were divided between men and women. As for the use of the ladies’ bathrooms, I was given the pin numbers, which changed every day. In 2008 when we went to Kanazawa, I made an embarrassing mistake: I went to the men’s bathroom by mistake. At that time I took off glasses to go to the hotel’s bathroom and didn’t realize that the bathroom staff had swapped the bathrooms between men and women to let patrons to see the different features of the bathrooms. Without glasses my eyesight was blur; I couldn’t probably see the difference of the colours of red (women) and blue (men) awnings; so I went to the same bathroom as previous day. At Dormyinn Shimonoseki, I wore glasses when going to the bathroom to input the pin number correctly to enter the ladies’ bathroom securely. Both inside and outside baths were very relaxing and therapeutic – it took my mind off everyday life.

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Photos

Historic monument at Otoshi Shrine
the monument had an illustration of 7 warriors who acted for the Meiji Restoration

Yasumori
Korean Yakiniku Restaurant - celebrities go there

Kaikyo Yume Tower in the eveing
The tower has different colours of lit up every day