Not Tokyo not Osaka: Matsue

We went to Matsue in early November, 2014.

We flew to Kansai, then trained to Osaka where we overnighted.
The next day, we bullet trained for 45 minutes from Osaka to Okayama, where we changed to an express train to take us to Matsue. This trip took about two hours and forty minutes.

Matsue has a population of just over 200,000 people.

Wheels to go at Osaka Railway Station.

Bullet trains for different destinations have different shapes and colours.

From the train window.

The Matsue Tokyu Inn's standard room.

Birds on the streets of Matsue.

Our favourite restaurant, just around the corner and up the street from the hotel.

ADACHI ART MUSEUM

To get to the Adachi Art Gallery/Museum firstly catch a train to Yasugi. At Yasugi station, there are buses going to Adachi.

The gardens are behind glass ! There are some sculptures and paintings inside to see as well.

Pretty painted trains are common in rural Japan.

YUSHIEN

Yushien is a beautiful garden you can walk in ! To get there, catch a bus from outside Matsue Railway Station. The trip takes about 45 minutes.

The Matsue Castle and moat rides.

The ferry rides are truly worth every penny.

Some of the bridges are so low, you have to almost lie down to get under them.

Then out of the blue, the oarsman will start to sing a traditional Japanese balad.

Inside an old house.

A pretty shrine.

HANIWA ROAD

To get to Haniwa Road, catch a bus from Matsue Station to Yaegaki Shrine. This is a shrine for lovers. Walk through to the pool at the back. There, if you put a 10 yen coin on a piece of paper whilst thinking of a love wish, you'll find out if your wish will come true. The longer it takes the paper to sink, the greater the chances of success. One poor girl's piece of paper sank straight away ! She looked so sad.

Go back to where the bus dropped you off, look lost, and ask someone where Haniwa Road is.

Haniwa Road is about two kilometres long and has a hundred terra cotta statues here there and everywhere.

When we finished the walk we were in the middle of fields ! Instead of going back, we went up to a 90 year old, and quizzically said "bus ?" (the Japanese word for 'bus' is 'busu') The sweet dear didn't just point as I would have been happy with but rather walked us down the road for fifteen minutes before pointing.