Wanderlust UK – September 2019

126 wanderlust.co.uk September 2019

Lessthantwohoursnorthof

Himejionthetrain,Iwasinthe

greenvalleyofToyooka:home

totherareOrientalwhitestork,

orkounotori,whichstandsa

metrehighwithatwo-metre

wingspan.Thisistheonlyplace

inJapanwheresuchbirds

reside,reintroducedintothe

wildbyToyookacityafterfacing

nearextinction.

Toyookaismadeupofseveral

smallertowns,includingthehot

springtownofKinosaki,which

Ilaterstrolledinabrightpink

yukata(Japaneserobe),dipping

intothesevenhotspring

bathhouses.Beforeheading

therethough,Ivisitedtheold

castletownofIzushi,where

atunnelofnearly 40 rubyred

toriigatesascendtowardsthe

castleruins.Theylookidentical

toKyoto’sfamed‘Fushimiinari’

redgates,butheretherewasn’t

asingleotherpersonwalking

throughthem.

TOYOOKA

NOODLES IN

THE FOREST

Izushi actually describes itself

as ‘little Kyoto’ – easy to see why

when you stroll its quiet streets

of wooden houses. It’s even

home to one of Japan’s oldest

theatre buildings, Eirakukan

• built in 1901 – as well as over
  50 soba (buckwheat noodle)
  restaurants, where a traditional
  local lunch consists of five small
  plates of cold soba. The town
  holds an annual soba festival
  at their Morosugi Jinja shrine


• this year, someone set a
  record for eating 132 plates
  of soba in ten minutes.

Ocean to mountain

(clockwise from this)

Mt. Kuruhi's sea of

clouds in Toyooka;

Kyoto's singing Kotohiki

beach; taking a boat

ride in the town of Ine,

wearing yukatas

around Kinosaki

Alamy, Shutterstock, Olivia Lee