Obviously, the seaside shrine is the main draw. It has existed since the 6th century, with expansions and fame coming from its associations with powerful figures of Japanese history, Taira no Kiyomori and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and is dedicated to the 宗像三女神 Munakata sanjoshin, three kami of the sea and daughters of Susanoo no Mikoto. Besides the torii, it is famous for its kagura dance stage and long red corridors.

The obvious downside of the main shrine is that it's very busy, and any deviation from the main path between the port and the shrine is an opportunity to escape the crowds. Or so I thought when going up to this pagoda and the Senjôkaku to the left. This large hall, said to measure 1000 tatami mats, built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi is the nearest elevated viewpoint to the shrine, so it was busy, to the point it reminded me of an airport departure hall...

No, you'd have to go even deeper to get some proper space and the impression you're doing something different. On the day I visited, three years ago to the day, it was hot and I had plans to catch the Hello Kitty Shinkansen on its afternoon run to Kyûshû (RIP). So I only got as far as Fujinotana Park, which is definitely not far. Miyajima deserves a second visit in a cooler season, to see more of the less trodden areas.

"Any post, deer?"

One last unmissable part of the Miyajima experience is the deer. Like at Nara, they're everywhere, including on the most touristic paths, and they're not very afraid of humans. Is the one below booking its spot as head of the queue for the restaurant?

Gion Matsuri first took place in 869, with a procession to pray to the gods enshrined at Yasaka-jinja for purification and protection from epidemics. Designed as a "parade of the provinces" of sorts, with one 'spear' for each province, today there are two parades, 前祭 saki-matsuri on 17 July consisting of 23 floats, and 後祭 ato-matsuri on 24 July with 11 floats. There are two types of floats: 鉾 hoko, or 'spears', the taller floats on wheels as shown in the video and the photo above, and smaller 山 yama, or 'hills', or 傘 kasa, 'umbrellas', transporting mikoshi miniature shrines, which tend to be carried, as shown below.

The floats are richly decorated with wonderful tapestries. One would expect these to be traditional Japanese motifs dating back to the festival's origins, but you'd be mistaken. For example, the two tapestries featured below, "Egypt" and "Baghdad", are definitely not traditional Japanese!

They are more reminiscent of 19th-century European orientalist imagery and... well, they are. The associations which operate the Gion Matsuri floats have collected tapestries (link to gionmatsuri.org article) from various time periods and locations, including 19th-century Europe. I remember the Egypt one being from Belgium, but I can't find the source again. Below, we have two examples with a more classic Japanese feel.

As mentioned in my previous post, Gion Matsuri was, for a while, unfinished business for me. On my first trip I'd left Kyôto two days before the parade, and had only seen the run-up. Seven years later, I had the opportunity to return to Kyôto in July and witness the main event. I had been concerned about the crowds, but arriving early and looking to watch from the middle of Kawaramachi-dôri, the mid point of the course, I had no trouble securing a spot to spectate, and it wasn't all that busy in that area, I could still walk around and change vantage point with little difficulty. A wonderful, colourful, vibrant moment, I'm glad I went back for!

The trains, with noses actually inspired by the aircraft of the time, originally didn't have a name, they were just "Shinkansen trains", as they couldn't mingle with other types anyway due to the difference in gauge between the Shinkansen (standard gauge, 1435 mm between rails) and the rest of the network (3'6" gauge, or 1067 mm between rails). The class would officially become the "0 Series" when new trains appeared in the 1980s, first the very similar 200 Series for the second new line, the Tôhoku Shinkansen, then the jet-age 100 Series. Yes, the 200 came first, as it was decided that trains heading North-East from Tôkyô would be given even first numbers, and trains heading West would have odd first numbers (0 is even, but never mind).

Hence the next new type to appear on the Tôkaidô Shinkansen was the 300 Series (second from left), designed by the privatised JR Tôkai to overcome some shortcomings of the line. Indeed, the curves on the Tôkaidô were still too pronounced to allow speeds to be increased, while all other new lines had been built ready for 300 km/h operations. But a revolution in train design allowed speeds to be raised from 220 km/h in the 80s to 285 km/h today, with lightweight construction (on the 300), active suspension (introduced on the 700 Series, left) and slight tilting (standard on the current N700 types).

Examples of five generations of train used on the Tôkaidô Shinkansen are preserved at JR Tôkai's museum, the SCMaglev & Railway Park, in Nagoya, with the N700 prototype lead car outdoors. It's striking to see how far high-speed train technology has come in Japan in 60 years. The network itself covers the country almost end-to-end, with a nearly continuous line from Kyûshû to Hokkaidô along the Pacific coast (no through trains at Tôkyô), and four branch lines inland and to the North coast, one of which recently got extended.

Well you leave the temple alone and build around it. So, in between the big name drugstores, Animate, clothes shops and cafés lined with the street's signature bricks and tile floor, here's the entrance to Seishin-in, with traditional wooden doors and tile roofing. It is also just visible in the first picture - see if you can notice it.

Seigan-ji is easier to spot, further illustrating the contrast. Online maps show that this temple even has a cemetery in the middle of the next block, completely encircled by shopping streets and businesses.

It's a similar situation for Tenshô-ji, though, this far up the high street, the commercial tissue becomes less dense. These temples seem a bit larger and own more land. Still, we've gone from a towering, mineral, covered street in the top photo, to an open path with low buildings and plenty of vegetation, with no transition.

Takamatsu (0 km) is a port city on the spectacular Seto Inland Sea. The former castle, with moats, stone walls and a few turrets still standing, is a couple of hundred metres from the station, close enough to feature.

While the main keep is long gone, the grounds offer a nice park to stroll through. The best park in Takamatsu is undoubtedly Ritsurin, but it's not on the Yosan line, so it's a post for another time.

Sakaide (21 km) is the last station before the Seto Ôhashi line branches off, headed for the main island of Honshû and Okayama city. Hourly rapid Marine Liner services do the heavy lifting on the cross-channel route from Takamatsu. The above video (not my recording - I do have one from Imabari, but it's not this good) allows us to hear the "train incoming" melody used in stations where Seto trains stop. The tune is based on an award-winning 1972 song by Koyanagi Rumiko, Seto no Hanayome ("bride of Seto"), which tells of a woman going to Shikoku to get married, and, having noticed it, it's going to be なつかしい for me, a warm reminder of my time in Shikoku.

Utazu (26 km) is on the other side of the junction, and is where the Ishizuchi express services for Matsuyama join with the Shiokaze from the mainland. This shot is technically off the Yosan line, on a train to Okayama, but it gives us one of the better views of the long road & rail bridges.

A year ago, I planned a trip between Hiroshima and Kokura on what I feel is the wackiest train concept imaginable. Take the 500 Series Shinkansen, an absolute rocketship (and IMO the best train ever) and wrap it in pink. That didn't sound too appealing to me when I first heard of the project, but I've got to say, the livery is a banger, and turned a lot of heads at every station we stopped at!

The train remains on a regularly-scheduled service, a return trip between Hakata, Fukuoka on Kyûshû, and Shin-Ôsaka as an all-stop Kodama, so it's a normal train... save for two cars. Car 1 is basically a shop, while car 2 is the Kawaii! Room, a seating car in full Kitty mode!

The front of car 2 also has a space to pose with Kitty-chan. As a collab, the Hello Kitty Shinkansen takes the opportunity to showcase the prefectures JR West serves, with Kitties on the map promoting each area's special feature, such as "the great lake" in Shimane (Shinji-ko), "we love this pear!" for Tottori (though Kitty seems to be holding an apple?), takoyaki for Ôsaka, and Hyôgo is "proud of Bread" (any thoughts on that @todayintokyo?). These 8 local characters are repeated on each of the 8 cars outside.

While I'm not a fan or particularly knowledgeable about Hello Kitty, I thoroughly enjoyed riding this train. It's over the top with Easter eggs everywhere, down to the jingles! (not my recording)

All that's left to say is...