Finding Ponyo in Tomo-no-Ura
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October 4, 2013 - Finding Ponyo in Tomo-no-Ura
Being a big fan of the Studio Ghibli movies and especially Gake no Ue no Ponyo by Hayao Miyazaki-sensei it was a must to me to visit the "hometown" of Ponyo and Sosuke called Tomo-no-Ura located a 35 minutes bus ride from JR Fukuyama station.
The bus stopped by the tourist information center where I got off (it continued on to another bus stop further away) and visited the information center.
Greeted by very welcoming staff (one who spoke very good English) who took time to print me an English guidemap too. In the information center was a shop where you could buy local products as well as a corner dedicated to Ponyo.
With the map in hand I went on the street passing the sea. You could see some islands from here. One which had boats headed for Sensujima. There was also an island called Bentenjima with a shrine on it, not sure if you could actually visit it though.
From the bus stop there was a paved walk on both sides of the main road throuh Tomo-no-Ura which I followed to the harbour area. The terminal bus stop Tomoko for the bus from Fukuyama was here too.
Apparently there was a ferry leaving from the harbour area to some of the islands.
The road narrowed down and continued to the other side of the bay where the Joyato lighthouse could be found as well as a museum and more boats.
Moving on from the lighthouse to one of the narrow streets toward the west. I passed a small police station on the way as well as some nice shops and houses. Also passed a small shrine building until arriving at the other end of the bay with yet another sidewalk by the water. There were some workshops that could be seen while walking on these narrow streets too.
Continuing on the road by the bay to the south passing one intersection that apparently was in the Ponyo movie, not to forget the daycare center where Sosuke was attending. However the eldery care center featured in the movie was not located by this place but north of the city center apparently. On the wall around the daycare center was a nice picture depicting Ponyo.
At the southwest part of the bay there was a temple located, called Yodohime shrine according to the map by the police station. However it looked quite deserted.
After the visit to Yodohime shrine I went all the way back to the harbour area and went up several stairs to the Enpukuji temple at the northeastern part of the bay. Here it was possible to enjoy views of the islands as well as the ferry to Sensujima island.
Some stairs down from the temple grounds took me past a small shrine building before heading back to the Tomo-no-Ura bus stop and tourist information center, eventually catching the bus back to Fukuyama.
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List of Posts:
2015/10/22 - Off the beaten path: Kagoshima to Osumi-peninsula 2015/10/21 - Kaimon-dake, reaching for heaven 2015/10/17 - Nightly adventures, night train from Izumo to Tokyo 2013/10/04 - Finding Ponyo in Tomo-no-Ura 2013/10/03 - Nara with Wakakusayama |
