AWAJISHIMA

Awajishima is an island in Osaka bay accessible only by a bridge from near Kobe. You can either drive across it, or catch a bus. Pictured here is the bus concourse, approximately seven stories off the ground. The actual bus stop is one floor up in the open air.

Some more pictures of the bridge. It’s a high speed expressway, so you’re not allowed to stop while you’re on it.

We arrived at Fukura (a city on the south side of the island) after 11PM and hit the first (only?) hotel that was available. It was small and sparsely equipped, but surprisingly comfortable.

For breakfast: Nikuman, anman and the expresso.

The Narcissus flowers on the southern side of the island (as popularised by Narcissu) bloom from late December to mid February. During this period, there’s a bus that goes from Fukura to the flower nurseries. The price of the bus ticket includes admission to see them.

The Kuroiwa Naricussus nursery has an entire field of flowers spread over the cliffs facing the sea. More pictures of the Narcissus flowers can be found here.

We weren’t able to locate anything that looked like the beach from the final scene of Narcissu, as the southern shore of the island is almost entirely composed of sharp rocks. However, there may be some beaches towards the south-eastern end which we couldn’t reach due to the lack of public transportation.