津和野 Tsuwano

After leaving Hiroshima it was on to probably the most remote part of the trip in a tiny mountain town called Tsuwano. While waiting for the first train of the trip I ran into a couple from Ocean Beach of all places who were going to the same place for similar reasons (few tourists, off the beaten path, etc.). Small world...After the first leg of the trip I was going to have to get a ticket on a normal train line. Oddly enough starting in March each year there is a "special" train that is apparently a big tourist draw that runs once per day...and that's how I ended up on what I hope is the last steam powered train in Japan. It took 2 hours and there were *lots* of professional photographers camped out on scenic spots of the route. The townspeople at each stop all came out to wave at the train and we even had cars pace the train while filming...When they had to re-stoke(?) the coal the train would stop for a few minutes, everyone would get out and take photos, then run back inside the cars.

Anyway Tsuwano is a town that seems to subsist mostly on tourism. It has some really old castle ruins overlooking the whole valley area, more carp in streetside waterways than people, and a couple Catholic churches which is pretty odd for Japan. It was very picturesque and the weather was finally warming up a little bit. The sculpture photo here represents dancers dressed up as herons however they look like something the Silent Hill series could run with...