An Urban & Industrial Walk to Iwakuni

 

When I got off the ferry on the mainland, the rain had stopped, though it looked like drizzle back on Miyajima.

A dull and overcast day and my route was confined to busy roads through built-up and industrial areas with little to look forward to. No-one ever said pilgrimages were supposed to be fun and pleasant all the time.

However, I was able to find interesting subjects for my photographic compositions.

When Japan planned its rebuilding after the war, it decided to place as much industry as it could on the coast between Tokyo and North Kyushu. Close to the ports where raw materials would be imported, the population was encouraged to move to where the jobs were and so most of the population now lives in that strip. This was the primary cause of the depopulation of the countryside and the other parts of Japan, especially the Sea of Japan side where I live.

Not sure what kind of factories I passed, lots of refineries and chemical plants, methinks. Must have been hell 60 and 70 years ago before they installed pollution controls.

This huge paper mill was located just before the border of Hiroshima and Yamaguchi and so I would be spending the first of many nights in Yamaguchi.

The view from my hotel room was colourful....

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on my early morning walk on Miyajima.