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Chuugoku refers to the central portion of Japan, or more specifically the
area of the main island Honshu that is west of Osaka / Kobe. If you start
in Osaka and move west then the first area you will encounter is Okayama
Prefecture. I stayed in a rural village there that's still preserved as it
was hundreds of years ago : the houses have foot thick thatched roofs,
there was a cooking pit in the house, and I saw a group of people planting
rice by hand. Nearby was a potter selling
Bizen-yaki
pottery he made, that's the regions well known speciality. The house is part
of the
"International Villa"
program.
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Continuing west you'll reach Hiroshima. This was the first atomic bomb target
and is the more famouse of the two among westerners. Unfortunately the blast
destroyed the city completely and it's now a modern metropolis. The only
sites of interest to tourists will be the
Hiroshima Peace Park
and the "floating temple gate" at Miyajima Island, considered one of the three
most scenic views in Japan (but I don't agree). You can find some other ideas
of what to see in Hiroshima from
Kansai Time Out.
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Finally, nearing the western end of Honshu you'll reach Iwakuni. This city is
famous for the Kintaikyo 5-arched bridge. It used to be that only Samurai were
allowed to cross, but if you pay a few hundred yen then they'll let you cross
too. There's also a castle and some samurai artifacts, but they aren't very
interesting and it's probably better to leave after seeing the bridge.
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Once you reach the end of Chuugoku, at Shimonoseki Station you're likely to
see a train bound for USA, a Japanese city on the island of Kyushu.
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