My Trip to Tottori|I went to Kitaro Road!
Written by aki
2023.03.06
Category: Regions of Japan Sightseeing
*This article is a continuation of the previous one.
The City of Monsters! To Sakaiminato
On the first day, we saw Izumo Taisha Shrine and then stayed overnight at a hotel.
Now, on the second day, we will head to “Tottori” in the neighboring prefecture.
First, we will head to Yonago, Tottori Prefecture. From Yonago, we transferred to a train called “Sakaiminato Line” to Sakaiminato Station.
Sakaiminato is the birthplace of a Japanese cartoonist named Shigeru Mizuki.
Shigeru Mizuki wrote a manga about yokai called Gegege no Kitaro.
Therefore, Yonago and Sakaiminato stations have characters that symbolize the world of the manga.
This is a view of the platform at Yonago Station.
Trains with characters on them, aren’t they cute? This is a character called “Medama Oyaji”.
By the way, Kitaro’s voice is also used in the train announcements.
This is a yokai called “Ittanmoten”. It is the specter of white antiquity.
This is “Nezumiotoko”. Translated into English, it means “mouse man”.The character is half-human and half-yokai.
Well, here we are at Sakaiminato Station!
Upon exiting the station, we found a commemorative stamp. This is Kitaro, the main character in “Gegege no Kitaro”.
In front of the station, there are many bronze statues of “Gegege no Kitaro” characters. They are cute.
At Sakaiminato Station, visitors typically tour the “Gegege no Kitaro” objects and browse the souvenir shops.
Even the police boxes have Kitaro characters!
There were such adorable characters that you couldn’t help but want to take a picture with them.
There is also a memorial hall for Shigeru Mizuki, and it looked like there was an exhibit of his works there.
The whole town has a Gegege no Kitaro worldview, so I was excited to see what yokai would be next!
The souvenir shop also had a variety of cute patterned goods, and it was a lot of fun to visit the various stores.
Yes, Sakaiminato is also famous for seafood.
I had squid squid. It was quite large, 300 yen, and cheap.
Very satisfying train trip to Izumo & Sakaiminato!
We traveled in two days by train and enjoyed seeing the shrines, getting to know the cartoon characters, and eating again.
Personally, I like the food in this area. Some sweet treats, some seafood, and I was very satisfied.
There are transfers, but access by train is not bad. It was a short walk from the train to the tourist area.
How about adding one of these to your Japan itinerary? If you do, please let us know on Facebook or elsewhere!
Aki’s Kodawari Point
Personally, I like the characters in the book “The Battle of Rabaul” by Shigeru Mizuki. I wonder if anyone knows him.