On next morning took JR Thunderbird express train to Fukui city in abt 80 min direct. There were plenty of vacant seats on the reserved cars. Btw, the train staff onboard did not ask for train tickets for validation – unlike in the past for reserved seats. Also, rain and misty clouds dominated the landscape when entering into Fukui Prefecture – similar to our last three experience passing by Fukui.
Meanwhile, overhead tracks (for Shinkansen trains) are being built when entering into Fukui Prefecture, while the JR Fukui station is being expanded for the future Shinkansen station. Re the JR West magazine onboard the train, it has been planned that the Hokuriku Shinkansen would extend to Tsuruga (from Kanazawa) in 2024.
Picked up rental car and drove towards Echizen Kaigan in rain (in about 30 min w/o much traffic) on Sunday morning. Fortunately, the rain stopped when we reached the coast and before turning south towards our first stop.
Hokojima (鉾島)
The pillar rocks are akin to those in Sounkyo/Daisetsuzan, Hokkaido. As it was after fairly heavy rain and still windy, did not bother to climb but went for lunch nearby.
Arrived at a local restaurant overlooking the coast. Ordered 2 kani-don set – kani was seasonal “Seico” kani. Re the staff the Seico-kani and the Kabako-kani are the same, though the former name is used in Fukui. At the end it took more than 20 min for our 2 sets to arrive. But the wait was worthy – the entire bowl of the rice was covered by crab legs and beneath it was a sumptuous amount of crab meat and roe !
It was the best kani-don we ever had !! And it was compatible with the price of a (Kabako) kani-men in Kanazawa-oden. It is good value for money given the great taste and the fact that much manual effort is required.
After such a palatable lunch, we headed slightly further south to watch the Benkai-no-Sentaku Iwa (Benkai’s laundry rocks) before heading northbound to Tojinbo. The rocks look akin to those along the Miyasaki coastline in south-eastern Kyushu, though on a smaller scale.
Tojinbo (東尋坊)
It took about 30 min to arrive at Tojinbo, passing by the Mikuni coastline when sun rays emerged – much to our surprise but of course highly welcomed.
After leaving the paid parking lot, we passed by numerous restaurants, food stalls, souvenir shops on both sides of a lane before arriving at the coastline where the spectacular cliffs are. The rocks are in pillar shape similar to Hokojima but of a larger scale with bluffs, as a result of relentless erosion by sea waves.
=====> Fukui (Part 2) =====>