|
| |
|
TOTTORI |
| |
|
|
| |
The main rail and road routes east of Matsue continue along the
coast, crossing into the neighbouring prefecture Tottori-ken and through
Yonago , an uninteresting industrial city with a nearby airport. Trains
from Okayama on the JR Hakubi line terminate at Yonago. Stick to the
coast until you reach the prefectural capital of TOTTORI , famous in
Japan for the sixteen-kilometre-long sand dunes at nearby Hamasaka.
Although they've been designated a national monument, there's nothing
especially unique about the dunes and they're not worth going out of
your way to see. However, it is an atmospheric place, where tourists get
swallowed up by the enormity of the sand hills and there are also camels
imported for would-be Lawrence of Arabias to pose on.
The dunes are a twenty-minute bus journey north of Tottori Station.
Buses leave from platform 3 at the bus centre next to the station and
pass through the city centre on the way to either Sakyu Kaikan, beside
the dunes, or the Sakyu Centre, overlooking them from a hill. The centre
is nothing more than a souvenir and food stop for the tour buses that
pile in daily. There's a chair lift (daily 8am-5pm; ¥200), which runs
between the centre and the edge of the dunes, but you can just as easily
walk between the two
|
| |
|
