Seto Inland Sea Cruise on Asuka II – Day 3

This is a post about Day 3 of our Asuka II cruise.
On the third day, we docked at Iwakuni Port, visited Kintaikyo Bridge, and made a trip to Hiroshima.

Link to Day 1 post
Link to Day 2 post
Link to Day 4 post
Link to Day 5 post
Link to Final Day post

Just like the day before, I woke up at 5:00 AM and went out on the deck to catch the sunrise.
We had already entered the Seto Inland Sea.

The sight of small islands floating on the water matched the mystical, pale morning sky and slight haze perfectly. It was absolutely gorgeous.

The Seto Inland Sea is truly wonderful.
The waters are calm, presenting a completely different beauty from the vast open ocean. The ship, which had been swaying on the Pacific Ocean until yesterday, wasn’t rocking at all today.
And once again, I couldn’t stop taking way too many photos! (lol)

To help my niece, who suffered from seasickness yesterday, we had breakfast at the Four Seasons Dining Room on Deck 5.
We researched seasickness and found that the higher decks rock more, so we decided this would be better than the Lido Cafe & Lido Garden on Deck 11.

This restaurant serves a multi-course dinner at night, but offers a Japanese-style set meal for breakfast. As shown in the photo, rice and side dishes are served on a traditional tray (ozen). Some items, like natto (fermented soybeans) and seaweeds, were available at a buffet table.

Rice, miso soup, grilled fish, and rolled omelets make up a typical Japanese breakfast, the kind served at traditional inns.
Standard fish options are usually salmon or dried horse mackerel, but today it was sardine. It was light and delicious.

We arrived at Iwakuni Port in Yamaguchi Prefecture at 9:00 AM and disembarked around 9:30 AM.

At the port, there was a mascot character dressed as a pufferfish (I think?), along with stalls selling local specialties and handmade items.

There were four paid shore excursion bus tours available, which required advance booking.
Additionally, chartered taxi plans and a shuttle bus connecting the port to the main tourist spot, Kintaikyo Bridge, were provided.

We hadn’t signed up for a tour, so we took the shuttle bus to Kintaikyo Bridge.

Kintaikyo is a five-arch wooden bridge spanning the Nishiki River in Iwakuni City, resting on stone piers.
It is about 193 meters long and 5 meters wide, famous as one of Japan’s “Three Great Bridges” and “Three Odd Bridges.”

The bridge got its name—meaning “Brocade Sash Bridge”—because its beautiful arches reflecting on the river surface look like a woven silk sash.
However, you can only see that reflection when the water level is high.
Unfortunately, as you can see in the photo, we couldn’t see the reflection during our visit.

Still, the bridge was rich in history, beautiful, and utterly wonderful.
The woodwork is intricate, and the stone foundations are truly grand.

Japan has so many historical tourist spots that Iwakuni can feel a bit under the radar.
It might not be the first choice when planning a travel itinerary.
Honestly, if it hadn’t been a port call on this cruise, I probably would never have had the chance to visit in my lifetime.
However, Kintaikyo Bridge is definitely worth a visit.
If you ever travel to the Sanyo region, I highly recommend stopping by.

You need to pay a small toll fee to cross the bridge (500 yen for adults). Combination tickets that include the ropeway and Iwakuni Castle are also available.

Iwakuni Castle sits on top of the mountain across the bridge.
I wanted to cross the bridge and go all the way up to the castle, but my kid really wanted to see an anime exhibition at the Sogo department store in Hiroshima, so I gave up on that idea…
Since time was short, we immediately headed to Hiroshima.

First, we took a local public bus from Kintaikyo Bridge to Iwakuni Station.
This took longer than expected—about 40 to 50 minutes.

There were many Asuka II passengers on the bus, including the woman sitting next to me.
She loves cruises and has been on many ships.
She seemed very experienced, so I brought up the topic of Asuka II’s rocking.
I mentioned I was surprised by how much it swayed, but she smiled and said this was nothing at all—it was actually very smooth compared to what it can be!
Turns out, we were just getting a tiny taste of sea motion.

From Iwakuni Station, we took a train and transferred to a streetcar, arriving at Kamiyacho-nishi Station (the nearest station to Sogo Hiroshima) in about an hour.
The kids were thrilled since it was their first time riding a streetcar! On the way, we even spotted the famous Atomic Bomb Dome through the window, which turned out to be a nice unexpected highlight of our journey.

We arrived at Sogo shortly after noon.
The exhibition was an original art display for “Gintama,” a popular Japanese anime.
My kid loves the main character, Gintoki, and was super excited.
It was very crowded with lots of visitors.
Everyone was taking their time looking at every single picture and taking photos, so the crowd moved very slowly…
It took much longer than expected, and we finished after 2:00 PM.

My niece wanted to eat Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki (a famous local specialty), so I searched on my smartphone and luckily found a restaurant inside Sogo.
They say you can’t really go wrong with Okonomiyaki anywhere in Hiroshima, so we decided to eat there.

We ordered two types: a standard one with Chinese noodles, pork, and egg, and another topped with melted cheese.
The white one in the photo has the cheese topping.
Both were delicious!

After all, layering tasty ingredients together is bound to be amazing.
Honestly, though, I wished I could have come back at night to enjoy it with a cold beer… Beer and this kind of food are a match made in heaven!

Next, my niece wanted to buy “Momiji Manju” (another Hiroshima specialty), so I searched on my phone again.
A famous, highly rated shop called “Nishikido” happened to be located on the B1 floor of Sogo, so we picked up some treats there.

I picked up a pineapple-flavored one—a summer exclusive! My niece was super excited and bought a whole bunch of different varieties.

Interestingly, when we stopped by the Lido Cafe & Lido Garden for late-night snacks that evening, they had Momiji Manju from a completely different brand in three flavors! The yellow package in the photo is the pineapple one I bought from Nishikido earlier. The three on the bottom left with the deer logo—Setouchi Lemon, Hojicha (roasted green tea), and Koshi-an (smooth red bean paste)—were the ones from the late-night buffet.

By the way, my personal favorites were the pineapple and hojicha (roasted green tea) flavors!

We left Sogo around 3:30 PM and headed back.
We took the same route back to Iwakuni Station, but from there, we took a taxi back to Iwakuni Port.

A quick tip: if you’re taking a taxi at Iwakuni Station, use the taxi stand at the West Exit. There is a drop-off/pick-up area at the East Exit, but taxis usually don’t cruise by there. The West Exit is the main taxi stand, so definitely go there. We went to the East Exit by mistake and lost some time!

We finally reached Iwakuni Port around 5:15 PM.
Dinner started at 5:30 PM, so we barely made it in time!

Among the local vendors set up in front of the ship, there was a real white snake, a natural monument of Japan.
Because it’s a protected species, touching it was strictly forbidden.
Even if it weren’t forbidden, I couldn’t bring myself to touch it, but just looking at it, it was actually kind of cute!

Next to the real white snake, they were selling some kinds of white snake merchandise. The vendor strongly recommended buying something, telling me that Iwakuni is famous for white snakes and that they bring good luck for financial prosperity. I didn’t buy anything, though! (lol)

Dinner was a Japanese full-course meal at the Four Seasons Dining Room.
There were no choices on the menu, it was a set course.
This time, we toasted with beer!

After traveling so far on such a hot day, we were completely exhausted.
The cold beer sank into my tired body… Absolutely delicious!

At 7:00 PM, we watched the Iwakuni local show “Orochi” (Giant Serpent) at the Galaxy Lounge.

The general plot is about a giant serpent that comes to eat a village girl every year. The parents of the last remaining girl are lamenting that it’s their daughter’s turn.
Then a samurai appears and offers to defeat the serpent on the condition that he can marry the daughter.
After a fierce battle, he successfully slays the beast by cutting off its head!

The serpent costume is made of traditional Japanese paper and a bamboo frame, designed to stretch and contract like a paper lantern.
It was about 12 to 17 meters long.
It was dynamic, entertaining, and well-received by the audience.

After the show, it was bath time at The Grand Spa.
Since the ship was docked at the port, the open-air bath was closed today.
That was unfortunate, but I enjoyed the indoor jet bath instead.

The area around Iwakuni Port is part of the Seto Inland Industrial Zone, so it’s surrounded by factories.

Looking out from our cabin window, the night view of the industrial plant was really cool, so I invited my kid to come up to the deck, but they had zero interest…
So, I went alone to take photos.

It was colorful, but lacked any flashy glamour—a beautiful, yet somewhat lonely night scene.

Next up will be the Day 4 post.

Sweet dreams!

Link to Day 1 post
Link to Day 2 post
Link to Day 4 post
Link to Day 5 post
Link to Final Day post
If you’re interested in learning more about the ship, check out the official Asuka II & Ⅲ site here.