From the Port of Osaka, it is about a ninety-minute drive to Kyoto via expressway. For our comfort, the driver stopped about halfway at a truck stop that has been designed into the middle of the expressway. It is a very popular stop with truck drivers. There were two very long rows of transport trailer trucks (18-wheelers) between where our bus was able to park and the store with refreshments and washrooms.
Perhaps the reason this spot is so popular is the Pachinko Parlour. It is a gambling game popular in Japan even though the government is trying to discourage gambling. In 2017 a book was published called Pachinko. It is an epic classical fiction about a Korean family living in Japan in the twentieth century. It tells of their experiences with racism, discrimination, stereotyping and other challenges. It was a top ten book on Amazon, was a National Book Award Finalist and a Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee for Best Historical Fiction in 2017. I found it an eye-opener to the relationship between the Korean and Japanese cultures.
You may recognize a popular sign a little to the right of the centre in the picture above.
The satellite view shows how densely developed the country is in this river valley. The yellow flag is where the truck stop is and the green land below there is being farmed to grow rice and some other produce in greenhouses. The red flags in the top right are places where I was taking pictures of the tourist sights of Kyoto. The one-minute video below from the bus will show some of the farmland and finish up in the city streets of Kyoto.
Another satellite image from Google shows the extent of development all through the flat land of the river valley.
Do you think you might read the book “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee? Would you like to see more posts about some of the tourist attractions, temples, castles and shrines in Kyoto?
The land of the Rising Sun is definitely on my bucket list; until then, will travel through other’s posts like this one!
Have you read the book Pachinko?