Sand and Sea at Tottori!

Still catching up from my last trips in Japan. This post is dedicated to Tottori, which is famous for its Sand Museum and its sand dunes. There's a train from Himeji to Tottori every two hours, as well as direct buses to take, so it's entirely possible to visit everything in Tottori in a day.

The Sand Museum was my first stop. Its displays change each year; 2015's theme was "Germany." All of the sand sculptures, which were created by artists from all over the world, had something to do with German culture: there was a large area dedicated just to the Brothers' Grimm, Germany history (from Kaiser Wilhelm, to the printing press, to WWII and more modern events, like the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and their soccer team), German music (all the famous composers), and more. There was even a statue for Anne Frank. The lighting in the warehouse where they were stored was not cooperating with my camera, but I did manage to get a few photos to come out...

I'm pretty sure this statue is a replica of a famous painting...

Recognize this German fairy tail?

I believe this statue is supposed to represent a scene from Cinderella.

Some of the sculptures were huge and over two stories tall, like this giant castle scene. It was hard to take a photograph of it that'd do it justice.

I definitely recommend seeing the Sand Museum in Tottori. It was incredible the amount of detail and textures the sculptors were able to mold the sand into!

Right next to the museum is the other main attraction in Tottori: its sand dune (and the beach)! It was possible to climb all the way to the top, and then all the way down to the beach. For those so inclined, camel rides were offered in the vicinity (I saw both Dromedary and Bactrian camels, aka 1-hump and 2-hump camels); though by "ride" I mean you get led around on the camel in a relatively small circuit...

The water was chilly and pretty clean, and I enjoyed just walking up and down the beach as far as I could. A very relaxing day!

I took this as I began my climb to the top of the dune.

It wasn't often that I was able to get photos of the slopes of the dune without any people on it. There was no avoiding the footprints, though. So many!

I gave up after awhile and just climbed with my shoes off. The sand was very soft and fine, so it was pleasant walking barefoot.

The clouds started rolling in as the afternoon wore on, and it started raining as soon as I got on the bus back to the station (I seem to have a knack for beating the rain).

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