Japan Travelogue - 'HAINAN' in Japan

When the ‘Tokkyu’ (Special Express train) I was travelling from Shin Osaka to Kumano at Wakayama Prefecture had a brief stop at a station and I happened to look out of the window, I was pleasantly surprised to see the station name was ‘Hainan’ in Chinese (pronounced ‘Kainan’ in Japanese). Before the train pulled off, I flipped out my camera and took a shot of the sign of the station’s name.



I was heading for Kumano, at the Southern tip of Wakayama, which was designated by UN as a World Heritage site. Kumano is a ‘divine place’ (Reiba) of Japan, with many old shrines built several hundred years ago which are linked with stoned paved tracks and steps lined with cedar trees of several years old. For centuries the pilgrims make their rounds of shrine visits by treading the tracks.