After an all-night shoot, choosing the way home
I finished shooting in Kobe around 4:00 AM, before dawn. As I watched the sky begin to lighten over the city, I wondered how I would get back to Takamatsu City. I had two options: either take the first bullet train at 6:00 AM, or the jumbo ferry "Aoi,"
I checked the fare from Shin-Kobe to Okayama using the Shinkansen reservation app "EX," 5,170 yen , and for a reserved seat it was 5,710 yen .
However, the first flight was marked as "reservations unavailable." I checked online and found that reservations are limited if there are expected to be a large number of passengers. Since it was a Friday morning, the flight seemed to be fully booked with business travelers.
Another option: Jumbo Ferry Aoi
the jumbo ferry "Aoi," which departs from Kobe Port , is a new ship that began service in 2022. It's fully equipped and offers a comfortable journey while enjoying the view of the calm waters of the Seto Inland Sea. It departs at 8:15 and arrives at 1:00 PM . The journey takes approximately 4 hours and 45 minutes.
When I checked the price, I found that unreserved seats were 2,390 yen . However, since it was Friday, the unreserved seats were already full. So I decided to reserve a loft room (private room type) for an additional 3,000 yen. The total price was 5,290 yen ( online reservation price).
You can sleep more comfortably on the way home than on the Shinkansen.
I had just finished filming all night, and to be honest, I was pretty tired. Rather than standing on the Shinkansen, I wanted to lie down and get some sleep. With that in mind, I decided to go home by ferry.
Aoi's loft room offers ample personal space, allowing her to lie down on the bed and rest peacefully. What's more, the total fare is only slightly cheaper than a reserved seat on the Shinkansen. Feeling the cool morning air as she boarded the ship and watched the city of Kobe slowly recede into the distance, she felt that she had made the right choice.
Inside the ship, the pleasant vibrations and smell of the sea continued, and before I knew it, I was dozing off. When I woke up, the ship had already passed under the Setouchi Ohashi Bridge and Takamatsu East Port was in sight.
The charm of ferry travel and next video
Traveling by ferry takes time, but it has the added benefit of letting you savor the afterglow of your journey. The sound of the waves, the creaking of the ship's hull, the tranquility of the Seto Inland Sea stretching out beyond the window—all of these sensations resonated with the theme of my channel, "Setouchi Ambience."
The video shot on this day will be released on a weekday, as it takes time to process in HDR. We will be bringing you footage of the night view and cherry blossoms shot in Kobe!
