Driving to Hinoyama Park Walk around Hinoyama Ring and take in the lights across the strait

I parked in the multi-storey car park at the summit and headed out onto the path. As I walked, holding the edge of the jacket draped over my shoulders, the lights traced a huge loop ahead of me. The first time I saw Hinoyama Ring in person, the curves I'd seen in photos stretched out right in front of me, and I stopped in my tracks.

My friend had gone ahead to the railing and was looking out toward the strait. I walked over to stand beside her, and beyond the ring I could see the water and the city lights. There were lights in the distance, and others tracing the path just beside us. I couldn't decide where to point my camera.

As we started walking together, the paths that had seemed to overlap now looked different from another angle. I traced the spot where the two rings cross with my eyes, then turned back toward the sea. The view changed with every step, so even on our way back to the same spot, I wanted to stop and look again.

My friend asked, 'Where should we stop next?' I pointed to a spot a little farther on where the rings looked like they overlapped. Once we got there, another stretch of city lights caught my eye. I'd thought I'd picked our next stop, but the view kept changing my mind.

As we caught our breath, we started talking about dinner and the fuku sashimi. I remembered how surprised I'd been by the firm bite of that thin slice. I'd heard that in Shimonoseki, it's called fuku as a nod to good fortune. After a delicious meal and a night view like this, the name felt just right.

Even after I finished taking photos, I kept looking out over the strait for a while. The city lights stretched so much farther into the distance than they did on my screen. I adjusted my jacket over my shoulders and tried to memorize the full sweep of the view before heading home.

We said it was probably time to head back, but my friend didn't start walking right away either. 'Let's go back to where the rings overlap one more time.' We pointed in the same direction and laughed as we walked on along the ring. I wanted to stretch out our last little detour of the day just a bit longer.