Seto High Street

Visits to a nearby pottery district, always a sentimental journey.

We have several pieces in the cupboard from shopping trips to Seto, where pottery shops line a high street that parallels the river. We travelled there by car when Mieko was alive: it’s not far from Nisshin as the crow flies, but train connections from Nisshin are very roundabout. After Mieko’s passing, I discovered that bicycle access is even more direct than by automobile.

A route map between home in Nisshin and Seto high street
A route map between home in Nisshin and Seto high street
A graph of elevations between home in Nisshin anbd Seto high street
A graph of elevations between home in Nisshin anbd Seto high street

Health Center

This is the view looking northwest from the spur visible in the route map above. In the photograph, you can make out the entrance to a tunnel in the distance: I paused here on my first bicycle trip over this route, because I knew that scene. I had first driven through that tunnel after Mieko was diagnosed with ALS, to visit the prefectural Health Center and file her application for Intractable Illness (難病) status under national insurance.

The tunnel is bikeable, and I followed the sirens to the other side.

A view down a road ending in a twin tunnel under a hill in the distance.
A view down a road ending in a twin tunnel under a hill in the distance.

Immediately after passing through the tunnel, a sharp right and a steep climb leads to the Seto branch of the prefectural Health Center. The Center was closed on the day of this ride, so these photos were taken from outside the gate. The offices are in the white concrete building.

A bicycle parked in front of concrete wall and aluminum accordion gate, with a three-story concrete building in the distance.
A bicycle parked in front of concrete wall and aluminum accordion gate, with a three-story concrete building in the distance.
A bicycle parked in front of a sign reading (in English translation) “Aichi Prefecture Seto Health Services Office”
A bicycle parked in front of a sign reading (in English translation) “Aichi Prefecture Seto Health Services Office”

This is the outward view from the entrance to the Center grounds. Top of the world.

The outward view from the top of the hill where the Aichi Prefecture Seto Healt Services Office" is located
The outward view from the top of the hill where the Aichi Prefecture Seto Healt Services Office" is located

Miso Katsu

“Hattchō miso” is a dark red miso paste originating in Okazaki, a city to the southeast of Nagoya. The Nagoya specialty “miso katsu” is a deep-fried pork cutlet served with a red miso sauce. This family-owned restaurant on the main Seto shopping arcade is my favorite. I think we ate here together once, although memory may be playing tricks on me. Now that Seto sits at the end of an hour’s bike ride, I have an appetite on arrival and often find myself here.

A blurry photograph of the cover of a restaurant menu reading (in English translation) “Restaurant for Miso Cutlet Deep-fried in 100% Lard” and listing opening days and times with the phone number of the shop
A blurry photograph of the cover of a restaurant menu reading (in English translation) “Restaurant for Miso Cutlet Deep-fried in 100% Lard” and listing opening days and times with the phone number of the shop
A set lunch of miso cutlet and side dishes
A set lunch of miso cutlet and side dishes

Nagoya-Seto Junction of the Tōmei Expressway

The Tōmei expressway lies between Nisshin and Seto, and my Seto bicycle route intersects it at a complex elevated junction with the Nagoya-Seto Road that heads to the north. I’m not sure whether this abruptly terminating section is to be completed or has been abandoned, but it was a striking view as I pedalled past it on a ground-level side-road.

An elevated roadway that ends in midair
An elevated roadway that ends in midair

Pottery pics?

Why no pottery pics? This page is a work in progress. I’ll eventually get around to adding photos of some of the wares in the house that have come from Seto.