Japan part 3

My last night of 7 spent on the island of Shikoku and it's been a lovely experience. Yesterday I left Kochi down in the south and headed west and north to Matsuyuma, the biggest city on the island with about half a million inhabitants. First on the Monogatari or tourist train with its sideways facing seats and hostess service:

A bit glitzy perhaps but it went nice and slow and stopped for photos and also for the locals to sell their wares at some of the little stations. A fair few people were around to wave us on including railway staff dressed up:

And along the Pacific Coast briefly:

Then inland along rivers and fields:

By now I had switched onto a one carriage local train with bench seats down the side and the driver tucked in a little compartment up front so we could see the track ahead out the big window beside him.

The warnings back in Kochi of track closure due to rockfall turned seemed to have elapsed - maybe very efficient track clearing. It was nearly three hours on our little train with no toilet so we made a half hour stop at this station with an interesting bench:

And this one was at Uwajima where I changed onto the express train:

With a car these little villages would be fun to explore - they even have single track roads to enjoy. Saw evidence of a lot of timber extraction. The hills are completed covered in lovely mixed woodland. Not sure you would get many views on a hike.

Today I was up early and in the line for the famous Dogo Onsen Rokan which was just 2 mins from the hostel. Luckily a Japanese fellow was also heading there so showed me the ropes. Queuing at 6am:

I didn't take this photo:

First you sit on a little stool and wash with a shower hose then climb into the pool. Quite warm but very relaxing. You fold your towel and put it on your head since the floor is quite wet! I noticed most people stayed about 15 mins max.

That set me up for the day and next I was off to see Matsuyama Castle, another original one though many parts had been rebuilt after fire damage. I took the chairlift up:

Amazing to think that there was virtually no-one here when the castle was first built around 1600:

I then headed down to the town and wandered about.

No bruised apples here!

But I did find a nice public footpath using the same hot springs as the onsen:

A local son, Masaoka Shiki, loved baseball but earned his statue from his literary work. Arcade:

Tomorrow back on the train and on to Hiroshima and on Wednesday to Nagasaki.

Japan part 2

The main station in Takamatsu:

The two figures in hats are henru or pilgrims following a route that takes in 88 Buddhist temples round the island, including the two I have visited so far.

My next trip was a circuit to the east and back through the centre of the island. I first headed to Tokushima, travelling along the coast:

And then we threaded through narrow valleys and tunnels. Steeped wooded slopes would suddenly retreat and reveal small settlements with fields and terraces:

In Takushima I changed trains and direction and headed west inland along the Yoshino River valley:

This train sported a children's carriage:

Maybe a bit too bright for me ... apparently this is one of the Anpanman trains in honour of a local manga author Takashi Yanase creator of the Anpanman manga and anime for kids. After one more change and a short journey northwards I alighted at Kotohira which straddles the Kanakura River:

I intended to hike up to Kotahiro-Gū or as its known Konpira-San, a Shintō shrine dedicated to the deity of seafarers. Seemed a lot of other people had the same plan and we all had to run the gamut of umpteen tourist tat emporia for the first section of the walk up the 1368 steps. However peace soon reigned supreme and the views were good:

You can see how it seems that all the flat space has been built on. 

The shrine at the top:

Gate on the way down

View down the steps

The next day I made a short train journey to the suburbs of Takamatsu to climb up Mt Yashima. Not so many steps but a few more henru and plenty of bikes at the station:

There are a lot of people cycling and a large percentage of electric vehicles making the traffic relatively quiet. Various models of these compact cars seem very popular as you can have 3 rows of seats:

I have seen very few 'big' cars.

Excavated gateway of the ancient Yashima castle with view of Takamatsu.

Approaching the temple

Various shrines at the top

View over the Inland Sea towards the island of Honshu

On the lower slopes of the mountain is a museum village - Shikoku mara - tastefully made up of traditional buildings that were endangered and moved here from around the island to illustrate its history. As with many places traditional industries and practices have moved away and become highly mechanised. Here I learnt about soya sauce making, milling sugar cane and fishing for octopus.

Traditional thatched house

Sugar cane press powered by an ox

More upmarket house interior

Exquisite lighthouse ladder

Soy sauce jars

Soy sauce vats which had to be continually stirred for months

And then it was time to say goodbye to Takamatsu and head south through the centre of the island amid the cloud rising up the steep forested mountain sides, the train clinging to the slopes above the river or charging through the many tunnels on the way to Kochi.

Kochi is the largest city on the island with a population of around 300,000. It also has its castle. All but the gatehouse burnt down in 1727 and was then rebuilt in the same style. Good views too.

Finally caught up on the blog. There is really so much to take in here. Tomorrow I am taking one of the sight seeing trains which go slow and have outward facing seats so looking forward to that!

Japan Part 1

A few days into my Japan stay now and loving it. A delightful place to travel in - feels very safe, very helpful friendly people, travel is so easy and well organised, everywhere very clean. Just as you might imagine. Due to an unintended flight change I arrived a day late into Tokyo and after a night at an airport hotel collected my Japan Rail Pass (for all the technological brilliance here a voucher was posted to me and I had to redeem it at a ticket office for a paper pass) and headed west.

I took the bullet train, the Shinkansen, which operate on entirely separate tracks at speeds of up to 200mph (320kph):

They don't turn around - the seats are on a simple mechanism and are lifted and turned for the return journey so passengers are always facing forward. This was true on many smaller trains too. Some very local ones have inward facing seats and are narrower than the Shinkansen which has 3 sets on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other.

I had tried to book a seat but was told the reserved cars were full. So I duly stood for an unreserved car. There is a marked spot for each car and people queue accordingly. Even on the very small local trains everyone forms one queue on the platform. In the event the carriage was virtually empty so got a window seat.

It's the little things in Japan that make all the difference. There was a little windowsill for no other apparent reason than rest your elbow on. The conductor turns and bows to the carriage as he leaves (I saw the same thing with supermarket shelf stackers as they left the shop floor). 

Announcements are generally made in English too and the train displays inside and out also scroll. through the info in English.

And I got a glimpse of Mount Fuji (heavily zoomed in):

My first stop was Himeji to see one of the 12 remaining original medieval castles in Japan. This one is known as the White Heron castle due to its colour and resemblance to a bird. Also very busy! All stations have coin operated lockers so easy to leave your bag and head out for a few hours unladen.

The cherry blossom is out in force at the moment too. On my way out I chatted to an American who had been on a cruise ship visit to Lerwick last summer.

Even the manhole covers are beautiful (not all so elaborate) 

I then took another train across to the large island of Shikoku to stay in this intriguing hostel in Takamatsu:

Next door to a pet lodge. Lovely place with lots of little touches and things for free which many places now charge for: laundry, towels etc. Probably cost about £30 a night but worth it. There are cheaper places, accommodation doesn't have to be expensive here.

The next day I took a 30 minute train journey to Marugame to see another smaller and far less busy original castle:

In the afternoon it was back to Takamatsu and a relaxing walk in the lovely Risurin Park:

More to follow...