Issue 18 - mountains, valleys, bridges
A possibly weekly email about what's been going on in my brain
19 - 25 March 2023
In my head this odyssey was broadly composed of five parts - the snowy north, the balmy south, Kyushu, Shikoku, and finally Honshu. Technically I've already done a bit of Honshu with Hiroshima last week but let's ignore that because I'm on part four, Shikoku, now which is all brand new to me! When planning I didn't even really know where to start with Japan's least visited main island so I left the itinerary to my travel agent. A large part of it is deep in the centre of the island in the Iya Valley and, along with Okinawa, was a large part of why I learned to drive: I knew I couldn't have these experiences without a car. That's not how I started my journey through the island though.
Shimanami Kaido
I arrived on Shikoku by bicycle which is not my usual mode of transport. Train, plane, ferry, sure, even car recently, but I haven't cycled anywhere for years.
You can get to Shikoku by what is probably a very comfortable ferry in just over an hour from Hiroshima, but there is another way to cross the Seto inland sea: the Shimanami Kaido. An expresway joining six of the many islands that can be traversed by car or by bicycle. There's even a blue line painted on the road to help cyclists navigate the 70km or so route.
I was a bit smitten with the idea of cycling it after seeing Abroad in Japan's and Sharla's videos on it. I certainly didn't entertain doing the full thing in a day like they did, but splitting it over a couple of days should make for a leisurely jaunt right? See the sights, enjoy the view, breathe in the outdoors.
This is all a lead up to telling you that my frail, old-man body was aching and sore after barely half a day of riding. I had everything going for me: a brand new 24-speed rental bike (and yes I'd set the seat height correctly), glorious clear weather but still cool at around 15°C, and apart from some inclines leading up to the bridges the route was largely smooth, flat asphalt. My hubris (or perhaps naivete) in thinking that I could just get on a bike and do 35km in a day after not riding a bike in well over a decade. Cycling pretty much uses the same muscles as walking right?
The journey though is gorgeous. It took me through towns, past farms, and over bridges with nothing between me and the azure sea and lush, almost tropical forest surroundings. I started all bunched up with the other riders who took the same ferry as me, with some immediately zooming off into the distance (without exception they were wearing lycra and sunglasses), but as the day rolled on I saw fewer cyclists and more of each of the lovely little islands. In the afternoon I stopped by a beach to try and give my posterior some time to recover (unsuccessfully) and just chilled and read my book for an hour. Thankfully my ryokan for the night had a phenomenal, almost scalding bath that eased some of the aches. It also had thin walls and some very heavy footed guests so swings and roundabouts really.
I had forwarded my luggage onto my next hotel (I wasn't in fact towing it behind me) which meant I was travelling light. Light enough to only have a single dose of ibuprofen to hand which gave me some extra impetus to try and finish the ride before it wore off. Despite the discomfort it was still a sublime second day of riding, rounded off with a 4km long suspension bridge with the most breathtaking views. I could not have done the whole thing in a day, I would have quailed at my aches and pains and taken a ferry, but anyone used to cycling would likely find a lot of interest on the individual islands outside of the main route (i.e. my original plan).
I did it though, and powered into Imabari train station shortly after lunch time, a little chagrined I hadn't been able to explore more but glad to be done with cycling. At least for this holiday...
Matsuyama & Kotohira
Nestled up in the north west of Shikoku, Matsuyama is the biggest city on the island and short half hour train ride from Imabari. Getting in after my bike ride, I spent a sizeable chunk of that afternoon in the massage chair in my room trying to figure out what each of the buttons did. My Fitbit counted this as a nap according to my heart rate and activity.
The next day I arrived at Matsuyama castle somewhat soggy from the pouring rain. The castle is one of only three in Japan that is original and not a 1960's reconstruction, something that is made abundantly clear inside with the precipitous stairways and punishingly low-hanging wooden beams. Situated on a hill in the centre of the city, the castle's second line of defence (Ninomaru) is home to an expansive garden that would have been lovely were the weather a little drier.
The most notable other sight that Matsuyama is known for is Dogo Onsen, one of the many places tussling for the title of Japan's oldest hot spring. It's currently undergoing renovation work and surrounded by scaffolding, so it took me walking by it several times before I realised what I was looking at. That may have had something to do with the lunchtime beers I had at a nearby microbrewery... Supposedly Dogo Onsen was part of the inspiration for Ghibli's Spirited Away bath house which I can kind of see from the photos, but the renovations have somewhat marred the likeness.
After Matsuyama I transferred to Kotohira, a tiny little town in the north of the island famous for Konpirasan, one of the 88 shrines on the Shikoku pilgrimage and renowned for its punishing approach. "Punishing" being the 785 steps just to reach the outer shrine, with more to reach the inner one, 1368 in total. My guidebook taunted me with the phrase "most people don't reach the inner shrine" which may as well have said "John's going to be doing a lot of steps today".
Bakingly hot and faintly pungent from the lemon-scented suncream I bought from a convenience store, I heard drums slogging up those steps and found a performance by a local high-school in full swing when I reached the outer shrine. With all different kinds of drums, flutes, chanting and MC'ing, it was a wonderful impromptu concert and a remarkable show of skill from kids who were, by and large, having a ball.
The path to the inner shrine was through a blissfully cool forest, though the 400 odd steps still took it out of me. I can't say the inner shrine itself or the view from it was worth the effort for a staunch agnostic like myself, but for pilgrims and ardents I'm certain it's worth the journey.
Iya Valley
A short hour and some drive south of Kotohira and you're in the Iya Valley, and I thought Yakushima's scenery was dramatic. My accommodation was up some brutally narrow roads with a sheer drop on one side and an unforgiving gutter on the other, the reward for that though is a stunning view of the valley with buildings sprouting from steep slopes and the Iya river running below.
I'll admit to being a tad nervous about staying here, primarily because I'm staying with a family rather than a business, and if my AirBNB experiences are anything to go by, I'm just plain awkward in other peoples' spaces. I needn't have worried though, the Kudos are genial and welcoming and have fed me with some spectacular local food: their green tea is grown barely a few metres from where I sleep.
The valley itself has a few notable sights: vine bridges, a village with more scarecrows than people, a hamlet with preserved old-style houses, as well as lots and lots of tight, bumpy, sodden roads to try and navigate. There was a landslide further into the valley my first night which made the drive to the Oku-Iya vine bridges gnarlier than it otherwise would have been. Of course I only found out those bridges are closed until April when I arrived there, a full hour's drive later, my fault for not checking the closing times, I've evidently become complacent since Hokkaido!
A short drive back is Kakashi no Sato or "Scarecrow Village". The story goes that local artist Tsukimi Ayano wanted to repopulate her dwindling village and created what is now over three hundred scarecrows and positioned them around the village and in the, otherwise abandoned, local school. It's a fascinating place, more haunting than creepy as all of the scarecrows are obviously a labour of love, especially when you find out a lot of them are based on real people who used to live in the village. I did have the opportunity to meet the artist when she invited me in to view some of the ones she's working on, it was a special moment even if I was at a loss as to what to say (and not just because of the language barrier).
Even farther back up the road was another vine bridge, the more popular, cooler vine bridge that everyone goes to because it's not an hour's drive away (and also open). There are steel cables carefully hidden amongst the vines, but that safety tidbit means little when you're that far up above the surging water below and there are tourists with who seem intent on whacking you in the face with selfie sticks. I was more nervous crossing it than I expected to be, and despite having my camera out, attached, and ready to shoot the only photos I took were well after I'd gotten off the bridge proper.
I had another day free to explore but with heavy rain forecast and the main sights checked off or shut, I took it as a rest day to recuperate and plan out my next few days on Shikoku.
Sidenote: driving
As of tomorrow I should be all done with my driving adventures in Japan and I am not-so-secretly very glad about that.
As I've mentioned before, I only learned to drive last year, and it was this trip that spurred me into actually doing that. Nothing else in my life up until now has been able to push me through the anxiety and discomfort to learn that particular Life Skill™. I am a reluctant driver and have never been interested in cars or car culture. So the idea of me, a staunch pedestrian, just... getting into a car and driving somewhere like it's a normal thing has been an odd experience.
I think a lot of that has been down to the vehicles: excluding the Honda Fit I used on Yakushima, the Toyota cars have almost felt like they drove themselves. I'm sure a lot of the tech is old hat, and the switch to automatic transmission probably contributed a lot as well, but it's really highlighted to me just how boring driving is. A lot of the things in Britain that kept me on my toes - double parked roads, roundabouts, unpredictable drivers, roadworks - are minimal here, so there's a banality to it that I didn't expect. I assume that's how its supposed to be rather than the all encompassing maelstrom of apprehension it was before this holiday? That's not to say I've been bored though, many of the Japanese roads I've driven on have been white-knuckle, full focus affairs.
Honestly though, I'd take a train journey over driving any day. At least then I can pop some headphones on and disassociate. Cars have been the only place I've been able to sing here though, something I'm sure my hotel neighbours would not appreciate at any hour of the day or night. From a walker's point of view though, having that little sanctuary available for you to just get in and sit rather than having to find a bench or a step or a cafe has been splendid.
The next ten days
- 26th Mar - transfer to Tokushima
- 27th Mar - Tokushima
- 28th Mar - transfer to Takamatsu
- 29th Mar - day trip to Naoshima Art Island
- 30th Mar - transfer to Kobe
- 31st Mar - possible day trip to Arima Onsen
- 1st Apr - transfer to Osaka
- 2nd Apr - Osaka
- 3rd Apr - Osaka
- 4th Apr - transfer to Kyoto
This was hand-crafted by John.