Journey to Shikoku Island in Japan
Hey what's up everyone Nomadic Gaijin here, I just left, I don't know about 20 minutes ago for an adventurous trip to Shikoku i'm real excited for this you guys but japan has like a thousand islands but Shikoku is one of the four major islands that make up what we all imagine of as "main Japan" Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido and this one Shikoku so every video i've shown you until now has been in Honshu, that's where I live that's where Saitama is that's where Tokyo is Osaka, Hiroshima, Niigata, Nagano, so many of those places that i took you guys through on different adventures Noto is all part of Honshu so now we get to leave Honshu and go somewhere that i've never shown you on here and that's gonna be awesome Shikoku is divided into four prefectures and I've set my sights on a main destination in each on,e the unique Naruto whirlpools of Tokushima, the luck bringing Zenigata sand sculpture of Kagawa, the historic and breathtaking castle of Kochi and one of japan's oldest hot springs, Dogo onsen of Ehime, we'll be checking those and a few other little bonus things along the way but first i gotta hit that long drive down. So i am just casually rolling by one of the most iconic mountains in the world, that's awesome whenever i journey this direction a great pit stop is Surugawan-Numazu Service Area attached to the highway for easy access it has just about everything you could need to refuel for the next part of your journey and my first of many stops along the way this is kind of an adventure to get here actually because i tried to go around Tokyo and it took me all sorts of ways around including what you saw earlier with Mount Fuji so this is a cool place because it has a dog run so this was fun to take our dogs too and then there's a really nice view of the ocean from here and Izu so you can check that out right here too anyways off to the next place refreshed and refueled i headed out towards my destination of Awaji island to stay for the night and get some nice views along the way i came across this tunnel with moving green rings felt like playing in a video game i guess they're meant to make traffic smoother it was pretty interesting there are a few ways to get to Shikoku but for my area going through owaji island is the fastest this involves crossing the Akashi Kaikyo bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world easily dwarfing the golden gate bridge in San Francisco giving stunning views of Kobe and the surrounding area you can walk parts of it, visit a museum hanging under it, it's also possible to go up on the tower and get a view from 300 meters up that is insane! Welcome to Awaji island i'll be sleeping in a michi-no-eki under this bridge to get rested and ready for the journey to Shikoku, a nice place to spend some time at night as they light up the bridge and you get to see Kobe and Akashi all lit up, it's night one sleeping in the car realized i forgot my pillows so i got nothing i'm just gonna sleep on my jackets i guess oh well, i'm now driving through Awaji island from the top of the island to the bottom only takes about an hour so it's actually pretty small island if i go there (Naruto Whirlpools) around 11 a.m or 5 p.m i should be able to see the whirlpool effect, i love you japan for your hot vending machines because it's a hot coffee right now. Welcome to Tokushima my first stop in Shikoku although the Onaruto Bridge is not nearly as impressive as the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in size it has unique placement above a straight between the ocean and the Seto Inland Sea, the large volume of water moving through here creates these unique landmarks, the bridge was built in the 80s to house a bullet train track that never came and is now used as a viewing walkway also a museum and several lookout points add to the main attractions so first is a walkway where you can head up the mountain for a view or head straight to the Uzu no Michi walkway to watch the whirlpools and it's easy to enjoy walking over this bridge and taking in that nice view then you get to a museum where you can buy a dual pass for both attractions for cheaper, or if you want to just head straight to the whirlpool view that's fine too it's a fantastic walkway with rest areas in between and gorgeous views they have these little ports that you can look down and the first time i walked over one i was just a little bit hesitant you can kind of see it was a different experience for me restaurant advertisements fill the sides when there's nothing to view that's a little bit helpful, the ocean starts to look a lot rougher here seems like it'd be really scary but actually boats come right up to it, so you can book a boat tour and get a close hand look with no problem at all, it doesn't take long to get used to the windows and that's good because the views get better each window as you go, look at that in the central area they put four of them together so you feel like you're actually walking high above the water as i stepped around a lot on it i felt like i really want to jump on this and it must be a foreigner inspired feeling because they have a sign in only English not to jump on the glass, fair enough around the corner there's a second set of these and from here you can see more boats and more of the actual naruto so i'd say this one's better and then you get this view from the window which is fantastic i'm going up the sort of "mini mountain" to check out the whirlpools from high above, yeah this is starting to feel like that lighthouse in Noto, this little thing they call Mount Naruto, funny name it leads up it's just a bunch of stairs really it's not really like a mountain, per se, but anyways at least this fantastic view and it doesn't take that long so it's pretty cool i'm still heading down i have no idea why oh there's a restaurant some shops down there look, maybe they have some ramen i haven't eaten a real meal yet just snacks pretty much, this is an easy area to miss with shops and a restaurant in fact i completely missed it last time i came here, but it's got a nice viewing area it's a cool place to visit Sanuki Udon was the exact recharge I needed, a Shikoku specialty all right so they said this is here only, it's a seaweed ice cream you know it's not bad but, yeah it's got the saltiness of like, that seaweed stuff but it's a little bit, if you didn't tell me what it was i'd probably enjoy it but just thinking about seaweed in it, to be honest it's kind of growing on me it's actually pretty good and the flavor is light enough that it's not overpowering, it's just a a slight hint of seaweed i just made a quick stop at the museum it's full of pictures and information about whirlpools in the world which was quite interesting, bridges throughout the prefecture as well as bridges throughout japan and of course a model like they always have, it's interesting how big the Akashi Kaikyo bridge really is the highlight though is the rooftop 360 degree view, if it's a really nice day this would be a place to visit for sure continuing along the coast heading toward Kagawa, a reason to always keep your eyes on the road is my first monkey encounter in Japan, almost crashed that was a close one Welcome to Kagawa, a beautiful mix of scenery and city makes this destination a must see, this is one of those places i could spend days just enjoying walks and local sites, if you're like me and you love beaches and ocean sunsets then this place with calm water and low tides makes for beautiful and breathtaking scenes alright so i made my way all the way along the coast it's where i'm staying tonight and that is close to this beach right here it's called a very funny name, Chichibugahama that's a long long name but look at it look at that right now it was cloudy all day and now it just looks like this i almost wasn't going to come here because I thought, you know, it's overcast but it just looks so nice since this water's in between Honshu and Shikoku it ends up being very calm it's not like the main ocean and all that so that's why it just looks so good a great spot for families, couples and friends people love to pose for photos above the reflecting pools, even cosplayers seem to enjoy, it as for me i'll stick with my usual self, so i've been here once before it's a different season but yeah you can't actually go in there's all these signs for "keep out" because people are observing it from above so if i go tromping around in it not only will i ruin their shots but i'll ruin all the work because this is all done by hand just made by local volunteers and things i think that's pretty cool the coin is a sculpture of money used in the Edo period with the characters Kan'ei Tsuho written on them just like the money at that time, it brings good health and good fortune with it so it's definitely a great place to visit, sunset from the beach next to it is incredible over that calm inland sea that night i stayed at a michi-no-eki that had a hot spring attached in the mountains with some hot food and a great bath to help me rest up i was ready to go, the next day it was off to Kochi driving through the center of shikoku passing tons of tunnels mountains and greenery along the way welcome to kochi with huge urban development branching off from the castle park area there's a generally nice feeling here and everyone seemed really friendly Central to the city lore is Harimaya Bridge, it's a tiny bridge with a legendary tale of a 19th century monk who was spotted breaking his vows and buying a hairpin for a lover near the bridge, they were exiled never to meet again, now there's a statue monument of them joined together so they can have a happy ending in this park with lots of places taking off with the theme it can be quite interesting walking around the area, even though the bridge has been torn apart and rebuilt quite a few times i can still feel the history as i walk across, the wood even seemed a little bit weak under my feet imagine this as your walk to work or school being able to stop by and enjoy the calm water and a coffee or a snack just a really calming feeling in this area i get why they do it but i feel a little bit sad for the monk that the number one seller around here is hairpins this path leads you right up to a large shopping strip that's covered for all weather fun you can find pretty much anything you want here but my goal was Hirome Ichiba this is a place that's got lots of local food and dishes and great stuff this was an afternoon on a weekday so it wasn't so open i guess but i imagine this place must thrive at night Kochi's famous for Katsuo-no-Tataki, it's a type of seared bonito served with wasabi and raw garlic the one i had here was salted and it was incredible and i miss it already, continuing to make my way through the city i finally came across kochi castle they were doing some construction unfortunately which is needed at most castles quite often, but still the grounds were gorgeous and nice to walk through as i walked through the park i could see people sitting in various areas just enjoying the nature and the sights around them, it was amazing how natural the entrance to the castle was like it just fit right into the city, i'm checking out Kochi castle let me check that out up there if you can really see it from here and looks like it's pretty big very excited to check it out, got all these walking sticks i can really see why they put those walking sticks up these stairs it's not just that they're big but they're kind of spaced out a lot check that out oh it's gorgeous all right and this is it after climbing all sorts of random stairs and not opting to use the walking stick we are here at kochi castle which has an incredible view all around actually it's a great location for a castle now castles in Japan vary on the inside but this one really gave me a sense like i was seeing what it was like to be in there a long time ago coming up the steps i didn't expect to be greeted with such a beautiful scene as i turned the corner some places in Japan ban photography, but this place encourages it walking through these ancient halls and seeing things like i haven't quite seen before looking out at the entryway as if i was living here, a personal rider, the crest of the area seeing all these exhibits open air was really cool and walking all these grounds i really felt like i was living there just for that time, this is a place that anyone who loves Japan should really see, aside from authentic pieces like these stone dropping windows, there were tons of models depicting life at that time which made it really cool and easy to understand how life could have been i've been to a lot of castles in Japan but this one really feels like they tried to give you the experience of what it's like to be in one, it was really cool seeing old dudes playing shogi instead of chess, one thing i liked about Kochi is that, like some other cities in Japan, they use a street car system. I especially love this train i was looking at what the train name would be and it says "Gomen" and "gomen" is like "sorry" so i don't know why it says gomen, that's funny i wanted to stay longer but i also wanted to see sunset from a nearby scenic beach this sky high bridge was really fun to drive on how incredible is this beach as i walked down i saw a bridge off in the distance and i just really wanted to go there and as i got closer i could see more steps i really wanted to know where this went oh this looks cool and i found this great little spot to hang out the view was partially obstructed but then i noticed a platform at the top i just missed sunset but it must be incredible from here there's also a really neat statue near the end i decided to spend the night in the mountains to be closer to my next destination i found another place with a hot spring and a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and i ate some (local) tatsuta chicken the car is shaking because it's so windy which you know, is fine as long as it doesn't rain, because there's frost warnings on the road, it's so cold! good night. Driving through the mountains to Ehime was gorgeous every step of the way
Drove two hours to the mountains i was so excited to go check out the Shikoku Karst and i went up this road there was a sign but i was driving and so you know i'm on my own right so i didn't have time to read there's a long sign about how when they close the road at a certain point well i was just so focused on where i had to go and i ended up going up this crazy winding path it was super narrow super windy and the further up the mountain i went it was starting to get kind of frosted over so i was a little bit worried and then i finally got the the blocked this road, it's blocked in winter after like spending almost 20 minutes going up this mountain.. so finally Dogo Onsen one of japan's oldest hot springs with a history going back over a thousand years the area around it is built up into a true resort feeling while still being close to the city and easy to access, the train station looks like a house which is pretty cool unfortunately it is currently being renovated and only a small part is accessible at this time, waiting in line for your chance to get in is still completely worth the wait, with a phoenix theme of rebirth that plays on its sliding screen doors throughout the day it makes anyone excited to visit again once it's fully reopened it's easy to see how this was a partial inspiration for the bathhouse in the movie Spirited Away. Welcome to Ehime all right wait check this, this is Dogo Onsen's parking lot it's on a rooftop, well i don't know what's under it actually but it's elevated so anyways that's pretty cool and it's got a foot bath and it overlooks Dogo Onsen and little other buildings here it's a nice quiet place, i need like a break from sleeping in the car, it's just so cold, i could do it i could do it but i just really would prefer to you know, take a bit of a rest and actually sleep in a bed, kind of recharge, I've got a lot more driving ahead of me so i might as well. Okay so i'm in the hotel room right now i got a view of one of Japan's oldest hot springs that's something I think is just the best. Dogo makes some incredible beer as well so don't miss that, and at a shop nearby i got all locally caught and grown items in a tempera bowl complete with tempura fried, fried egg seriously how did they even figure that out walking through the neighborhood is especially nice after a dip in the rejuvenating hot spring you can also enjoy a branch of the onsen here and a short arcade walk to the main one itself so i'm here at Imabari, which is known for making ships and being a controlling factor of the Seto Inland Sea back in the warring states period, but what i know it for is it's amazing towels and they've been making towels here for like 120 years and they're the best, they really are, it says on the site that it's world famous, i don't know about that because i didn't know about them before i came to Japan, but they are really nice towels, so this is the flagship shop, the shop was small but nice inside i got a few Imabari masks that was pretty cool and then i decided to head on the last stretch of Shikoku before making my journey home, a series of islands connected by bridges and beautiful water this was a drive that would be fun any day i tried to send a drone up to get you guys some better views, but two birds showed up and tried to take it and after that a couple more showed up so i'm glad i sent it down, still i could get some pretty nice views Thanks for watching this video, i hope you had as much fun as I did See you next time
2021-01-02 05:57
