Day 40: 10 May 2009

LOCATION: OKAYAMA AND MATSUYAMA
MOOD: CRAVING ICE CREAM
LISTENING TO: T-PAIN FEAT LUDACRIS – CHOPPED AND SCREWED

MORNING CONSTITUTIONAL:

For some reason or other I woke up quite early this morning so I decided to take a look around Kurashiki before grabbing breakfast and heading into Okayama for the day. I returned to the canal area, and while everything was still closed it was refreshing to see the scenery in the light of day. The geriatrics had been replaced by middle aged men and women out in track suits walking their dogs and there was the steady hum of traffic in the background as the town geared up for another day.

If my neighbourhood looked like this I might be a morning person as well.

I'm not sure how many of these historic warehouses were still in use as storage facilities. A lot of them had been converted into shops and restaurants.

It turned out the geriatrics hadn't completely disappeared; they were just going to temple.

The view from the top of the steps in the previous photo. Apparently the monk was enjoying the view as much as I was.

BACK IN BLACK:

After my morning stroll I checked out of the hotel and hopped on the train to Okayama. There were two main sights on my list: Okayama castle and Kourakuen garden. Luckily they were just a river and a bridge apart so I could hit the two of them in one afternoon. Of course before I could get to either of them I had to figure out what to do with my suitcase as my hotel for the night was on another island and I couldn't exactly drag it around for the whole day. To cut a long rant short, I stumbled around Okayama station looking for coin lockers until I finally managed to find a vacant one that would fit my bag.

Okayama Station. This is only the front facade; there's an entire underground network to navigate as well.

Central Okayama, as seen from the station. In the left of the photo you can see this interesting Dandelion-inspired fountain. Japan's love of ferris wheels is matched only by its obssession with fountains.

The day was rapidly heating up and I had learned from painful experience that getting caught in the afternoon sun is to be avoided at all costs, so after taking a few photos of the interesting statues around the station I hopped on a tram to the castle. As it turns out, a number of cities in the southern half of Japan have tram networks as they were a major form of transport during the development phase of the cities. Looks like Melbourne and San Francisco will have to add another couple of members to their cable car club.

Unfortunately trams in Japan are as slow and rickety as their Australian counterparts. At least I have an outside chance of understanding the drivers in Japan though.

Okayama castle itself is a striking piece of architecture. Nicknamed Karasuma-Jo (Crow's Castle) because of its jet black exterior, it sits perched over the river that separates metropolitan Okayama from the sight-seeing district. The castle itself is a ferroconcrete (reinforced concrete) replica as the original was razed during Allied bombing raids, but there's still an original moon viewing turret available for inspection.

Okayama Castle. The black with gold trim really worked well with the lush greenery.

The Moon Turret. I can see why they refurbished the main building. All jokes aside, the tower was surprisingly cool in the middle of a blisteringly hot day.

Castles are meant to be imposing, which this one certainly was. I'll just pretend I didn't see the bonsais out the front.

Personally I didn't mind that the castle was a replica. It was stunning enough as it was, and at that point in the trip I was more interested in modern luxuries such as elevators than certificates of authenticity. They had converted the castle into a museum of sorts and had an exhibition on feudal lords in Japanese history. The exhibit itself wasn't really anything special but they did have a couple of interesting displays and the view from the castle windows was excellent. Of course it couldn't top the breathtaking vistas at Himeji, but it ran a close second. As an interesting sidenote, there is a local legend that the black colour scheme was actually intended as a sarcastic parody of Himeji castle, which is known for its clean, white facade.

The view over the courtyard.

On the opposite side of the building you could see out across the river and survey the Kourakuen gardens. And spot the swan-shaped paddle boats going up and down the river.

One of the historical displays inside the castle-museum. The medieval equivalent of a hardware store, I'm guessing.

Following the castle I headed across the river to Kourakuen, the famous garden annexed to Okayama castle. It is one of the 'big three' gardens of Japan, and as I had been blown away when I visited another of the three (Kenrokuen) during my previous visit to Japan I had high expectations. Unfortunately Kourakuen turned out to be a bit of a let-down. While Kenrokuen had a winding, undulating layout Kourakuen is flat and dominated by large manicured lawns. I'm sure this makes for a nice picnic destination but it really isn't that impressive as it pushes all the interesting stuff to the sides. I took a stroll around the park and took as many photos as I could, stopping at one point to get an icecream. I told you I was craving it.

The view from the bridge that connects the castle and the main city to the Kourakuen gardens. I thought of photoshopping the swan paddle-boat out, but it just didn't seem worth the trouble.

Kourakuen was originally the private garden of the local feudal lord. The dominating presence of the castle doesn't let you forget whose land you're on.

Like I said - flat. As I was walking around I couldn't help but imagine an army of groundskeepers running around with lawnmowers when the crowds went home for the evening.

Where I stopped for icecream. It was hot enough to tempt me to dip my feet in the water, but it looked like something was growing on the surface so I decided not to.

The view from the little hill in the middle of Kourakuen. There weren't any 'keep off the grass' signs, probably because it was too hot to stay out of the shade for too long.

There were some interesting spots. This lavender field was a nice change of pace.

CROSS THAT BRIDGE WHEN YOU GET TO IT:

By that point it was around the middle of the afternoon so I decided to grab a late lunch and head back to Okayama station so I could catch the train to my next destination: the city of Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku. Shikoku is connected to the mainland by one main bridge and as my JR Pass didn't cover ferries I decided it would be a good idea to save the money and take the train. Matsuyama is on the west coast of the island and I entered at the north, so I got to see a lot of the Shikoku countryside during the three hour train ride.

Crossing over from the mainland to Shikoku. The two islands are divided by a body of water called 'Setonaikai' (the 'inland sea').

My first sight of Shikoku. It turned out to be very misleading.

Shikoku has the reputation for being the backwater of Japan, even though Okinawa is the most geographically remote island and Hokkaido less developed. Perhaps it's because there's really not much going on in Shikoku. The port city of Sakaide where the train enters Shikoku is a little misleading because the minute you get into the island proper it's nothing but small villages, towering mountains and rice paddies. Well, the rice paddies are all over Japan, but they're especially prominent in Shikoku.

This is a more accurate representation of Shikoku. Now imagine three hours of this. Either way.

The scenery does vary slightly. Sometimes you get mountains.
As an interesting sidenote, you can't see them well in such a small picture but they've actually built power lines and towers all the way through the mountains. Very impressive.

I reached my destination just as the sun was starting to set so I had to get to my accommodation as quickly as possible. My hostel was near Matsuyama's main attraction, the famous Dogo Onsen (an onsen is a natural hot spring used for bathing), so I hopped on a cable car and passed the twenty minute ride by observing the landscape of the city. There were still the tall buildings and broad streets but the whole place felt laid back in a way that only a country town can exude. It almost felt like time was slowing down.

Ahh, country life. I could almost feel my blood pressure dropping in real time.

I was brought back to reality when I got off the tram and found out (after a bit of asking around) that my hostel was at the top of a hill. By now it was getting dark so I had to lug my suitcase (which was thankfully equipped with wheels) up the hillside while being passed by the occasional car. The map that the hostel website had provided hadn't mentioned that the tram ride would be twenty minutes, nor that they were located at the top of a hill. I suppose that the warning attached to rear view mirrors applies equally to tourist maps: things may appear closer than they are in real life.

The tram stop. And no, that wasn't the tram. It was, however, a tourist magnet.

The climb up to the hostel. This photo was taken the next day on the way down, which, as it turned out, was just as difficult. There are sometimes when having wheels on your suitcase is more of a hindrance than a help.

After the three hour train ride and the steep climb I wasn't really in the mood to be humoured so I wasn't at all enthused when I found out that my hostel was in fact some sort of hippy getaway that had no locks on its doors and flyers inviting me to self-actualisation classes. The architecture was also sort of creepy; they had this weird forest-inspired decoration scheme which sort of made me feel like I was staying in the Faraway Tree. Suffice to say I didn't get that much sleep that night.

Can't you feel the love? I wasn't sure whether I would be allowed in if my clothes weren't made from natural fibres.

You can't see it in this shot, but there was literally a tree trunk spiralling from floor to roof in the middle of the room. I didn't check whether it was real or not.

By the time I got settled in it was dark out so there wasn't much to do besides grab my towel and head for the Dogo Onsen. Walking down the hill with a tower wrapped around my shoulders and a bag of toiletries would normally have felt weird, but there were locals walking around in yukatas (cloth kimonos normally worn around hotels like bath robes) so it wasn't so bad.

The Dogo Onsen. The shot was taken the next day. I didn't think it was a good idea to bring a camera to a place where I would be getting naked with a whole bunch of other people.

The onsen itself was nice, but to be honest it didn't really live up to the hype. When I decided to go to Shikoku I picked Matsuyama because of the onsen, and in the end it was just a pool of naturally superheated water with a bunch of old men soaking their bones. Sure I didn't pay for the superdeluxe package, but all that I would have got was a robe and a bunch of sweets afterwards. That said, it was still a cathartic experience and I did go back to the hostel refreshed.