Eric's Wacky Tales

Shikoku

Wheee! In Mastuyama, not to be confused with Mastumoto (place with the castle) and Mastushima (place with the little islands) which is on the island of Shikoku. Weather was perfect today without a cloud in the sky.

So...Matsuyama is famous for....you guessed it: having one of the oldest Onsens in Japan! The spring is supposedly 3000 years old and the story goes that it was found by a bird that hurt its leg, stuck its leg in the water and then was miraculously healed! Sooo, this one was a little weird in that the bath is on the main floor, but you go upstairs to get this yukata which is like a robe. But then the guys change upstairs in the shared room (not naked, but down to underwear), but then the girls just do things normally and pickup their robe upstairs and then go downstairs to change. Weird double standard, no? But then again, i guess the guys here in japan really dont care too much since they even had a lady (very old) working in the bath area where all the nekkid guys are. So apparently this water in the onsen is alkaline and is good for "rheumatism, neuralgia, and recovery from exhaustion. After soaking in the water, the skin becomes smooth and soft and so it is good for the complexing as well." Outside of the spa area they also had a hot spring foot soak for free which you could use while watching their wacky clock do its thing (sorta like a cuckoo clock).

Mastuyama also has a....you can probably guess this one too, a castle! Its perched on top of a fairly high hill (high enough that they made a chairlift for it) and is more or less an original castle. The definition of "original" is used somewhat loosely as the castle apparently burned down in the 1600's, and then again in 1784 due to lightning. It got rebuilt sometime in the 1800's, and then restored in the 1900's...Soo...its not quite original, but it does maintain the traditional wood construction as opposed to "rebuilt" castles which are ferro-concrete.

Also saw Ishite-Ji which is one of 88 temples that form a loop of temples on Shikoku related to the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Pilgrims basically visit all 88...Used to be quite a feat to do in the old days, but the pigrims i saw today (distinguished by their traditional white garb) had a bus.

Thats about it for mastuyama. I visited the usual shopping arcades and malls which were not really any different than any others. Those basement floors with all the food are pretty damn amazing (probably because i'm feaking hungry!)

...
Another note about bike riding. Dunno if i mentioned this before, but one huge difference about bike riding in Japan is that unlike bike in the US that share the street with cars, bikes in Japan share (loosely speaking) the sidewalk with the pedestrians! This took some getting used to when i was riding a bike. Of course, I kept riding in the street which was a lot easier anyways ( I saw a bike whose rider must not have been paying attention cuz the bike was still in the Canal!). This actually worked quite well at first cuz the cars, being relatively polite, didnt mind. But i kept having to check and re-check the map and in the end i had no idea where the heck i was! Then i realized....all the freakin signs were on the sidewalks (often on only 1 side of the street for the path i was riding). So bikes also dont have a "proper" side of the street to ride on either.....

.......

Arrgg! I dunno whats triggered it, but im getting bitten more and more by the squitos out here! Everything was fine for the first couple of week and now im all friggin itchy! The guide book didnt mention anything about bringin repellant!

....
Hmm, saw some fake samurai at the castle today. No ninjas yet though. I will ask around and try to get a picture of one before i return.

...
Oh yeah, was wandering around looking for a convenience store for some cheap food and came across some sort of "neon" (the only words i could read) quarter. It was totally dead, but i think this old lady was trying to pimp out some ladies. I told her i didnt understand Japanese, then she started making these hand gestures...

...

I got one mean Teva tan.

...
Youth hostel im staying at is a little expensive at 3340 Yen. But its amazingly nice with a restaurant (that sells instant noodle that i might need to take advantage of), a room with a sink and writing table, free internet, free corn snacks, and tea! Oooo, and a motorized foot masager. Ah, this is the life...

Posted by eric at September 27, 2003 04:00 AM