Matsuyama Shikoku-most relaxing trip 3

July 22nd, 2007, cloudy

I don't really know the history behind the Botchan clock, but here we are. Botchan clock is really cute. Its top extends every half hour, (maybe a quarter to and a quarter past every hour?) so the clock extends from 2 levels to 3 levels. In between the levels, there are dolls (of course botchan and his friends in the book), and music welcoming tourists to Matsuyama.

The local produce of Matsuyama is a kind of orange. If you are not sure why I am introducing local produce all of a sudden, may I remind you that the local produce of Naha, Okinawa is bitter melon, for Oita. Oita, it is Shitake mushrooms... and so on. I am not sure what this particular kind of orange is called in English or Japanese, but it is 椪桔 in Chinese. Matt and I bought some sorbet made with these oranges. yum yum, I like the citrus taste.

Famous local cuisine of Matsuyama is udon (local cuisine of Oita is Dangojiru noodles, for Sapporo, it is ramen noodles...etc). Udonstock is about to enjoy udon noodle soup. Itadaikmasu!


So, Botchan did not just teach, he also told time (like the clock above), and rode steam trains. And yes, I am kidding. We couldn't find any explanation on why the train in the picture is called Botchan Train, so it is open for interpretation, and it is up to your imagination. I know where Matt wants to go. He wants to go to a colony in the year 0079 to see Amuro's Gundam!

Matsuyama Shikoku-most relaxing trip 2

July 21st, 2007, cloudy

Continued from last post, we went inside the castle. The history behind Matsuyama castle is pretty linear; it was always under the realm of the same family or clan. The castle itself was burned down by thunder and damaged in battles several times. It was then rebuilt by the shogunate.

A view from top of the castle. There is a nice sitting area on top of the castle where visitors can catch a nice breeze after hard walks up the hills. You can of course look out to the city as well.

Another thing both Matt and I liked about this castle is that along the way, there are haiku boxes so visitors can make poems as they take in the scenery. Well, Matt is good at it, whereas I just enjoy watching him write.

Matsuyama, Shikoku-most relaxing trip 1

July 21st, 2007, cloudy

After two months of rest from my last trip, udonstock is on the go again! This time I am at Matsuyama in Shikoku (松山,四国). Before this trip, Matt and I were crazy busy with things to do about returning home. I was going to cancel this trip, but Matt insisted we go. (He spoke my mind, but we really had a full schedule to deal with)

I think the reason we both found this trip especially relaxing is because we had been under a lot of stress lately. Usually when we travel in Japan, we would take either the train or the plane, but this time, we took the ferry. Oita shares an inner sea with the west side of Shikoku Island and east end of Honshyu Island, so, there is a ferry that connects to Matsuyama on Shikoku and Kobe on Honshyu. (For those people who read my first trip to Kyoto would know what I am talking about). Even though the ferry took 4 hours to arrive, we could catch up on our sleep, which was very precious to us at the time.

Without further adue, here we are in Matsuyama. Matsuyama is a small city with very convenient trams that go around the city (cheap too!). Our first stop was of course Matsuyama castle.

Like I said in many of my previous blogs, Japan is excellent at selling their local histories. Here is a picture of me as Botchan 坊ちゃん, a famous fictional character that introduced the culture of Matsuyama to the rest of Japan. Botchan is a character created by Soseki Natsume 夏目漱石 in his book "Botchan". He is a teacher with a global mind who brought great changes to the people of Matsuyama. I personally have not read the book, but I hear it is an excellent read. You can see products related to the book on the streets of Matsuyama. This picture above was taken outside the gondola lift to Matsuyama castle.

Matsuyama castle is located up on the hills originally to prevent invasion, but now it is up on the hills so visitors can get some exercise. Of course, we must take a picture in front of it before going inside to commemorate our hard work up the hills.

Last gate before the castle. This gate was built to trick invaders because it has no doors. I love this design because it is very daring.

Stairs up to the castle. Uh, did people in the olden days not have back or knee problems? Oh well, here we go!