Dogo Onsen Matsuyama is the largest city on Shikoku and the capital of Ehime Prefecture. At the heart of the city stands Matsuyamajo, a beautiful, original castle. The castle’s hilltop vantage point offers a view of the city and a glimpse of the Seto Inland Sea. The city is also famed for being the setting [...]

Matsuyama Castle (Matsuyamajo) is one of Japan’s most beautiful original castles. It is located on Katsuyama (Mount Katsu), a steep hill in the city center, that provides visitors to the castle with a bird’s eye view of Matsuyama and the Seto Inland Sea. Matsuyamajo was constructed between 1602 and 1628. In 1635, the castle was [...]

Ishiteji’s Niomon Gate Ishiteji, literally meaning “stone hand temple” due to a local legend, is number 51 of the 88 temples on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. It is also Matsuyama’s most famous temple, located near Dogo Onsen. Pilgrims dressed in white are a frequent sight at this large temple to the northeast of Matsuyama’s city center. [...]

Shikido: replication of Shiki’s childhood home Matsuyama is a city rich in literary talent and history. The 20th century in particular saw Matsuyama rise to prominence in Japan’s literary realm. Three important writers were either born in the city, or chose it as home for themselves and their characters. The first is a poet, Masaoka [...]

Uchiko’s name became synonymous with high quality white wax production in the late 19th century. At that time, wealthy local merchants built new homes or added to their own, resulting in beautiful streets lined with large, stylish, Meiji Period houses. The Yokaichi district has since been restored to preserve these buildings. Yokaichi is comprised of [...]

The Naruto whirlpools occur on the Shikoku side of the Naruto Straight, and are created by the large volumes of water moving between the Seto Inland Sea and the Pacific Ocean between high and low tide, combined with the unique underwater geography of the narrow straight. According to the change of tides, the whirlpools occur [...]

The Otsuka Museum of Art was built in Naruto Park on the occasion of the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Group’s 75th anniversary. It is the largest museum in Japan, featuring life-size reproductions of virtually every representative masterpiece of Western art from antiquity to the 20th century including works by Michelangelo, El Greco, Goya, Monet and Picasso. The [...]

Niseko is perhaps the most famous ski resort town in Japan, known for tons of light powder snow, its spectacular back country, and a large amount of foreigners, especially Australians who are responsible for popularizing the resort with foreign travelers in recent years. The Niseko resorts have plenty of long, wide runs in addition to [...]

Sapporo (”important river flowing through a plain” in Ainu language) is the capital of Hokkaido and Japan’s fifth largest city. Sapporo is also one of the nation’s youngest major cities. In 1857, the city’s population stood at just seven people. In the beginning of the Meiji Period, when the development of Hokkaido was started on [...]

The Historic Village of Hokkaido (kaitaku no mura) is an open air museum in the suburbs of Sapporo. It exhibits about 60 typical buildings from all over Hokkaido, dating from the Meiji and Taisho Periods (1868 to 1926), the era when Hokkaido’s development was carried out on a large scale. The open air museum is [...]