Matsuyama

Last weekend I went on a round trip to Matsuyama, Shikoku. Me and Miwa drove across into Hiroshima-ken on saturday, down onto Shikoku via several bridges spanning the Inland Sea, then back east on Shikoku and across the Seto-Ohashi on sunday.

Highlights include the most boring museum I have ever been to, the Asakura Towel Museum (so boring that even my ironic fascination at the towel exhibits only lasted five minutes), overly friendly petrol station staff who insisted on cleaning the inside of the car whilst we were in it, and a shiny castle well worth visiting. We also managed to get to Dogo Onsen, the famous building frequented by Japanese literary giant Soseki Natsume, and the setting for his book Botchan, which depicts a new teacher being contracted out to rural "inaka" Japan (a must read for JETs stuck in this situation!).

The return journey saw me finally cross my local bridge, the Seto-Ohashi Hashi, the longest bridge in the world! Or maybe the 3rd longest. But really long and shiny. Hurrah for the Seto-Ohashi Hashi! It was a cloudy day but the stormy 気持ち　added to the ambiance of the final photo (besides, I've seen the Seto Ohashi in sunny weather many many times).