Japan for the 10th time (Finally!) - October and November 2023 - Page 5

Early on it was cloudy and threatening rain. But it did not rain. I kind of wished it would later in the day because it was 25c again, it is almost winter! My eyes are hurting a bit from the bright sun of the last few days too.

I knew I was too early to see the sites of Dogo onsen, so first I headed to a nearby hill thinking I might climb it, on my rest day. There was a shrine in front of it.

There will be a lot of shrines today, so try and mentally prepare yourselves. Also I actually could not find a way to climb that hill, I am sure there is a way but it must be all the way around the back of it.

This was a bit strange. It is the propeller off a world war 2 plane, at the shrine, apparently donated by a fisherman. Thanks.

Approaching Dogo onsen, and things start to get touristy.

There are some historic onsen buildings underneath this shield that has presumably been erected to protect it from the risk of meteor impact, just one of many ways things get destroyed in Japan on a regular basis.

I stopped for a coffee, at Starbucks. This is the inside of the Starbucks which is on top of the old train station, which is now serviced by single carriage trams. Very nice spot for a coffee and a scone.

Here is the station, and an old train, just off to the right there was an Indian woman in full colourful sari filming a travel segment with a TV crew, pointing at a map and slow motion walking in her ridiculous bejewelled sandals. If I had of taken a photo, that might have helped with this description, but I was more interested in the train.

At the end of the street I found a staircase. I cannot resist a staircase.

View from top of staircase.

How about the clouds!

You could get inside this shrine and wander about. There were school kids doing some kind of amazing race thing using their ipads to take photos as proof of each place they had to go to.

Here is the next shrine over, less red more brown.

Now for a lap of Dogo park. I am just going to presume it is a dog park and that Dogo really is the Japanese word for dog. Also this park is a culturally significant park, a sign told me so.

At the top of Dogo park there is a viewing platform, so here is the view. There will be a lot of view today, too much view probably.

More view, in the direction of the nice clouds.

The Dogo area has a couple of covered shopping streets, mainly selling citrus related products.

The stores off to the sides were large, modern and open. No wig and clog shops.

This one sells mainly fancy fabrics.

OK, final Dogo onsen shot.

My next destination was the castle on the top of the hill. Here is the chairlift used by lazy people from all over the world. A lot of people fall off, so they have constructed a long trampoline under it.

Nice view into the sun from half way up the hill.

Behold, the castle. I just looked it up on Wikipedia, it is still an original castle, the wooden bits are the original wooden bits from 1603. Some parts were destroyed in world war 2 and re built, but the main part is original.

A bit more view.

And some more view with a seat that I sat on. It was hot.

More seats and more view, I did mention that there would be a lot of view.

Castle, ocean and island in the ocean.

Ancient castle, plastic samurai.

It costs about $5 to go in the castle, they take credit card. Since they do not require cash, I agreed and paid the price to go in.

A sign that something is going to be ancient, you have to take off your shoes. Slippers are on offer but are optional. I opted to not put on the slippers, but I advise putting them on, the lips of the ladders have a bump on the edge and it hurts going up and down.

General view of castle area.

And... some more castle and view.

It is darker than this inside the castle, you can wander around all 3 levels of what I presume is the main old bit.

Some more ocean view.

For a while I had the whole top level to myself, I was not tempted to engrave my name into it like people seem to keep doing all around the world including in Japan lately and posting on tiktok and wondering why they get arrested.

I swear there are almost no more view shots.

Never put your eyes on these things.

The ladders are very steep. You can legitimately smack your head on things.

I chose a different path down that went past a secret garden that looked dead that I could not figure out how to get into.

And for my last shot of the day, food trucks on the castle grounds. Mostly fried stuff but the one on the left is making pizzas. I probably should have had a pizza.

I like my hotel a lot, but I would like it more if for some reason it had a tractor on the balcony like this one.

Long time readers may recall that while in Korea, I enjoy wandering along the many drains. I thought I would go and check out the drain scene in Matsuyama. Pitch black, no water, no trees, no view. Hmm, Korea has superior drains.

I have no idea what is going on at LIVEHOUSE SALONKITTY, it did not seem large enough to be a live music venue. Also that guy has ridiculous hair. I am a street photographer now.

Here is a model shop. The window display is a bit hard to see here, but it had a heap of really old model cars that were completely covered in dust, and the shelves they were on were in a partial state of collapse.

Tonight's random restaurant shot. Not where I ate though.

It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready. There's a lot to unpack there.

And finally, 2nd Matsuyama ramen. I think it is a tie with the one from 2 nights ago, so it was great. Significantly more spicy, with an egg. But the previous one had a pile of vegetables. This place had an order on the ipad setup going, I think that was my first usage of the order on the ipad on this trip, but I have had a couple of scan the QR code to order experiences, and obviously, buy a ticket from the machine. Just as long as you do not talk to anyone, no matter the method, they are happy.