Shikoku
If you're travelling along Rte 439, it's not a matter of 'blink and you'll miss it', but blink, and blink again, because you may have a hard time…
Shikoku
If you're travelling along Rte 439, it's not a matter of 'blink and you'll miss it', but blink, and blink again, because you may have a hard time…
Shikoku
Away from the crowds and tour buses, the spectacular Oku Iya Ni-jū Kazura-bashi are two secluded vine bridges hanging side by side high over the river…
Kagawa Prefecture
Konpira-san or, more formally, Kotohira-gū, was originally a Buddhist and Shintō temple dedicated to the guardian of mariners. It became exclusively a…
Shikoku
Kōchi-jō is one of just a dozen castles in Japan to have survived with its original tenshu-kaku (keep) intact. The castle was originally built during the…
Ehime Prefecture
Perched on top of Mt Katsuyama in the centre of town, the castle dominates the city, as it has for centuries. Matsuyama-jō is one of Japan's finest…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
Ryōzen-ji is Temple One of the 88 Sacred Temples of Shikoku pilgrimage. It is called Temple One because it was the first that temple pilgrims came to…
Kagawa Prefecture
One of the most beautiful gardens in the country, Ritsurin-kōen dates from the mid-1600s and took more than a century to complete. Designed as a walking…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
The major attraction of Hiwasa, Yakuō-ji, Temple 23, is the last temple in Tokushima Prefecture. Yakuō-ji dates back to the year 726, and is famous as a…
Kagawa Prefecture
Zentsū-ji, Temple 75 of the sacred 88, is the largest of the temples – most of the other 87 could fit in its car park. This is where Kōbō Daishi was born,…
Ehime Prefecture
Pilgrims will be hoofing it through Shikoku's mountainous interior to get here, but you'll want your own wheels if you're not a henro to get to the…
Kagawa Prefecture
Unpen-ji, aptly meaning 'Temple of the Surrounding Clouds', is the highest of the 88 Temples at 900m. Surprisingly, it actually sits in Tokushima…
Ehime Prefecture
Uchiko's picturesque and protected main street has a number of interesting buildings, many of which now serve as museums, souvenir stalls, craft shops,…
Kagawa Prefecture
About 500m north of Yashima station, Shikoku-mura is an excellent village museum that houses old buildings transported here from all over Shikoku and…
Kagawa Prefecture
This small castle dates from 1597. It took five years to build and is one of only 12 castles in Japan to have its original wooden donjon intact. It's…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
Dedicated to sea turtles, the museum's name – Caretta – comes from the scientific name for the Loggerhead Sea Turtle. Inside, there's a lot of turtle info…
Kōchi Castle Museum of History
Shikoku
This new museum (opened in 2017), celebrating the history of Kōchi castle, is an architectural achievement in its own right. Entry is free to the museum…
Rise & Win Brewing Co. BBQ & General Store
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
Got to love this place. Everything at Rise & Win's brewery restaurant in Kamikatsu is recycled from old town buildings, from the incredible spectacle of…
Kagawa Prefecture
The last of the Shikoku pilgrimage's 88 Temples sits in the mountains in the southeast of Kagawa Prefecture and is well worth a visit. It's fitting that…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
This gorgeous hilltop temple is considered one of the most important on the 88 Temple Pilgrimage because it is here at Muroto that Kōbō Daishi achieved…
Ehime Prefecture
East of Dōgo Onsen is Ishite-ji, the 51st of the 88 Temples and one of the most impressive in the circuit. Ishite means 'stone hand' and comes from a…
Ehime Prefecture
One of Japan's most authentically reconstructed castles, Ōzu-jō and its outlying buildings are original survivors from the Edo period. The castle is an…
Ehime Prefecture
Once upon a time, many Shintō shrines had a connection to fertility rites. Of those that remain, Taga-jinja is one of the best known. The grounds of the…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
For an intriguing bird's-eye view of the whirlpools, you can walk out along this breezy 450m-long walkway hanging underneath the Naruto Bridge, which puts…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
At the foot of Bizan, the 280m-high summit at the southwestern end of Shinmachibashi-dōri, the Bizan Ropeway whizzes you to the top for fine city views. A…
Shikoku
The grounds of Temple 38, set on dramatic Ashizuri-misaki, feel incredibly tropical and consist of a diverse array of small temples, statues, gardens and…
Shikoku
Our favourite street market in Shikoku is 300 years old and takes place every Sunday along 1.3km of Ōte-suji, the main road leading to the castle. Around…
Kagawa Prefecture
This is Japan's oldest kabuki playhouse, though it had a lengthy stint as a cinema before falling out of use. Nowadays it has sporadic shows, but can be…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
One from the 'only in Japan file', this incredible 'ceramic board masterpiece museum' features more than 1000 replicas of priceless Western art on ceramic…
Shikoku
At Godaisan in the east of the city, you'll find Chikurin-ji, Temple 31 of the 88. The extensive grounds feature a five-storey pagoda and thousands of…
Kagawa Prefecture
Half the fun of visiting Yakuri-ji may be riding the retro cable car up and down to the temple, but this is a spectacular place in its own right, sitting…
Shikoku
Discover the history and development of washi (Japanese paper) at Ino, about 10km west of downtown Kōchi. There are demonstrations of nagashizuki…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
While most henro over the past 1200 years have struggled up steep mountain paths to get to Tairyū-ji, these days this magnificent mountaintop temple is…
Ehime Prefecture
Ōzu's old town is well worth a stroll, with a number of Meiji-era houses plus Akarenga-kan, a red-brick building constructed in 1901, which was originally…
Shikoku
The Iya Valley's famous statue of a boy peeing into the gorge is turning 50! Put in place in 1968, 'Peeing Boy' has been photographed urinating into the…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
Northeast of the train station is Tokushima's central park, Chūō-kōen, a lovely place for a stroll. You'll find the scant ruins of Tokushima-jō (Tokushima…
Awa Jūrobe Yashiki Puppet Theatre
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
For hundreds of years, puppet theatre thrived in the farming communities around Tokushima. Performances can still be seen here, in the former residence of…
Shikoku
This popular cave has some interesting stalactites and stalagmites, and traces of prehistoric habitation. The route gets quite steep in places. Visitors…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
Naruto Park sits at the Shikoku end of the Naruto bridge and has observation platforms from where you can view the Naruto straits, the bridge and the…
Tokushima & the Anan Coast
Linking Shikoku to Awaji-shima, impressive Ōnaruto-hashi was completed in 1985. Later, when the world's longest suspension bridge, the Akashi Kaikyō…
Kagawa Prefecture
Born in Los Angeles to a Japanese poet and an American writer, Noguchi (1904–1988) set up a studio and residence here in 1970. Today the complex is filled…