Hotel Takasago Kochi

... up just stopping after a point and heading back. Needless to say it was quite an amazing experience to stand on the sharp jagged edge of such a massive peak and look out over Shikoku. From there you could see the inland see in 2 directions and see several towns lying in around the bays. You could see back to the Joju and the tiny point we climbed the first chains to get to. I am glad Jess lent me her camera, because I unfortunately forgot mine. I will let her handle ...

... a demon fought a group of sword wielding priests. Guess who won... Was so tired and cold after the festival, I totally dropped at the hostel, which was the nicest I've stayed at so far. Very clean, very open and the proprietor is a sake enthusiast. He had a tasting session, which I decided not to do, but it seemed like fun. Hopefully will sleep deeply today because I've got a ton of train travel tomorrow. Tomorrow: Uchiko and Matsuyama -mike

... mentre fuori diluviava. E prima di arrivare li sono stata in un onsen con vasca all'aperto vista fiume, e pioggia. Un tantino stile decadente e malinconico come panorama, ma bellissimo. Ora sono diretta a Muroto misaki, il capo a sud di Shikoku. volo a prendere il treno. Baci a tutti!

Primo traghetto che personalmente a me da una particolare libidine caricarci la moto e navigare per mare ogni tanto. Fiondo nell' isola di Shikoku , l' isola di un pellegrinaggio Zen da 1500 km attraverso 88 templi . Io la taglio a meta' naturalmente per montagne e dormo a Kochi altra citta' di mare e naruralmente si cena a base di sushi freschissimo . Sto viaggiando un po in fretta un mio amico a Shizuoka mi ha invitato ad andare ad Iwata a visitare la fabbrica della Yamaha .Potevo dire di no?

... in her car and road trip our way to shikoku and around tokushima-ken. we had a blast of a weekend in her tinsy tiny japanese size car (think geo metro) listening to great music and snacking on amazingly delicious homemade trail mix as we snaked our way ...

... labour and a number of American prisoner of war soldiers who were not known to be in the area.They burn a flame at the site and it is supposed to be extinguished when the last nuclear device is destroyed. I guess unfortunately it might as well be an eternal flame.From Hiroshima I bulleted my way to Okayama.

... or early for that matter). Also there has never been a Shinkansen accident. That is if you exclude the poor desperate soul who jumped in front of one somewhere the other day and was splattered fair and square on to the wind shield. Anyhoo, I settled back and enjoyed the consistent view of houses zipping past me, whilst sucking down a Marlboro Ultra Light (just because I was allowed to, but admittedly it was gross and weird smoking on a train). Was very relaxed and ...

Saijo is a little town in the Northern part of the island of Shikoku. Hint: Shikoku is the island that we live on. Every year, Saijo has a huge matsuri (festival) to celebrate the fall harvest. Think of it like a Thanksgiving. But with no turkey. And big wooden carts that are dragged thru the city. Also there's no pilgrims, cranberry, or dinner for that matter. But there are large shrines, lots of people, chanting ...

... in any time but now." "This is important, women must be equal, yes?" Spent a day just sleeping and relaxing, then decided to plunge into the idea of renting a car for a day to see some more of the valley. Nori-san kindly lent me his apprentice-monk Masaki as a guide and "helper for driving". Signing my name to a contract I couldn't read, we leapt into the car for a gilligan-like '3 hour tour'... Except while this was a 6hr. rental, with ...

... Kyoto has geisha, Matsuyama has the haiku, and Tokyo has nightlife and captive Russian prostitutes. Kochi's claim to fame is their famous seared bonito, the silent sumo-style fighting dogs, and slightly scientific whale meat. We'd tried the bonito the day before, and since I was curious, I wanted to go see the "amazing" dogs. I'd researched on the web before we left and had seen numerous sites purporting that there is a breed of mastiff that has been popular in the Tosa region for a ...