Kicking the bucket...list: Day 24 - Completing the circle in Shikoku

 

The view from Marugame Castle 

Day 24 would be my final day on the island of Shikoku 四国, during which much like the pilgrim completing the circle by traveling from Temple 88 back to Temple 1 (note that the pilgrimage doesn't actually have to be done in this order), I would close the loop on the smallest of Japan's four main islands by returning to Takamatsu 高松, the starting point of this Japanese travel-related bucket list journey.

The day began with my waking up at Kaze no Kuguru 風のくぐる in Zentsūji 善通寺市. As meals weren't included in the rates, these were the morning scenes on the way to breakfast at a nearby McDonald's:

The friendly proprietor of Kaze no Kuguru. Should you ever find yourself in need of accommodations in Zentsuji and don't require five-star hotel amenities, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a stay here:

Zentsū-ji 善通寺 is Temple 75 of the 88, and is the largest of them all. The great monk Kūkai 空海 (posthumously known as Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師) was born in its precincts in 774 (so you know the temple has some serious history behind it), and the giant camphor trees there are said to go back at least as far as the saint's childhood. I spent time exploring the grounds, including the Hondō 本堂:

The five-story pagoda ご重大塔 was another highlight to admire: 

Peeking inside Kanchi-in 頭観智院, one of the sub-temples on the grounds of Zentsu-ji. It was established by Kobo Daishi in 807, though the present building is a 1925 construction:

The highlight for me was the Mie-dō 御影堂. For ¥500 ($3.40) I was allowed to slowly feel my way along a pitch-black underground passage (not easy for one prone to claustrophobia as I am), eventually reaching an altar marking where Kukai was born. By doing so I was now safely following Buddha's way: 

While at the temple I was pleased to find a vending machine selling a yogurt soda called Yōgurun ヨーグルンソーダ. I'd first seen the drink in a machine outside Tokushima Station 徳島駅, and being a fan of similar quaffs such as Calpis カルピス and Skäl スコール was eager to try it, but it was sold out there. I'd been on the lookout for it since, and the Daishi finally answered my prayers. And all was good, including the taste: 

 

While enjoying the milky yogurt sensation I noticed that Los Angeles Dodgers superstar and two-way sensation Shōhei Ohtani 大谷翔平 was promoting Itōen Green Tea 伊藤園お茶. His green tea, his soul: 

I had assumed that Zentsu-ji would be the last of the pilgrimage temples I would be visiting on this trip, but it turned out that assumption was mistaken. I was making good time that morning, and temple 73 Shusshaka-ji 出釈迦寺 was only nine minutes away by car, so I decided to make one more stop before leaving Zentsuji (the city). The temple once stood 500 meters/1640 feet above the plain on a steep mountain, but was relocated to the valley below around 200 years ago to make it more accessible to pilgrims. Legend has it that Kobo Daishi threw himself off the peak at the tender age of just seven, asking the Buddha to save him if it was going to be his destiny to save others. Apparently it was: 

And with that, I was finished with the pilgrimage, having visited 14 of the 88 temples. There had been a time when I thought of doing the full pilgrimage on foot (and I would see many henro 遍路 doing just that during my trip around Shikoku, including a few fellow gaijin 外人) but reality eventually prevailed. I elected not to go full henro when visiting the temples, but I did make sure to offer a simple prayer at each main hall (and often at the adjoing Daishi Halls 大師堂 as well) expressing my gratitude at still being able to get around.

From Shusshaka-ji it was around a 20-minute drive to what would be my final destination in Shikoku, Marugame-jō 丸亀城. This castle, completed in 1597 after five years of construction, might be small (and is the smallest in Shikoku), but it's one of only a dozen in Japan to have its original wooden donjon still standing. Getting to it involved a ten-minute walk up a steep slope (not very enjoyable in the hot weather), but the views looking out over the city and the Inland Sea 瀬戸内海 were worth the effort: 

It really wasn't worth going inside, though, as there wasn't much to see in the interior of the three-story structure:

The Great Seto Bridge 瀬戸大橋 could be seen in the distance. I would be crossing it on a train that afternoon: 

While there I met Donald, a friendly fellow originally from the Philippines who was now living in Marugame 丸亀市. He was on his way to a local pool after the castle, an excellent idea on this blisteringly hot day: 

I, however, had other things to do. Following a quick lunch at a local MOS Burger モスバーガー I drove on to Takamatsu, where I returned my rented Toyoto Corolla. My trusty aluminum and steel steed had taken me around the island for the past 17 days or so without any issues, a fact for which I was very grateful: 

Not long after dropping off the vehicle, I found myself again on the Marine Liner マリンライナー. Twenty-one days earlier I'd taken the train from Okayama Station 岡山駅 to Takamatsu Station 高松駅. Now I was making the return journey: 

A last look at Shikoku as the train was making its way:

Crossing the Seto Ōhashi Bridge:

At Okayama I changed to the bullet train 新幹線 for the short (fewer than twenty minutes) ride to Himeji Station 姫路駅. The view of Himeji Castle 姫路城 as seen when exiting the station's East Exit 東口:

Walking through the Miyuki Street Shopping Center みゆき通り商店街 next to my hotel:

The view from my room on the 13th floor of the Daiwa Roynet Hotel Himeji ダイワロイネットホテル姫路: 

For dinner that evening I found myself at Kaitenzushi Rikimaru 回転寿司力丸, a local conveyor-belt sushi chain where I ordered a lot more than what's shown in the photo:

By the time I finished gorging myself all the souvenir stores around the station were closed so I wasn't able to purchase any local craft beer. Google directed me to a liquor store in the red-light district:

The night view from my hotel room...:

...where I enjoyed my purchase. It wasn't from Himeji but it was still 地ビール: 

Through 35 years and numerous trips I had managed to cover virtually the whole of Japan, ranging from the snowy climes of Hokkaidō 北海道 down to white sand beaches of Okinawa 沖縄, with stops in 44 of the country's 47 prefectures. But until this moment I had only made tentative forays into Shikoku: in 1990 I spent a night in Kotohira 琴平 in Kagawa-ken 香川県 for the purpose of visiting Konpira-san 金刀比羅宮 while traveling between Kyōto 京都 and Hiroshima 広島; in 1997 when I made a day trip by train from Okayama via the Seto Ohashi to the city of Sakaide 坂出, a depressing sight as many of the businesses close to the train station there were shuttered; and another day trip in the spring of 2012 when I pedaled a rented bicycle from Ikuchi Island 生口島 (part of Onomichi City 尾道市 on the island of Honshū 本州) to Ōmishima Island 大三島, which falls under the jurisdiction of Imabari 今治市 in Ehime-ken 愛媛県. 

Thanks to having access to a rented car (and to my supervisor for allowing me to take all that time off from work), I was able to visit all four prefectures on the island (Tokushima 徳島県, Kagawa, Ehime and Kōchi 高知県) over a period of three weeks, spending time in each of the prefectural capitals, and bumping my prefecture total up to 46 after exploring Tokushima and Kochi*. Of the four main islands of the Japanese archipelago, Shikoku has earned the not-always-inaccurate reputation of being something of a backwater. But it's a region well worth the effort to visit, with engaging cities and attractive scenery ranging from its mist-covered mountains down to its rugged coastlines. And of course there's that spiritual element to it. Japan has many regional pilgrimages, but nowhere else in the country can compare to the 88 temples forming a circular route around Shikoku.

Ideally I would've visited the four prefectures on four different trips, but those of you who have been following these blog posts would probably agree that it didn't feel as if I was rushing around during those recent twenty-one days ("If it's Tuesday I must be in Kochi!"). 

So that was Shikoku. But this most recent excursion to Japan wasn't over just yet. Don't change that channel as there are still at least two more posts to go before this series wraps up and I can begin regaling you with tales from old Canton. 

*The one remaining prefecture on the J-Bucket List™ is Ibaraki 茨城県, located between 30 and 150 kilometers (19 and 93 miles, respectively) north of the city center of Tōkyō 東京. While I've passed through it many times on trains, I've never stepped foot on its soil (perhaps for good reason, as Ibaraki is consistently ranked by the Japanese themselves as the least attractive prefecture). That oversight will hopefully be addressed before the end of this current tour in Guangzhou 广州. 

Hokkaido Postscript: Fun in Formosa

Gongtian Temple

We departed Sapporo 札幌 on Tuesday, the 25th of February following an 11-day, 10-night stay on Hokkaidō 北海道, taking in the winter sights and scenery. After nearly five hours of flight time we found ourselves in a much warmer climate - that of Taiwan, where temperatures of 10°C/50°F are considered to be a "cold wave". And yet in some respects it felt colder being in Fengyuan 豐原 than in Sapporo. While my mother-in-law might be overdoing it when it comes to bundling up (see photo below), Taiwanese homes are mainly concrete and tile, which combined with the lack of central heating (or even air conditioners with heating functions) can make them feel chillier inside than the outside air temperatures would suggest. I would end up buying a cheap windbreaker the next day at the local Carrefour to use until things warmed up later that week:

Wednesday the 26th. Not my brother-in-law's house, but an interesting facade located a few doors down the street from where my wife and I were staying:

One of the small things I look forward to whenever I'm back in Taiwan is having danbing 蛋餅 for breakfast. While Shu-E sometimes makes it at home here in Beijing 北京, I do miss going out to breakfast shops, where I can supplement the danbing with a "hamburger" and a hot cup o' joe:

Years ago when I was living in Taiwan I spent far too much of my free time maintaining a blog called "Sponge Bear" (all the articles on that online rag were transferred to this current diary, but not all the images successfully migrated). One of the things I used to write about was the popularity, and often misuse, of the Japanese language when it came to advertisements. Things haven't changed much as this tea shop sign in downtown Fengyuan demonstrates:

A giant dragon looms over the road close to the Miaodong Night Market 廟東夜市 (which is actually open daily from 1000 hours):

Another dish I look forward to having every time I'm back in Taiwan is Chiayi Turkey Rice 嘉義火雞肉飯, a box I ticked at lunchtime on the second day in-country. I don't waste time...:

Outside the aforementioned Carrefour was this stall selling Taiwanese-style sausages, yet another favorite of mine, although this time I didn't join the line:

One important task to do while in Taiwan was to visit the Shengang Daming Temple 神岡大明宮. Knowing the trials and tribulations her waiguoren 外國人 son-in-law was going through during the most recent bidding process, she often visited to ask the gods enshrined there for their assistance. On this day I joined her and Shu-E in thanking the deities for all the help they provided:

I didn't take any photos, but the expansive grounds of the temple (which itself seems overly large considering the size of the semi-rural surrounding community) were serving as a staging point for military exercises:

Back at the house and modeling my new Chinese Taipei 中華台北 baseball jersey, like what the Taiwanese team wore when they upset Japan last November in the Premier 12 baseball tournament, the country's first senior baseball title ever. I've worn this (and an older CT jersey) here in Beijing, to the surprise of some people. But why wouldn't I sport it in China? "Chinese Taipei" is the name the Chinese government insists that Taiwan uses in international sporting competitions, so it shouldn't be an issue here, right?. Though I have gotten some strange looks, especially from official-looking people...:

That evening Shu-E and I went out for dinner with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law to a teppanyaki  鉄板焼き restaurant. Here I am sporting my stylish Carrefour-bought windbreaker (complete with malfunctioning zipper):

Thursday the 27th. I was surprised that morning to see how foggy it was. I wasn't surprised later when the mist turned into the more common smog. Air quality is an issue for those living in Taichung 台中:

A familair sight on Taiwanese roads. This one, unfortunately, did not include a woman in a skimpy outfit belting out tunes from a stage in the bed of the truck:

Or even something like this:

In the central part of Fengyuan there is a river (or stream) that was covered over years ago and turned into a long (though narrow) parking lot. I was surprised this time to discover that one end of the waterway has been restored and turned into the Huludun Waterfront Park 葫蘆墩圳水岸花都. Why is it places where I used to live always seem to become nicer and/or more convenient after I leave?:

Another example of how things have gotten better - Fengyuan now has its own branch of the Japanese gyūdon 牛丼 beef bowl chain SUKIYA*すき家, to go along with the Sushirō スシロー conveyor belt sushi outlet I noticed earlier that morning in Carrefour. It might not seem newsworthy to you, but places like these (and the already-present MOS Burger モスバーガー and Mister Donut ミスタードーナツ) would've made life in Fengyuan a little more familiar (and therefore more comfortable) for me:

(*UPDATE: Considering the recent news Fengyuan might wish it had a Yoshinoya 吉野家 instead)

The Fengyuan branch of Global Village 地球村美日語, an island-wide chain of English language schools. I used to work part-time there (actually, at its prior location, across from the Fengyuan Bus Company station). GVO is notorious among the English teacher community for its low wages (I was making a whopping NT550 or $16.50 per hour), but the company paid on time, followed labor regulations and generally left instructors alone to teach how best they saw fit in the classroom. Best of all, the classes were made up only of adults or high school students, a welcome break from the grind of working in kindergartens and cram schools 補習班, which still make up the bulk of a typical foreign English teacher's workload in Taiwan:

From Fengyuan we drove out to the area around the Tai'an Old railway station 泰安車站. The reason for going out there was to see the cherry trees blooming. Even though it was a weekday the lanes were bustling with visitors (and the businesses set up to cater to them). The next day would be a national holiday and the start of a three-day weekend, so I knew that no matter how busy this day was, the next day would be an absolute nightmare of foot and vehicle traffic. As a friend once described it, even the smallest towns in Taiwan have a way of "vomiting up people":

A sign showing that Tai'an was originally referred to as an yì 驛, an old name for a post or courier station, and not by the more modern 駅 (Japanese) or 站 (Mandarin):

Approaching the Old Beam Bridge. Operations of the Former Mountain Line 舊山線 were suspended in 1968, hence the prefixes:

A monument memorial to the 1935 Shinchiku-Taichū Earthquake 1935年新竹-台中地震. Though the station was repaired and reopened following the disaster (the original wooden structure being replaced with a concrete building), it closed in 1968. A new Tai'an Station 泰安車站 (about twenty minutes to the west on foot) now serves the Taichung Line 台中線:

Getting ready to tuck into a Taiwanese sausage, one of my favorite snack foods. That's a garlic clove, a necessary accompaniment, between my thumb and forefinger:

One of the vendors was handing out samples of a high-fiber snack made from wild wheat, which turned out to taste very similar to Honey Smacks cereal. We bought a bag for me to take back to Beijing...:

…where it now stands at my service in my office:

On our way back to the parking lot:

Before heading back to Fengyuan we did a little more snacking under the Taichung Line tracks:

On the way home we made a stop at the Lihpao Outlet Mall. We were both bemused to come across a Sapporo Drug Store there:

Next door to サツドラ was a 100 yen shop, where everything inside was advertised as being NT59. Except that at current exchange rates 100 yen is only NT22, so perhaps the 100 Shop should change its name to the 270 Shop (a side note: years ago I remember a Daisō ダイソー opening up in the Carrefour in Fengyuan. Everything was being sold at NT39, which was roughly the exchange rate at the time):

Out for an evening walk in the neighborhood. Small temples are a common sight in Taiwan, and one facet that distinguishes this country from the People's Republic, where the majority of temples (far fewer in number compared to Taiwan) tend to be of the large, historic and more tourist-friendly variety:

And yet another example of how neighborhoods become more livable once I move away, as well as the use of Japanese to make a business seem more fashionable or modern. This brightly lit shop sells bentō 弁当 lunch boxes - my hard-to-impress mother-in-law thinks highly of them:

 

Friday the 28th is a public holiday in Taiwan. I made arrangements to see my good friend Steve on this day. Normally on a Friday he would be busy working at the English school he owns and operates with his wife, but being a holiday he was free. I could've asked Shu-E to drive me to his house in the southern part of Taichung, but I decided to see some of the improvements the city has made in its public transportation network. I had my wife drop me off at Lilin railway station 栗林車站, which opened only in 2018 and a 10-minute drive from her brother's house, where I caught a local train heading in the direction of central Taichung:

I had the more convenient option of staying on the train all the way to Daqing 大慶車站, the closest station to where Steve lives. However, in 2021 the first section of the Taichung MRT line was finished. As I'd never ridden the line, I used the opportunity to see what it was like. As it turned out the tracks, though aboveground, were completely enclosed. Even though there were glass panels, the view was restricted and therefore not very interesting. I now know the next time I ride the Green Line it will be because I'll need to to reach a particular destination.

Meeting up with an old friend, who I've known since high school days. Though Steve is only five months younger than me, he obviously takes much better care of himself. As a mutual friend observed, he appears "ripped":

Ripped he may be, but Steve took me out to a delicious but less than healthy lunch at a restaurant called Burger Joint 7分SO in Taichung's Xitun district 西屯區:

We returned to his house afterward, where I met up with his wife March...

…and daughter Zoey, who was visiting for the holiday weekend from her university in Tamsui 淡水. She's holding one of the many boxes of Hokkaido chocolate that Shu-E bought at New Chitose Airport 新千歳空港 as souvenirs for family and friends (and for which I had to carry them all):

For dinner that evening the four of us went to an Indian restaurant

It's always a pleasure to spend time with old friends, even if one day is not enough to catch up everything:

Saturday the 1st of March. It would be a warm, sunny day as Shu-E and I headed north, driving past the local garbage incinerator. It was my wife's suggestion that we should explore the area around Taoyuan 桃園 and Zhongli 中壢 as a possible site to purchase a house, but as usual she had ulterior motives:

Passing by Huoyanshan 火炎山, which I hiked several times in the past. It's appearance is apparently the result of some kind of mining activity:

It's difficult to make out, but the reason I took this photo from the car's passenger seat was to capture the large statue of Guanyin 觀音, the Buddhist deity of mercy, on the roof of what presumably was a temple:

Approaching the real reason for driving north. In recent years my wife has taken an almost obsessive interest in the annual Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage 白沙屯媽祖進香, an annual religious procession centered around Gongtian Temple 拱天宮 in the town of Tongxiao 通霄. Why this activity so rivets Shu-E eludes me - is she getting progressively devout as she gets older?: 

The temple's parking lot was full, so we ended parking on a bridge a short walk away:

Once we reached the main hall my wife plunged into the throng of worshippers, while I stood to the side to take it all in:

The view coming out of the main hall...:

…and looking back:

Wherever there are crowds in Taiwan there will be vendors to serve their needs:

 

Which in my case turned out to be another Taiwanese sausage:

The wife takes photos of some wind turbines in the distance:

All the eateries around the temple were unsurprisingly packed with customers, so we returned to the car and continued driving north. While I drove, Shu-E searched for restaurants along the way, but the offerings were surprisingly slim. Eventually, she suggested stopping on the main street leading up to the private Yu Da University 育達科技大學, where we found one cafe open for business. There weren't very many people on the street, but the few we saw were mostly students from Southeast Asia:

Eventually we reached Taoyuan in the late afternoon and checked into the Freedom Design Hotel 富立登國際大飯店, in the Luzhu district 蘆竹區 of the city. After resting a bit, we headed out and over to the nearby TaiMall 台茂購物中心, the first American-style shopping mall in Taiwan:

Being a Saturday evening the mall was busy. After searching around for a bit, we were able to be seated without waiting at an Italian restaurant, which in addition to my pasta offered a bottle of the North Taiwan Brewery's 北台灣麥酒 Abbey Beer 8 經典8啤酒: 

 

A religious goods store we passed by on our way back to the hotel:

Freedom!:

The view from our room on my final day in Taiwan:

On the observation deck at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport 台灣桃園國際機場:

An Air China flight prepares to take off. Not mine, of course:

A final snack before takeoff:

Leaving the Taipei area on my back to Beijing:

Being greeted by Timi upon arriving home after being away for more than two weeks. He's been overjoyed that I'm back, but once my wife returns this weekend the Siamese bastard will no doubt ignore me once again (except for when he's hungry and Shu-E isn't around):

As you've probably already deduced, I returned to Beijing on my own, while my wife has been staying in Taiwan to spend quality time with her family and friends. She sent me these photos from Fengyuan taken on the day I departed:

I remarked at the conclusion of my previous post how comfortable I feel whenever I visit Japan. After years of feeling alienated there, the same can now be said of Taiwan. I'm nowhere near as proficient in Mandarin as I am in Japanese (and that isn't saying much), but I'm much better at using it to get around than I used to be. And the five years and counting that I've been living in China (two in Shanghai 上海, approaching three in Beijing, and with more to come) have put into clearer focus how different Taiwan is from the country that continually threatens to annex it, and how much more familiar Formosa feels. 

As I have hopefully changed for the better, so has Taiwan, at least on the surface. I don't feel as many stares or overhear as many ridiculing comments as I once did. Thanks to recent efforts at enforcing traffic regulations, it now seems safer to cross the road. Pubic transportation, at least in the Taichung area, has significantly improved, with the construction of several new TR stations and the opening of the Green Line. And, of course, the fact my wife and my daughter are both ROC citizens means I have the kind of ties many other Westerners living and working in Taiwan might not share. If given a choice (along with sufficient funds and the proper visa) I would love to settle down in Japan; but Taiwan would be an obvious second choice, the Formosan silver to the Japanese gold.

No matter what Jerry Seinfeld might say...