Blogs from Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan, Asia - page 2

Mark had never been to Ritsurin and we were looking for something to do that Sunday so we caught a train to Takamatsu and rented a pair of bicycles and headed down Chuo Dori to my favorite park. As always Ritsurin was beautiful. We goofed around, took pictures and strolled the paths. At one point we were near the north plum grove and I saw some strange plants had grown up and engulfed an entire previously empty pond. I'd never seen this plant before and I practically sprinted to the pond to investigate (much to Mark’s amusement). It had giant sprouts like elephant ears with pink or white blossoms shooting slightly above the green canopies. They were lotus plants. I had never seen one before and I never expected them to be so big. I expected ... read more

Warmer weather was finally starting to show its face in Shikoku and I headed out to Takamatsu for the day. A few sources had stated that the plum blossoms in Ritsurin Park were blooming and worth the trip to see. The park is easy to find in Takamatsu. You just head down Chuo Dori (Central Street) from the station and it is on the left. It is the largest traditional Japanese Garden I’ve seen so far. It has a museum of Japanese traditional art, a gift shop, at least two tea houses and several ponds. According to my map it takes two hours to walk around the entire park. The park is nestled around the base of Mt. Shiun which acts as a green back drop. Year round there is something beautiful you can see there. ... read more

My travel buddy: I met Barrie in December through a mutual friend. I saw him again at work a couple of months later. The combined amount of time that I was in his presence probably amounted to three hours. So of course he was my obvious choice to spend a week with traveling around Japan. Thanks to an online community (go Facebook!), the two of us began exchanging pleasantries regarding new work schedules and classes, as well as our plans for Golden Week (national holiday at the end of April/beginning of May). It turned out that we were interested in going to the same place- Shikoku! Our destination: Shikoku is Japan's fourth largest island but seems to be generally overlooked by tourists, which is what made it such an attractive destination (especially during a period ... read more

In the Japanese zodiac 2007 is the Year of the Boar (Inoshishi). I spent the New Year with a couple of different friends that I had met the first time I was in Japan, and their families. It had been three years since I had seen one friend and his wife, and five years since I had seen the other friend and her family, but in both cases it was as though it had only been about a month. ... read more

At some point during the train ride to Osaka, we decided it would be better if we went as far south as we had intended to go and work our way back. To this extent after arriving at peak hour in crazy Osaka we jumped on the next train to Takamatsu. Takamatsu is located off the mainland on the island of Shikoku. The reason for going their intiatally was it’s close proximaty to the tiny island of Noashima - on which is located the Chichu Art Museum that was designed especially by the famous Japanese architect Tado Ando. Takamatsu proved to be a wonderful city. I highly recommend going there to anyone visiting Japan and want to get away from busy cities for a while. It is quite a metropolitan town, but without the mayhem. On ... read more