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Shikoku Art & Building Tour: Exploring the Traditional and the Contemporary

Shikoku tour – explore modern art and  building in four regions

 

Shikoku means “four countries”. As it shows the island consists of four regions; Kagawa, Tokushima, Kouchi and Ehime next to each other. By the end of this blog, you’ll love this treasure island where a respect for history and architecture merges with a sense of art.
 

Kagawa, Naoshima

First of all, let’s explore Kagawa which is famous for udon noodles. One of the islands, Naoshima is also popular as art island.
 

Benesse House Museum (GoogleMap 4.3 Trip Advisor 4.0, 438reviews)

Benesse House Museum is an art museum and hotel in one facility. The theme of the museum is “A harmonious integration of nature, architecture, and art”. Being both the architecture of the building and exhibitions mordern, it is like a treasure box outside and inside. Architect is Tadao Ando, who is the strength of geometrical designing and blending lighting expression to architecture. Unique display areas which based on the concept of the sea and valley locate both inside and outside.  Even the sunlight and ocean view surrounding the museum are spice to make new impression of the exhibitions. There are also some exclusives for night over guests.  Benesse house, the hotel provides  exhibitions displayed only for the guests and night time art touring.  

Tokushima

Secondly, you will explore a unique vine bridge in Tokushima.

Iya Kazura bashi, Tokushima (Actinidia arguta vine bridge)

Kotohira bus Tours offers you a comfortable tour by arranging private buses.
This unique bridge is on the list of important cultural asset. It is  woven with actinidia arguta vine suspension bridge, 45 meters long, 2 meters wide and 14 meters above the surface.It overs Iya valley.The valley changes its appearance depending on the season like a chameleon. You can enjoy wisteria blossoms in spring, fresh green leaves in summer, red leaves in autumn and white snow.  There are some theories of the reason this bridge was created. For instance, The Heike built this bridge as a trap, planning to cut the vines while fleeing so that the chasing enemies would fall into the valley.
 

Kouchi

Thirdly, let’s freshen up with a breathtaking view of the crystal clear river in Kouchi.
 

Niyodo river

It ranked as the purest river in Japan above 162 others. Vibrant colour of the crystal clear water is called “Niyodo-blue”. Thanks to the  transparency  of the water and pale colours of the stones in the riverbed creates the beautiful blue. Lightning bugs appear around the middle reach of the liver during summer. Combination of their light and Niyodo-blue makes a fairy tail atmosphere.  There are  some water falls and deep pools tributary currents separated  from the main stream.  You can also enjoy the beautiful flows and bracing air.
 

Chinka bashi

Niyodo river has six bridges that have narrow bodies and simple structures. The name means “bridge which sinks bottom” in Japanese came from the bridge literally sinks under the water when it rained heavily.  One of the bridges, Asao chinka bridge is famous for taking place for popular dramas and films. Enjoying the beautiful view of the river, exploring every six Chinkabashi following flow of the river is good idea to create a travell memory.

 

Ehime

Finally, your last destination on this blog is Ehime.  People often express “small Kyoto in Iyo” as remaining traditional architecture.
 

Frou-an, Garyu Sanso

 

Michelin Green Guide Japan contains it with a star in 2011. Sansou means a villa in mountain. It consists of several tearooms, hermitages and gardens. Frou-an is one of the hermitages there using a unique building method. Kakedsukuri is a traditional building method for shrines and temples. The method consists of erecting long pillars to stabilize the floor. In ancient times, some of temples tended to be built along slope of the cliffs or mountain faces in Japan, so that this method was often used. Kakedsukuri makes Frou-an to be  cozy hideaway more. World wide famous architect Kisho Kurokawa has admired that he will not regret even he gets into debt to obtain the buildings.  
 

Machiya and Castle stay experience in Ozu

There are some famous town revitalisation projects using beautiful historical buildings such as Machiya and Ozu castle.Machiya is a traditional building style which was for citizen houses in the past. Because of the depopulation for maintain and succeeding, some of Machiya were abandoned despite being a highly valuable cultural material. After revitalisation project started, some of the traditional machiya-buildings were renovated to a hotel, restaurant and small wedding hall remaining the traditional architecture. Town has totally  come back to life and visitors! Another effort to improve the city was Castle stay which was the  very  first attempt in Japan. Ozu castle is loved as a town symbol by local people and opened for visitors in day times. Surprisingly, guests can make reservation to stay the castle tower as a hotel! Spending time calling mind of ancient history staying a night inside of important cultural property is essential experience. You will enjoy the breath of the architecture by your five senses. Silence inside of robust wooden building, The fragrance of cypress, artistic design of traditional rooms…everything will satisfy you.

 

Conclusion

Shikoku is treasure island of the nature, art and  traditional architectures. It is the best choice for visitors who like to go around some unique landmarks in short stay because it does not take time to tour all four regions. After exploring hidden gems in four regions, you will be as satisfied as when you found the four stars of Southern Cross in the clear night sky!

 

Resources: 

Benesse Art Site Naoshima — https://benesse-artsite.jp/en/

三好市公式観光サイト 大歩危祖谷ナビ MIYOSHI CITY TOURISM OBOKE IYA NAVI — https://miyoshi-tourism.jp/

SHIKOKU TOURS — https://shikokutours.com

NIPPONIA HOTEL — https://www.ozucastle.com 

大洲市観光まちづくり戦略会議「大洲市観光総合サイトVisit Ozu」— https://jp.visitozu.com

 

 

September 2024

A fabulous Japan Holiday

 Just a note to say thank you for all your assistance with our Japan holiday. It was a fabulous trip. We all really enjoyed the tours, the variety of activities, the order of the itinerary (finishing in Tokyo was a great idea – a really fun way to end the trip) and the accommodation. It all worked out very well.

Thank you for your excellent organisation and also your quick responses to us while away!

I hope you have had a good break over Christmas and New Year.

We will be in touch about our next holiday! Kind regards, D.

January 2024

Trip to Kamikochi – The Japanese Alps

We loved the trip to Kamikochi, with steep hills and valley and beautiful rivers – it was absolutely marvellous.

Seeing monkeys was a bonus, and there were lots of signs of bears, but we didn’t see any. It all really reminded me of the Rocky Mountains in Canada or the European Alps, but with less people, huts and cows.

The contrast of the landscape with bamboo groves, rivers and snow-capped mountains was amazing, and the village was really cute to visit.

We were the only westerners at the hotel, which was an amazing traditional experience. The staff were so welcoming and went out of their way to help both with our stay and our travels.

The pond is a must see!

July 2023 , , , ,

cherry blossoms

We had an absolute dream time in Japan, cherry blossoms arrived two weeks earlier this year and not only we did not miss it but were right in the middle of it everywhere we went. From our pocket WiFi to trains, hotels to excursions, all went extremely well.

Also, weather was unusually kind to us, most days we were under the full sun, including the day we went to Mt Fuji!!! Not a single piece of cloud (apparently a very rare thing).

Kind people, excellent food, we were so happy, while still in Japan we were talking about our next Japan trip.

Thought you enjoy hearing all the positive marks from our wonderful Japan holiday.

Thanks again, have a nice day.

May 2023

Europamundo trip

Hi Miyuki,

I just want to let you know I am back in Australia.  My wife and I had a fantastic trip and enjoyed the tour you have organised through Europamundo.  Everything worked according to plan and we had no issues at all.

Many thanks for your expertise and help in making this trip a memorable one!  ????  All the best!

April 2023

Wonderful

Thank you Miyuki (from JTB). You are wonderful. 

March 2023

Loved everything

Hi Chris,
They loved everything about what you organized, the hotel, tour etc.
Thanks again.

,

Amazed at the value of their JTB package

Hi Clement ,

The party of four passengers have returned from their trip with the following feedback : They were amazed at the value of their JTB package holiday. They were impressed by the standard, location and quality of the accommodation. Their holiday was seamless – they felt that the arrangements were comprehensive and efficient. They could not fault one detail of the trip and could not stop singing praises.  I don’t mind telling you I was happy to take all of the credit ? Clement – this is my way of saying THANKYOU. You are working incredibly hard, it is a time of unprecedented pressure, yet your work remains immaculate. I cannot thank you enough for your professionalism and attentiveness.  I am so grateful that you weathered the storm and have remained at JTB.  I look forward to continuing to work with you.  Happy Friday. Well Done.  Please tell me you are going to get some time off this weekend. ?

February 2023

We had a fantastic trip.

Good morning Blake

Thank you so much for all your orgainsing and booking; we had a fantastic trip. Everything was awesome and the Japan rail passes were amazing; we caught the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka and returned and caught the Narita airport express. The One Piece show was great too. Our fast passes for Universal Studio were fantastic; and our two day pass to Disneyland and DisneySea. It was great because everything was all organised in Australia before we left and we appreciate all your assistance and constant communication with our booking. The SUICA cards were a lifesaver with the Tokyo metro and the Disneyland monorail.

Thank you again.

Warm Regards

Dannielle

July 2019

Totally recommend your service

Dear Chris

Better late than never!!!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for organising such a great trip in Japan from 15 May – 04 June 2019.  We love Naomi and are so grateful that she put us in contact with you.

The most amazing thing for people our age, was the detailed instructions that came with our journey throughout Japan. We also appreciated the choice of tours and places to stay.

All of our tour guides were great, but we would like to mention two in particular. Kenta who took us on the Salary Man’s tour inn Shimbashi.  His knowledge was very comprehensive and as we were the only 2 on this tour, we had an extended night of enjoyment.

Secondly – Kao in Fukuoka, where we went to Dazaifu and Yanagawa. Her knowledge and grasp of English was excellent, and she had to answer some curly questions for us, but the knowledge she has of facts for the future of Japan was totally outstanding.

We can totally recommend your services.

Pat and Robyn

Always go above and beyond

My pleasure, Chris san!

You have been an amazing help with such efficient service and you always go above and beyond to help me create the best itinerary!

Thank YOU always!  Have a lovely weekend J

Koyomi

July 2019

Anait is an absolute gem.

Hey Clement, 

I wanted to give you my glowing feedback for Anait! She is an absolute gem and I have been working exclusively with her for the last 12 months. I can’t speak highly enough of her. Her attention to detail is so amazing, I love that she goes above and beyond to give me the ‘walking distances to and from hotels/stations’ and she always makes suggestions of great tours. I am appreciative that I am able to email her my quote/booking requests and she will without fail action them within 24 hours (even sooner when I sometimes put her under pressure).

Our conversion rate together is pretty high, I recon we convert 9 out of 10 quotes which is amazing!!  

She is a huge asset to your company and I wanted to make sure everyone knows that I think she is THE BEST IN THE BIZ!

Feel free to share my feedback with her and anyone who wants to hear!!

Thanks for listening, have a great day!

Natalie

June 2019

Wouldn’t have discovered Ueno on our own

Hi Miyuki

Just letting you know that our trip to Japan was amazing. Thank you for your assistance.

Everything was so well organised. In particular thank you for your suggestion of staying in Ueno for our final couple of days when we returned to Tokyo. It is a lovely area and we probably wouldn’t have discovered it on our own.

Susan

Had a fantastic trip to Japan

Morning Hayley,

Thank you for your email

We had a fantastic trip to Japan. Hows your trip?

Honestly booking everything in advance makes things a lot easier and  saves our time.

The airport limousine bus was great because we got dropped off very close to our hotel and given we had a lot of shopping on the way back, it was great because we don’t really have to wheel around our luggage everywhere. 

The Japan Rail Pass was also great value, we traveled to Osaka and Kyoto using that, was a great experience, it was really easy to use we had no issue with that.

Suica card also great, as we can use it in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, only thing if you want to travel metro areas its probably cheaper buying the 24 hours metro daily pass.

The sim card works really well too, it switch straight away as soon as you get there. However my one bit slow towards the end of the trip. but my husband’s sim card works perfectly throughout the trip.

We really enjoyed Disney and Universal too, however if we went back would probably purchase the queue jumping tickets on top of the general admission.  Given that it was a very busy period, we had to line up for a long, long time for some rides which was OK, but given we only had a day to go around there we didn’t get to do everything we wanted too – so not sure if you on-sell that but something I would definitely recommend to people in future! 

Overall, we were pretty happy with everything :) 

Thanks so much for your assistance 

Kind Regards,

Indah

I wouldn’t use any other company

Dear Anait,

I spoke with Barry on Wednesday about his Japan holiday and he had a lovely time! Both he and his wife were worried about navigating the train trips around Japan, however he said it was very easy! He loved the Tokyo accommodation the most and all of the tours.

I was very happy that this worked out so well, Barry is a regular client of ours and was very anxious before this trip. Thank you so much for all of your help! You and Clement were especially helpful! I wouldn’t use any other company for Japan!

Have a great day!

June 2019

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