Welcome to Shikoku and beyond in Japan

Dear fellow travellers,

Objective of this blog

It is written as a guide for non-Japanese travellers who cannot speak nor write Japanese, and who love to DIY travel by car, to visit Japan easily and enjoy this country. 

Why is it easy ? 
The Japanese are so clever that when they design the car GPS system, they think of the ease of use for drivers. Without knowing how to input any Japanese word or character, all you need is to key in the telephone number of any establishment, eg a restaurant or hotel, and the GPS will take you there. Moreover, over the years, they have enhanced the system to incorporate an English menu interface for non-Japanese users, so it gets better and better.

Availability of internet resources

There are also more and more sites being translated into English for non-Japanese, including practical websites like hotel booking, car rental booking and foodie sites, making Japan more accessible for foreigners.

My travel experience

I am of course not a know-all on Japan. So far, I have travelled twice to Hokkaido, once in Kyushu and recently in Shikoku. I shall detail the recent travel first and go on to elaborate on the rest as I go on. 

Content of this blog

My focus in this blog is mainly on nature attractions, shopping and food and practical information. I hardly visit any place of historical interest nor art, as I could not comprehend the language.

How to navigate this blog

1. The Tripadvisor name and Airbnb name are both clickable and will bring you to their respective webpages or App page for mobile. You may need to install Tripadvisor or Airbnb mobile app for the link to work.
2. For mobile users only :

• Touch the Top Home button or top right arrow down button to select and navigate to a specific area of interest.

If you're interested in Europe, you can also read my blog at DIY travel by car in France and Europe.

email : sunnymuguet@gmail.com

Planning your holiday itinerary

Research
In general, I do a lot of research on the internet, using Tripadvisor, the Japanese tourism sites, tour agency brochures for highlights of any locality, personal experiences by internet users on walking trails, and many others.

The rule of 3
Japan is a heavily populated country, so you will not really see much of rural country as you drive. It's highly urbanised and sometimes the suburbs spread far and wide. It's natural for the Japanese to own cars (they are a car-manufacturing country) to commute. It's therefore impossible to drive at high speeds, due to the number of cars, the high suburban density(many traffic junctions) and the car speed limit (max 50 km/hr) imposed on national expressways.
So as a rule of thumb (for non toll roads) :

• In Australia, you need 1 hr to travel 100 km (driving speed at 100km/h).
• In France, you need 2 hrs to travel 100 km.
• In Japan, you need 3 hrs to travel 100 km.

With the distance and estimated time for the travel, you could then plan the places of visit, taking all these into consideration.

Weather forecast
Whenever possible, we check the weather forecast on TV or internet. This is to enable us to plan outdoor activities like walking, cycling and taking good photos on sunny weather days.

Duration of stay
We do not like to move around from accomodation to accommodation, as we hate having to pack and unpack. We would therefore pick a location as base to stay for several days, and move around from the home base.

Shikoku Itinerary

For my travel itinerary, please click Itinerary Map.

For restaurants that I have visited and are worth mentioning, please click Restaurant Map.

Summary of Attractions/Activities from Imabari

1. Cycle, walk and drive across the Kurushimakaikyo bridge 
2. Oboke Gorge and Iya Kazura bridge
3. Mt Ishizuchi 
4. Seaside walk on the western coast at Roadside Station Kazahaya no sato Fuwari at sunset
5. A-Coop supermarket
6. HALOWS 24 hr supermarket
7. AEON Mall
8. DAISO
9. UNIQLO Emiful

Summary of Attractions/Activities from Uwajima

1.  The seafood market どーや市場 at the Roadside Station Yawatahama Minatto 八幡浜みなっと.
2. Cycle to Sada no Chinkabashi 佐田の沈下橋 at Shimanto
3. Yusumizugaura Terrace Field 遊子水荷浦の段畑
4. Tatsukushi Coast 竜串海岸 and Cape Ashizuri Lighthouse 足摺岬灯台
5. Cape Koumo Misaki 高茂岬 (Ainan area)
6. Roadside stations in Uwajima and Ainan area and along route 441 from Uwajima to Shimanto
7. Fuji Grand Shopping Centre, Fuji supermarket
8. Uniqlo Uwajima

Summary of Attractions/Activities from Kochi

1. Hirome Market
2. Kochi Castle garden early in the morning
3. Sunday Market
4. Katsurahama Beach
5. Godaisan

Summary of Attractions/Activities from Matsuyama

1. Matsuyama Castle
2. Seaside walk at Futami Seaside Park
3. Emiful Masaki Shopping Centre
4. AEON Mall Matsuyama
5. Wonderful sushi dinner at Sushiro スシロー 松山衣山店.

Flights

Choice of Airline Carrier

1. There is no direct flight from Singapore to Shikoku yet.
2. My own preference is JAL, as it has always been known to be prompt.
3. I also book directly on the JAL Singapore website.
4. However, whichever airline you choose, there is a major consideration when transiting in Tokyo : I never like to have to transit from Tokyo Haneda to Tokyo Narita airport(or vice-versa) just for the domestic flight. It's quite troublesome.

Choice of airport in Shikoku

1. There are 4 main airports in Shikoku, as it’s the island of 4 countries, so why did I choose Ehime Prefecture as the starting "country" of destination ?
2. After research, Matsuyama is the only city where big names like Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya are present, showing perhaps that this prefecture is gaining importance. In actual fact, the population density in Ehime is higher than in other prefectures in Shikoku.
3. Ehime prefecture is also doing better than Kochi for example, in attracting tourists. It offers free WIFI (at most 1 hr per day) at many locations bearing the sign Ehime_Free_WIFI.

Choice of JAL flight

Example of outbound JAL flight 

21 :50 Singapore , Changi
Arrival 05:50 Tokyo ,Tokyo International Haneda

Second flight Departure 07:25 Tokyo , Tokyo International Haneda
Arrival 08 :50 Matsuyama

1. Notice that both the airports are the same for transit.
2. In Singapore, you are issued all the boarding passes.
3. At Haneda Airport, you have to check out your luggage, proceed quickly to the JAL Domestic Airline check-in counter just to drop your bags. Here, the queue and check-in may be long, so if you feel you’re running short of time, ask the counter staff. They also sometimes check with the queue for people with imminent departure flights.
4. Then proceed to the bus shuttle area to take a bus to the domestic terminal. The bus leaves every 20 minutes.
5. At the domestic terminal, it could be a long walk to the departure gate. We were the last to board that flight that morning.
6. The transit time is slightly less than 2 hours, barely sufficient and a bit stressful. So make sure the transit time should be longer than 2 hrs.

Example of inbound JAL flight

07:35 Matsuyama
Arrival 09:05 Tokyo ,Tokyo International Haneda

Second flight Departure 11:30 Tokyo , Tokyo International Haneda
Arrival 17:35 Singapore ,Changi

1. At Matsuyama Airport, you are issued all the boarding passes.
2. On the return flight, your luggage is automatically transferred to the international flight.
3. Upon arrival at Haneda domestic terminal airport, we had to ask where to take the bus shuttle. At the bus stop, there is a big automated screen telling you the destination of the coming bus. Make sure it’s for the International Terminal.
4. The bus leaves every 6-8 minutes, so very good.
5. We had plenty of time to shop both outside and inside.