Airbnb Accommodation in Uwajima

Period of Stay : 20-27 Jun 2016

Name of Airbnb : 宇和海の見える素敵な家でお待ちしております。ラマンショード
Room Type : Entire Home/Apartment 
Area : Uwajima 宇和島市

1. The choice of staying in Uwajima proved to be difficult. Most of the attractions are in Kochi prefecture nearer to Shimanto so the most likely closer choice of accommodation is either at Shimanto or Tosashimizu. Around Shimanto there are no entire home Airbnb choices and as for Tosashimizu, they are either too expensive or unsuitable.
2. So when I came upon this listing in Uwajima and I saw the picture of a fishing rod and a wooden house overlooking a bay, I was enticed. At the same time, I was also confused because there was also a beautiful photo of the house entrance foyer as compared to the wooden house. The pictures I saw at that time did not show much of the house/apartment as compared to now (they updated). It fits all our criteria except for the kitchen(a rather dull photo),  and WIFI, which we didn't know at that time that we wouldn't be able to get a local travel SIM card. 
3. I was also a bit stressed when communicating with the host Kazuki, due to his choice of English used. But all our anxiety dissipated when his father Hide came to greet us with umbrellas ready on a rainy day and when we stepped into their house.
4. What a lovely place ! Tatami floors, small but more than well-equipped kitchen, look-alike shoji walls, auto light-sensing corridor and toilets, ground-floor hi-tech toilet, auto-fill bathtub, big bathroom clothes dryer, timer-based induction cooker, dish dryer machine...2 big first-floor 6-tatami room bedroom and overall a very well-designed home. 
5. From the onset, although communication with them was going to be difficult, Hide and his wife Michi are very warm and generous, as can be seen from what they provide. Michi talked a lot even in Japanese trying hard to explain how the high tech works. For the next 7 days, we'd really learn to appreciate it even more. 
6. We were a bit worried about mosquitoes the 1st day, and Hide bought us a new insect repellent that same evening. We were offered Michi's fried chicken(a local Ehime speciality and delicious!), and asked to join them for fishing and a buffet dinner with his karate club(both at our cost).
7. I'd call it Kazuki's onsen(without the spring water), because every night I'd soak in the bathtub and felt so good. At night, we'd leave the windows opened, and had a good sleep, to the cool night air coming in.
8. The highlight turned out to be the fishing. Hide brought us to his boat-house, a wonderful place overlooking the bay. Initially, he showed us big fishes swimming under 2 floor-traps . We couldn't understand as we thought he was rearing them, but soon we realised that he had never caught them before, as he demonstrated throwing them some shrimp but to no avail.
9. We then went out on his boat on a rainy morning in the bay. Yes, we brought raincoats on our travel, to his surprise ! Yes, he provided us life-jackets for safety reasons. This bay is really big, quiet and sheltered... no sea waves at all. At the first place we anchored, he prepared rods with a floater for us to fish. But we caught nothing. Then we moved to another anchor point. My wife soon got a bite but something happened. The rod broke at the top. We laughed because we have never had a rod broken at a critical moment of fishing. Hide laughed, saying that it was a bargain(cheap) rod. I said Daiso (100¥), just for laughs, but he denied. 
10. But he did promise us a good BBQ seafood lunch. Thereafter, he showed us his fish trap(placed already for about 10 days under the sea), at least 100+ fishes, of which he released the smaller ones, and took those he needed. Eel, fishes, puffer fish !!!
11. We then had BBQ lunch(fishes, meat platter, vegetables, rice) with his whole family in the boat-house. The most delicious fish ever ! We ate 3 of them !
12. Then he tried going for the big fishes under his floor-trap with a small live fish bait, but failed. We then suggested he took off his floater... and voilà, but we missed the first catch because the hook he used was a bit too small, we thought.
13. However, we didn't miss the 2nd catch. We caught our biggest fish, and for him, his 1st ever ! and for sashimi too ! Hide showed us what he meant by sashimi when he put the caught fish alive in a fish trap back into the sea, so that they could eat it later. We were laughing hilariously because we wondered why we'd gone out fishing, getting wet in the bay, when we could have just fished from his boat-house.
14. We were really glad to have strayed from the main city/attraction areas to come to this quiet bay, to know this wonderful family and to come to enjoy this lovely gem on the western coast.

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 Kou mo 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

Duplex house

Entrance to Airbnb

Welcome drinks

Kitchen

Kitchen

Living Room

Bathtub

Washing machine and wash area

Control Panel for bathroom clothes drying

Staircase

Bedroom 1st tatami room

Bedroom 2nd tatami room

Massage chair and rider exercise machine

Fish trap

Our BBQ fish

Wrapped in aluminium foil

BBQ pit

BBQed !

Our prized fish !

Remarks

1. This quiet bay is used for pearl and sea bream farming. Uwajima pearls are apparently the most famous in Japan (LOL ! we came to know about it later !)
2. Hide and Michi live in a duplex house, so their home is just beside the Airbnb home, each with its own proper entrance.