My 1st Year in Kagawa Part 3: Places of Interest

Despite the fact that Kagawa is the smallest prefecture in Japan, it is packed with places of interest that I think are also popular among the Japanese.

For this post, I’m classifying these places in two – places I’ve been to and places I want to visit.

Places I’ve been to:

Ritsurin Garden – is one of Japan’s most beautiful traditional gardens. It’s so beautiful that it received a 3-Star Michelin award.

Megijima Island – is an island associated also known as “Onigashima” or “Land of the Ogres.” This came from the legend “Momotaro,” where a Japanese young boy fought the ogres in this island. Besides the ogre displays, this is where people also go if they want to go to a beach. The beach here is quite famous, but for it’s okay for me. I want to go back to this place because I admit I’ve seen very little of this place. I haven’t been to the oni cave yet!

Nao-shima / Nao Island – is an island littered with art works. I really wasn’t expecting a lot when I went here because I’m generally impartial towards art. However, surprise! I actually enjoyed the entire time I was there.

Shodo-shima / Shodo Island – is another popular island that has numerous places of interest.

• These are:
  • Angel Road – A sandbar appears between islands. According to the legends, if you cross this with your lover, you are guaranteed to stay together forever.
  • Olive Garden – This is where you can find the oldest olive tree in Japan. It celebrated its 100th year in 2019. There is also a Greek windmill here, and it’s said to be the setting of a popular anime movie, “Kiki’s Delivery Service.”
  • Marukin Soy Sauce Museum – An old soy sauce factory, this place has since then been converted into a museum. Here, you can see how soy sauce was made in the past. They also sell products with soy sauce in it – from bread, to donuts, to ice cream.
  • Twenty-four Eyes” Movie Studio – As the name implies, this was a location shoot for the movie, “Twenty-four Eyes” in 1950s. Though I couldn’t connect to the setting and movie references here, it still is a nice place to visit because you can see how a Japanese village looked like during the 1950s.

Busshozan – is a town in Takamatsu City that is famous for its onsen, the Honenji Temple, and a park most famous for hanami (sakura/cherry blossom tree viewing).

Yashima Mountain – is a mountain that has flat top. Historically, it’s famous because this is where a battle between clans took place. Currently, however, people go here for hiking, for Temple 84 of the Shikoku Temple Pilgrimage, and its top view of the neighboring towns and the Seto Inland Sea.

shopping arcades – My favorite is the Marugamemachi shopping street. You can shop, eat, and be entertained here. It’s also a very clean place, and since it’s covered, you don’t have to worry if it’s raining.

Shionoe – is a mountainous town just outside Takamatsu City. It is famous for its onsens and firefly festival. Since this place is rich with mountains and trees, this is also a wonderful place to visit for its sakura festival (spring season) and momiji festival (autumn season).

Clockwise from top left: Ritsurin Garden; torii from Naoshima; pagoda from Busshozan; torii from Twenty-four Eyes Movie Set, Greek windmill from Olive Garden, and view from Yashima Mountain

Places I want to visit:

• Kankakei Gorge (Shodoshima) – A gorge is a narrow valley between hills and mountains. Kankakei Gorge is one of the three most beautiful gorges in Japan, and a popular activity to do here is to watch the autumn foliage while riding a cable car.
• Nakayama Senmaida Terraced Rice Fields (Shodoshima) – When I was a child, I thought that only the Banaue Rice Terraces is the only terraced rice field in the world. However, as time went by, I realized that it’s not the only one, and that Nakayama Senmaida Terraced Rice Fields is one of those.
• Kotohira Shrine – This is Shikoku Region’s largest shrine complex. The staircase leading to the shrine itself has over a thousand steps, so the journey itself is tiring but fulfilling.
• Bonsai Center – Bonsai is majorly produced in Kagawa, mainly in Kokubunji and Kinashi Towns.
• 88-Temple Pilgrimage – In Shikoku Region, we have a temple pilgrimage activity where you visit all the designated 88 temples across the region. 22 of the 88 temples are found in Kagawa. One of these temples is in my town, but I haven’t seen it yet. I’ve only been to one – and that is Temple 84 in Yashima.

I know that I’m still missing a lot of interesting places, but I haven’t been to Kagawa long enough to discover them.

My 1st Year in Kagawa Part 2: Environment and Neighborhood

Inaka (province / countryside) is what people use to describe Kagawa and other prefectures not away from the metropolitan areas. Truth be told, I was greatly disappointed when I first learned that of my placement.

I’m a city girl, and just thinking about living in the countryside sent me to temporary disappointment. When I first got here, it was in the middle of summer, and the rice fields are in full view. When I saw those, I kind of felt uncertain. Fast forward to a couple of months, and I’ve begun appreciating the scenery that Kagawa had to offer.

Taken on my first day in Kagawa

While it is true that you can see mountains and rice fields almost everywhere (except for Takamatsu City proper), my life so far has been different from what I expected the first time I stepped foot here. Kagawa as a whole is a perfect combination of urban and rural. The mountains, river, and rice fields are indicators that I’m living in a rural area, but the conveniences of living in an urban area are still here. There are supermarkets, groceries, malls, shopping centers, restaurants (Japanese, Western, and a few other Asian ones) , convenience stores, and more.

Takamatsu City

It also has its own airport. There are no direct flight to and from the Philippines, but still better than none. It also looks way better than NAIA Terminal 4 in the Philippines (that was such a sad airport, to be honest). There are two train types here – Japan Railways (JR) trains and the Kotoden. There are also JR lines in various parts of Japan, but Kotoden is a local train line here in Kagawa. Based on my experience, these trains never really get full like the ones seen in Tokyo because based on my observation, almost all families have at least one car.

Moreover, everyone here seems to know how to ride a bike. Students usually go to schools on their bikes. I see some adults doing the same, too. In my town at least, there’s a bicycle park beside the train station. This is for those who live quite far from the station and have to use the train. They park their bicycles before entering the train station. Since I’m an unfortunate soul who doesn’t have an ounce of athleticism in my body, I struggled learning the bike. So what do I do if I need to take the train? Well, I just walk for 30 minutes from my house to the station. No big deal, really. I have no choice anyway.

Most people here usually mind their own business, but occasionally, there are very few times when random conversation happen. I’m not talking about the workplace though since this is more for when I’m walking or commuting. The most notable is with a light pink-haired obaachan who struck a conversation with me, informing me of the dog poop ahead. She was giggling while telling me this like it was the most amusing thing ever.

These two are also the ones that stood out to me as someone who lived in the Philippines:

• No children on the streets – Children here don’t play on the streets. They usually go to the park or just outside their houses. Because of this, you won’t hear children screaming outside.
• Lack of street lights – I wish Kagawa installs additional street lights. During autumn and winter, the sun sets pretty early, so expect some parts of the streets to be pitched black. This might not be necessarily applicable to central Takamatsu City, but is so for the other towns. This is actually the reason why the local government requires people to bring flashlights and wear light colored-clothing at night as protection against bikers, cars, or anyone, really. Sigh, if they could just add more street lights, then they wouldn’t have these regulations.
• Gas service – Maybe this is common to Japan, but it’s definitely new to me. Back home, we usually buy gas tanks for our stove, and manually heat our water. However, here in Japan, it is common for all households to have the gas distributed similar to electricity and water. Since Japan has 4 seasons, having this kind of service is really necessary. You can have hot water directly from the faucet and the shower.

Well, that’s about it for now. I know that there are still some things to include in this post, but these are the ones that stood out to me.

My 1st Year in Kagawa Part 1: Basic Info and Udon

I arrived in Japan on August 4, 2019 as part of the JET Programme. However, August 7 is much more special because that’s the day when I started living here in Kagawa. That means me publishing this post today means that it’s my anniversary here!

To be honest, I do think that not much is known about Kagawa because it’s not what people think when they hear of Japan.

As an introduction, here are some quick facts about Kagawa:

• it is found in Shikoku Region;
• it is the smallest prefecture in Japan;
• Takamatsu City, its capital, is the biggest city in Shikoku;
• it is said that Kagawa receives the least amount of rain in the country;
• it is also said that Kagawa has the least amount of earthquakes in the country;
• people speak Sanuki-ben, a variation of Kansai-ben; and lastly,
• Japanese people usually associate excellent udon with Kagawa.

Speaking of udon, people in Kagawa are quite proud of their udon, commonly known as Sanuki udon. Kagawa mascot is also an udon-brain eating character. It looks freaky at first because it eats its own udon brain, but you get used to it eventually.

For someone like me who hasn’t eaten udon outside Kagawa, I have no point of comparison about Sanuki udon being the most delicious in the entire country. What I can attest to is that cold udon and kare udon are my favorites. It’s been almost a year since I’ve last had cold udon, but I still remember how refreshing it was to eat it. As for kare udon, I just had it in February, and the moment I chewed on the noodles, I knew that it would be an instant favorite. Kare udon is a bit messy to eat especially when you first eat it, so make sure to always have a napkin with you.

kare udon with side dish

I don’t know in other prefectures, but I find that the udon sold here is quite cheap. I guess it also depends on where you eat it, but generally speaking, you can buy a bowl of udon for as low as 300 yen (or maybe cheaper).

So yeah, you can’t say you haven’t been to Kagawa if you haven’t tried Sanuki udon. There are a lot of udon restaurants here, so you really won’t have an excuse of skipping it.

My First Year in Kagawa Part 0: First Impression

Today marks the first year of arrival here in Kagawa. Truth be told, I wasn’t particularly thrilled when I first learned about my placement. First, I didn’t know a thing about it, and second, upon reading, I discovered that it was an “inaka.” I’ve been a city girl all my life, and I was too used to that convenient lifestyle. Sure, I have no problems traveling to the countryside and staying there for a few days, but living in one? Nope!

So imagine my inner self quietly freaking out when I first saw the rice paddies in between houses, and for me, nothing screamed “INAKA” more than those. However, over the year, I discovered that it’s really not that bad. I live in the outskirts of the city, and despite seeing the mountains, rivers, and the rice paddies as part of everyday life, it still has the conveniences of an urban life. Kagawa has malls, restaurants, home centers, convenience stores, laundry shops, etc. It’s also worth noting that Takamatsu, as the capital city, isn’t cluttered with people and various structures. There’s a balance between nature and buildings.

I just wish that Kagawa would install additional street lights because it gets pitch black in some areas at night (especially during winter). If they do this, then they wouldn’t require people to use flashlights or wear reflectors at night. Problem solved! I also wish that other food delivery services to not focus in the city center. I only have Demae-can as an option in my area with very limited food option.  

Other than these two, I’m quite satisfied where I am now.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

It’s my first anniversary here in Japan!

To be honest, I still don’t feel that a full year has gone by. Maybe it’s a combination of these things:

• despite getting bored sometimes, I now know that I enjoy living alone especially the freedom that I have;
• I’m still in constant communication with my family and friends thru Facebook and Instagram;
• I have a solid support group who are also Filipinos, and we go out from time to time; and
• I like what I do here.

So far, those are just the ones on top of my head. I’ve recontracted for another year, and so I have to enjoy the next!