- Good morning, everyone it's Micaela,
and this morning I'm at Himeji station.
I've just arrived at Himeji station.
And for the next two nights, three days,
I'm going to be exploring the Setouchi region,
extending from Himeji, to Tokushima, to Kagawa.
And I'm so excited because this is an area
that I don't actually get to visit very easily
from Fukuoka City.
It's a little bit far.
If you're visiting Japan
and you're coming from Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe,
this is a really cool off the beaten path type of area
that's really worth exploring.
I've heard so much about it
and I can't wait to get out there
and see what it has to offer.
Let's go.
- [Narrator] So our journey today begins in Himeji City,
the second largest city in Hyogo Prefecture.
It is home of what is said to be
one of the most beautiful and picturesque castles
in all of Japan.
All right, so right behind me, is Himeji Castle,
and although it looks like it is immediately behind me
it's still quite a ways away because this castle is huge.
The castle grounds are massive.
This area is now a UNESCO world heritage site.
And it's absolutely gorgeous.
The castle has since been restored.
The last time I came here, it was still under construction
but it's gorgeous.
I can't wait to see what's changed.
When you look at it like this
and you think that the JR Station
is all the way down at the end of this street.
It's crazy to think that Himeji Castle
used to encompass all of this area
in between the station here.
That's a large amount of land.
Because of its elegant white towering presence in the city,
Himeji Castle is also affectionately referred to
as Shirasagijo or White Heron Castle.
If you come on a bright and sunny day
the white walls seem to illuminate the entire city.
And while the main attraction is the castle itself,
the gardens are also incredibly gorgeous and fun to explore
if you're looking for inspiration
in Japanese architecture and design.
(water flowing)
(soft upbeat music)
If you wanna have the best experience
here at Himeji Castle and the surrounding gardens
it's best to come in the morning
and aim for that morning light,
it illuminates the castle,
plus there's barely any people here.
It's like you have the place all to yourself.
So now we're heading towards the Island of Shikoku
through an Island called Awajishima.
So on our way, we make a brief stop at Honpukuji Temple,
a gorgeously designed temple
by the famous architect Ando Tadao,
who decided it should be located underground,
underneath a fully functioning lotus pond.
(upbeat music)
You come down the stairs and then from here
it's like an underground regular shrine.
Unfortunately,
photography is not permitted inside the temple
but let me just say, it's impressive underground too.
You should definitely check it out
if you're ever in the area.
So this morning, we started in Hyogo Prefecture
and now we're crossing over to Tokushima Prefecture
through Awajishima.
Awaji Island, which is a little island
that connects, I guess, Kobe, Osaka, Hyogo, Himeji
with Shikoku, the Islands of Shikoku.
Awajishima is apparently famous for its onions
which I had never heard of until today, but I believe them.
And this onion burger
is supposed to be one of the best burgers in Japan.
So I can't wait to give it a try.
(speaking in Japanese)
Hmm, there's nothing like
a really good, thick, juicy sweet onion
in the middle of a burger.
And the fact that it's deep fried, ugh!
This is so, so naughty, but it's so good.
Over a large bridge, we depart Awajishima
and cross the Naruto Strait
into Tokushima Prefecture, on the Island of Shikoku.
Once you make it to the other side of this bridge
you can park and enter a walkway underneath the bridge.
Keeping an eye on the turbulent waters below,
you might even catch a glimpse
of one of the famous Naruto Whirlpools
if you arrive at the right time of day.
Unfortunately we were just a little bit too late
to see them ourselves.
Okay, so now we are in Tokushima in Naruto City,
and we are at Monzen Ichibangai
which is the first stop on the pilgrimage around Shikoku.
The history of this pilgrimage dates back over 1,200 years.
And to this day,
many people come to Shikoku to challenge it.
Offering prayers to the gods along the way.
So people who normally embark on this pilgrimage,
they're gonna go to 88 different locations across Shikoku
and it usually takes about 40 days.
That's incredible.
It would take incredible willpower, which I do not have.
So we are just gonna go to one or two spots today
before the sun goes down and just see what it's like,
get a little taste of the pilgrimage before it gets dark.
(praying in Japanese)
All right, we've made it to the second stop
along our two stop pilgrimage.
This is location number two, if you're going all the way
to the 88 different shrines, this would be the second one.
There are actually no rules
to how you complete a pilgrimage.
Whether you do it on foot by bicycle or by car is up to you.
This might be a fun way to spend an early summer in Shikoku.
As you know, traveling in recent times
has been really hard.
But hotels are doing everything they can
to stay afloat and accommodate guests,
even in these difficult times.
With frequent hand sanitizing, masks, temperature checks
and the limiting of large groups,
it is still possible to travel safely
as long as you're traveling smart.
So something interesting that I learned last night
was that Tokushima-ken,
the prefecture of Tokushima
is actually also formerly called Awa.
The traditional name is Awa.
And Awa Odori is this traditional dance
that's usually performed at festivals
here in the Tokushima area.
But if you come to Tokushima during a non festival time
when there's not much going on
you can still catch the dancers here
at the Awaodori Kaikan
which is what we're gonna do right now.
(traditional music)
After checking out the Awaodori Museum,
we headed up to the theater
and watched a 40 minute Awaodori show.
With nonstop energy and vibrant costumes,
this was a great way to take a break before a very busy day.
There are four daytime performances
and one night type performance.
So if you're in the city and it fits into your schedule,
definitely drop by.
From the fifth floor of the Awaodori Kaikan,
you can take a cable car
all the way up to the top of Mount Bizan,
a small mountain in Tokushima City
that offers a gorgeous panoramic view of the entire area.
On a clear sunny day,
you can see back towards Awaji Island
and the main Island Honshu.
It's a great way to get some fresh air
and recalibrate your bearings.
(upbeat cheerful music)
Now, today we're leaving Tokushima City
and we're heading towards Kagawa Prefecture.
But first we have to stop for some lunch.
I'm trying Tokushima ramen.
It is lunchtime, and I'm getting ready to enjoy
a bowl of Tokushima ramen.
So this particular ramen
is made from a very rich and intense
tonkotsu pork bone broth
that has been flavored with soy.
So it's a lot saltier and a little bit more
thick and strong than hakata tonkotsu ramen.
And then the marinated pork belly on top
is quite strong in flavor as well.
And the noodles are a bit thicker.
So I think that that's the main differences
I can tell so far.
(overlapping background chatter)
(soft music)
So we are on our way to Konpirasan,
which is a shrine that lies the top of 700 steps.
We're about halfway right now.
And so a lot of fishermen will take this track,
up the 700 stairs to pray for a safe sailing,
but it's also very popular with tourists, as well.
And it's a little bit harder on my body than I expected.
But we're almost at the top.
So like I said, because this is a shrine
for the gods of the sea,
over here we have photos of boats.
A boat here in the center as well.
I guess it really is famous for
safe voyages.
And just amazing there's a horse there.
Look at this cafe, just look at the cafe.
(screaming excitedly)
We are at the halfway point at a cafe
run by Shiseido Parlour,
which means that they have
super gorgeous, refined, desserts and coffee.
This is a good spot to stop and take a little breather.
I'll have some tea because it was very cold outside.
There's really so much going on in this cafe.
There's so many different flavors.
But they're all my favorite flavors, it's really good.
(upbeat music)
For tonight's stay,
I'm staying at Kotohira Onsen, Shikishima-kan,
a lovely ryokan packed with amenities.
A delicious full course kaiseki meal
that includes Kagawa specialty foods
and several private baths
that can be reserved 24 hours a day.
I wish I could have spent more time here yo be honest.
(cheerful music)
Good morning, so it is about 9:30 AM
and we've just arrived at the Nakano Udon School
here in Takamatsu,
where I'm going to learn how to make some Udon,
which is famous in the Kagawa region.
It's a fairly simple process.
It says right here, you enroll
and 50 minutes later, you graduate.
Kagawa Prefecture has the perfect soil for growing wheat.
So it's natural that udon became a specialty here.
I expected to learn about
Kagawa's special sanuki udon today.
But what I got was so much more.
(upbeat music)
My udon teacher had me dancing, mixing, stomping
and kneading my dough
to tracks of popular Japanese idols.
I was surprised by how many of them I recognized.
Then we cut the noodles, prepared them for eating,
and let me tell you,
there's nothing more delicious
than Japanese food that you've made yourself.
Especially after a work out.
After a quick lunch, I scrambled the Takamatsu port,
to catch the ferry to Shodoshima.
Shodoshima is a small island about one hour by boat,
famous for its olive trees, mediterranean climate
and gorgeous scenery.
I love coming to little island towns like this.
Everything is so remote and quiet and peaceful.
And you can imagine that the people
who live here on the Island
have a completely different lifestyle
than something you'd see in a big city in Japan.
(upbeat music)
This is Nonaka, a small Japanese restaurant
in a remodeled old home on the Island of Shodoshima.
Its specials include the famous olive pork and olive beef.
Livestock here are said to be fed olives
as part of their diet,
which in turn affects their taste.
I had the olive pork lunch,
which was like salty and not too oily.
And after my second lunch of the day
we hopped in a car and headed over to Kankakei Gorge,
which is somewhere I've wanted to visit for a while.
It was great to be able to cross this destination
off my bucket list.
So now we're at Kankakei Gorge,
which is somewhere that I really wanted to visit
because I saw it on a poster
the last time I was in Kagawa.
This is a place you wanna visit in the fall.
When the leaves start to turn color
it looks absolutely amazing.
But today's quite a beautiful day as well.
It's sunny and it's clear.
And from the top of the mountain,
you can see behind me,
you can see all of Shodoshima
and back towards that way is Kagawa Prefecture Shikoku.
So we've got little clay disks.
And if you can throw them through the hoop,
you get to make a wish.
(speaking in Japanese)
The wind is not working in my favor,
it's a little windy, but I'll try.
(upbeat music)
(background laughter)
(speaks in Japanese)
It was so great to finally see this area for myself.
If you love high vantage points and role plays like I do,
this is a very off the beaten path location,
that is very rewarding if the weather conditions are right.
And finally, my last stop on this three-day itinerary
is Angel Road.
This road is only walkable when the tide is low
and legends say that if you walk the road
while holding hands with the person you love,
while making a wish,
the wish will come true.
Whether you believe it or not,
at the end of the road is a small island
where people can leave their best intentions
hanging on a tree
in hopes that their wishes will be granted.
If you could come to this island
what would you wish for?
(upbeat music)
Soon it was time for me to hop on a ferry
and make my way back to Fukuoka.
But not without first checking out the art
displayed around the ferry terminal.
This one was designed by a Japanese artist,
Koshino Junko's art ,
this one was made by a Korean artist named Kim Kyoung-Min
This particular art piece is called
Taiyou no Okurimono, Gift of the Sun.
Although I spent three days exploring the Setouchi region,
three was definitely not enough time.
I need to come back in a warmer month.
I hope that this video gives you a whirlwind idea
of what to expect in this region.
And if there's anything in this video
that you saw that you would like to explore for yourself
check the description box for links to more information
for you to plan your own itinerary.
Thanks for watching guys, bye.