Dropping in on Matsuyama

Dogo Onsen, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

We arrived in the coastal plain city of Matsuyama in the early afternoon. The train ride was straight forward. I snapped a photo of the Inland Sea simply because it was the closest I had been to salt water in a long time. Yes, I'd love to be out paddling again. One cute (literally!) coincidence on that train; the woman selling refreshments and box lunches was the same woman who had worked on the train we had taken to Kotohira the previous day. I certainly can't say I've come across that kind of chance meeting on a JR train in all the times I've been riding back and forth across the country.

The city of Matsuyama is a pleasant place. It's not a massive metropolis nor is a backwoods small city. Like any Japanese city there are confections to sell to the tourists. In the case of Matsuyama they're "taruto", sponge roll cake filled with a variety of sweet pastes but I suspect the traditional filling was sweet red been paste. The profile of the city centre is dominated by the large hill where the Matsuyama Castle sits. It's an impressive structure and it's the genuine article not a concrete reconstruction as seen in many other cities. I have no idea how it escaped destruction at the time of the Meiji Restoration. Perhaps because it was only completed in 1859 (or thereabouts).

One place which I didn't get around to enjoying until the following morning was the famed Dogo Onsen. I have no idea how old the structure is but the place has been in business for centuries I believe. Of course it has been modernized but the essence of the place is probably the same as it was at the start of the twentieth century. The bath which I entered was close to the entry way and, though not the most spacious one I've ever been in, it certainly was nice and hot. I do wonder if there are other baths in the place...there have to be more.