Shikoku

 After spending the night in Imabari, on Saturday May 16 we took the train to Matsuyama, and spent the rest of the day just relaxing and looking around the shopping streets.

On Sunday it was a short walk and a chairlift ride up to Matsuyama castle in the middle of town. 

The castle is on a flat- top hill, and you pass through the various fortifications toward the center, and get a ticket to go inside. A classic Japanese castle with displays of samurai armour. 

After looking around we took the chairlift back down. We could have walked but it was a very hot day.

Next we took the city train to the famous Dogo onsen. 

We got the tickets that included entrance to two of the baths and some in the tatami mat sitting area with tea. The baths were of decorated stone and looked just like the pictures of them from almost 100 years ago.

Afterwards we found a restaurant serving local style okonomiyaki, and the called it a day.

The next day, Monday the 18th, was a travel day to the art island of Naoshima, with a stop at Ritsurin garden in Takamatsu along the way.

The Garden was extensive with ponds and many sculpted pine trees.

We took the ferry to Naoshima. On the ferry I saw signs about making reservations for the museums on the island, which I hadn't done. I quickly made some reservations for the next day using my phone, but two of the most popular museums were sold out.

We arrived about dinner time, and on Monday all the museums are closed, so most of the restaurants were closed as well. We found a funky little place run by one person, decorated with graffiti, serving basic food over rice and beer, and seemed be a bit of a local hang-out.

The next day we rented bicycles from the hotel and cycled across the island. It was only a few kilometers. In the town there was a bicycle shelter done in a very artistic way.

We continued around the area until we got to the museum area, where we had to park the bikes and either walk or take the shuttle bus. We walked most of the way to be able to see the artwork that was outdoors along the road by the sea, including Yayoi Kusama's famous squash.

At the top of a hill was the Benesee House museum, with various works of conceptual art.

A little further along the road was the Valley Gallery, with Yayoi Kusama's work called Narcissim.

Across the road was the Lee Ufan museum. He was a Korean born artist who influence Japanese conceptual art in the 1960s. 

After finishing with the museums we walked back to the bikes and road back to the hotel. In the town I did a sketch of Yayoi Kusama's pumpkin.

We had a drink and dinner in town and called it a night.