Day 4:
After waking, we went to Ritsurin Koen. This park is one of the most famous in Japan and features a traditional Japanese garden that was designed several hundred years ago. Japanese gardens are ornate and have very specific themes and designs. Like a painting where every brushstroke has meaning, these gardens have been planned in detail from the placement of trees to the smallest flower. Designed to make the visitor relaxed and at peace, each plant and stone is laid in a way to promote an aesthetic harmony. Ritsurin Koen is a large park in the center of Shikoku’s largest city, Takamatsu. Amazingly, once inside the park, you forget that you are in a city. The garden is so well-designed and maintained that it seems like a fairy tale. I could have spent days exploring the park and sitting on a bench noticing the subtle nuance by which the designers decided to place a specific rock in a specific place in relation to a certain combination of flowers. In many ways, Ritsurin Koen is a metaphor for Japan. It is obvious that the people who designed it put forth great effort and discipline (some would argue to the point of anal retentiveness). The park isn’t allowed to evolve or change, the design that was originally laid out has been decided to be the best way so no one deviates from the plan. I can imagine how a small change would bring panic to the people who have the task of maintaining the garden. Japan is like this in many ways. People have a way of doing things that sometimes appears odd to me. When I ask why they do something in a particular way they answer with a confused look, “that is how we do it in Japan”. Japan is known to the world as a country of innovators but socially this is not the case. Japanese people tend to be hesitant of change and would rather do things the “Japanese way” than look for alternative possibilities. In a society as community minded as Japan, I can see the benefits of this mindset, it reduces the chance of disagreement or controversy. But, being an independent minded American, I can’t help but be struck by the inflexibility endemic in Japanese society. This may surprise people who have never spent time in Japan but it is really true.

After we left the park, we prepared to leave Shikoku. There is a huge bridge, Seto-ohashi, that connects Shikoku to Okayama, Honshu. It is one of the largest bridges in the world and the longest double-tiered bridge anywhere (highway on top with train lines below). Actually, Seto-ohashi is a system of bridges that goes from Shikoku to Honshu via connecting several small islands. I was totally unprepared for the immense size of the bridge. Standing on the shore of Shikoku, I could not see the other end of the bridge, and it was a clear sunny day. It takes 20-25 minutes to drive across at highway speeds. It is so big, there is a rest stop/store halfway across. For most of the bridge, the cars are driving at least 500 feet above the water. Because earthquakes are so common in Japan, the bridge is reinforced to a higher degree than any bridge I have ever seen. Looking at it for the first time, I could not help but think it will be standing 1000 years from now. Seto-ohashi is seriously one of the most impressive man-made things I have ever seen in my life. The pictures above don’t do justice to the enormity of the bridge.

The toll to drive across was 4000 Yen (about $38) and it was worth it. Once on the other side, Tsukamoto dropped me off at the Okayama train station and we parted ways. Shikoku was my favorite area of Japan that I have been to and I was happy to explore it with Tsukamoto. He returned home to his family and I continued on to Kansai, the densely populated region that includes the huge cities of Osaka and Kobe as well as the historical cities of Kyoto and Nara. By 4 in the afternoon, I was in Kobe, one of the most modern cities in the world.