I guess I’m about halfway through my trip.

Let’s see if this picture from my window works any better. I stitched together several images using “DoubleTake” by Henrik Dalgaard. I haven’t used it in years. Looks a bit, uh, grey.

This was another adventure day, mostly because Google maps isn’t good with Japanese ferry lines. I hoped I was going to make it from the train to the bus to the ferry with no problems (and I did). First was getting out a little early to get a morning set on the way to the train. I misread the options and Komeda Coffee didn’t have that much but it’s all I had time for. It’s just coffee and toast or a roll with a very small side. I added a salad.

I got a reserved seat on the train which I really didn’t need to do. I think there were three of us who were in the reserved seats. Not too bad but they did say once we left the Takamatsu area the Suica/IC card wouldn’t work on the train.

I got to Tokushima station, which I recognized and got my EkiTag checkin. I forgot to do it in Takamatsu. Oh well. It was hard to find and I had to ask two different people.

I’ve been to Tokushima station a couple of times before so I had an idea of which bus to take. I don’t think I’ve ever taken it in this direction before and while the announcement said the trains didn’t take the train company IC card, the buses did.

I made it to the ferry in plenty of time and I had gotten a reserved seat, another reserved seat I didn’t really need. There’s no view from the reserved seat and there’s a much better office spot but at least the chair was comfy. I ate my mini-omusubi with a mini-Coke and fell asleep for a bit.

I don’t have any pictures of the ferry because it’s really pretty utilitarian and hard to get a good angle. I guess before the Awajishima bridge was built this was the only way to get from the Osaka area to Shikoku and now it’s a bit beat up. I got off in the wrong direction too. My old work buddy Moriwaki and his wife were waiting for me.

First he took me to the ramen place that the locals go to. He said the guide books all tell you to go to another place and somehow I’d actually been to this ramen restaurant. Wait, it’s called chuukasoba here in Wakayama. I also had the sushi that’s just sitting on the counter. It’s pickled mackerel so it doesn’t spoil. Yes, I forgot to take a picture before I started eating. If you look a few years back you can probably see the same bowl of ramen.

Then they took me to a seaside area with some interesting geological features. (See how I’m avoiding trying to name the features? I don’t know what they’re called. Wait, I looked it up and it says “limestone cliffs” and “crystal blue waters”.)

Then we went to Yuasa to see where Japanese soy sauce originated. (Yeah, there’s a bit of an argument but this is in Kansai and I’m sticking with this story.) We got to tour some museums and had some soy sauce flavored gelato.

We had some more time before dinnertime so they took me to their fishing spot. There were lots of little fish in the water that people were catching and other guys were casting out much further for bigger fish. This is my fantasy, moving to Japan and fishing.

Dinner was at a nearby fried shrimp restaurant. The perspective isn’t really off, the shrimp were huge and tasty.

That’s about it. I’m staying at the sort-of-fancy Granvia Hotel. The lobby is great. The rug in my room needs cleaning, some of the letters on the wall upstairs are falling off, and the walls are as thin as I remember. There was an outdoor lounge illumination (mainly just an outdoor lounge) which was nice. Oh, and check out the display in the lobby.

I got some more Pocari Sweat and Wilkinson Lemon so I don’t need to take another picture. The area around the FamilyMart was full of young miscreants (it is Saturday night after all) and I couldn’t understand the guy behind the register through his thick South Asian accent, but it was fine. That’s it for today.