When people think about Japan there are so many vivid images that flood our imagination. Tokyo downtown at night, the neon lights reflected on the streets and mirrored buildings. Kyoto bamboo paths with their green trunks reaching up to the sky. Okinawan music, the blue water, the palm trees on white sand.
These are all parts of Japan, beautiful and exciting parts. Our friends and guests that visit us in Shikoku go and experience all these. We hope you will too.
But Shikoku is different. Shikoku is unique. Tucked away under the main island of Honshu, Shikoku was the part of Japan that most visitors would zip past on their bullet trains. Shikoku was the island called “The Pure Land” that most visitors did not even know existed. Shikoku is the Undiscovered Country.
The 88 Buddhist Temple pilgrimage, the zen ring of enlightenment that traces the edges of Shikoku, has existed for centuries, its white-robed pilgrims walking the path, chanting their sutras. The islands in the Seto Inland Sea slept undisturbed, that is until recently when they have sprung to life with modern art exhibits and an incredible Modern Art Triennale that comes every three years.
Shikoku is the “The Deep Japan” or “The Ancient Japan” that we also have in our imaginations, among those of concrete urban cultures of Shinjuku and Osaka, or the well-trodden paths of Kyoto’s Gion District. Shikoku is home to castles, gardens, bonsai, pilgrims, yuzu fruit, olives, exuberant summer and autumn local festivals, tea fields, cat islands, ancient temples, udon noodles, mighty mountain shrines, and deeply kind and friendly people.
Our work, and unique position, is to help you come from the major urban and “must visit” places in Japan to the furthest corner of Deep Japan and experience Shikoku. Our guests frequently tell us that while Tokyo and Kyoto are both astonishing in their own right, there is something in Shikoku with its slower pace, natural landscapes, and very friendly people, that provided some of their deepest impressions of Japan.
Our carefully tailored itineraries put you in the same spaces as local artists, chefs and cooks, monks, hiking guides, musicians, and local experts of all sorts. One of the great treasures of travel is meeting new people and making new friends. We think that this is an essential element of a Deep Japan adventure and create spaces for people of different cultures and languages to meet and connect.
Here are a few things that we can do:
PILGRIMAGE: 88 Temple Pilgrimage
ART: Explore ART Islands
FOOD AND DRINK: The Treasures of Travel!
Itineraries are flexible structure and we consult with you to offer breadth or depth of experience depending on your wishes. Contact us to discuss what you would like to see and do in Japan. We can take you places that will simply astonish.
Contact us at the email below. We will get you started on your adventure to Japan and beyond!
Sounds interesting… worth visiting in the near future
It was very nice chatting with you on FB Dennis. It would be wonderful to see you and your bonsai group come out our way!