Shikoku Island

By the time we reached our hotel in Matsuyama drenching rain had set in. Apart from a few teasing bursts of sunshine, wet weather continued for the duration of our stay on Shikoku Island. To us it meant inconvenience but for the people of the island it meant flash floods and ruined crops. Despite the weather, we persisted in visiting Matsuyama's principal tourist attraction, a wooden castle set on the top of a hill right in the middle of the city.
By this time our belief in Japanese efficiency was begining to be exposed as a myth created by an Australian Toyota salesman. Gross miscalculation appeared too often. Automatic vending machines contained items that were too big to be dispensed, while others required a degree in computer science. I gained a lot of entertainment watching hapless victims trying to dispense cups of coffee requiring use of multiple machines and a myriad of buttons and knobs. Few succeeded. Our trip to Takamatsu was another example of endearing human frailty.
Arriving at Matsuyama train station we were met with chaos as the rail line had been cut by flash flooding and the authorities were puzzling over what to do with an increasing build-up of commuters. Eventually we were shephereded onto buses which took us to a small railway siding in a village called Hojo, about an hour's drive from Matsuyama. A perplexed station master was suddenly landed with hundreds of impatient travellers and no trains for them as his station had also been cut off by flooding. He rushed back and forth and made desperate shouted attempts to restore some sembalnce of order with the crowd. Eventually he somehow arranged more buses to take us further along the line where we were finally crowded onto a local train. Although we were way behind schedule, we were delighted at the unexpected bonus of bus rides along minor country roads too narrow to be used by such big vehicles, through sleepy little fishing villages with cramped terrace houses and narrow lanes, and along cliff sides that fell away to turbulent seas. Any fears of our being lost or left behind were always quelled by a good Samaritan who would suddenly appear to ensure that we boarded the right bus or train and then merge back into the crowd.
When we were finally seated comfortably on the train to Takamatsu we were approached by an unusual looking middle-aged man whose parentage turned out to be a mixture of German and Japanese. Staring at us from behind a bulbous, pock-marked nose that seemed to fill most of his face, and in barely intelligible English, he introduced himself as a German who was working temporarily as a science teacher in Japan. He also introduced his companion, an attractive, but simple, local girl, whom he was attempting to convince to marry him and live in Munich. She, on the other hand, between long bouts of giggling, protested strongly against the idea of leaving her family and her beloved island. Despite his poor comprehension of English, he was teaching his girlfriend the language and despite our protestations took on the added task of teaching us Japanese.
Arriving in Takamatsu much later than planned, and in pouring rain, we decided to tempt fate by not taking advantage of the good fortune said to befall those who visited the famous shrine for travellers as it was some distance from the city. Instead we tramped through mud to see the equally famous city gardens, which were close to our hotel.
The next morning a short train ride took us to Tokushama where we boarded the ferry for Osaka. We failed to see the mysterious rolling waves that our tour planner in Kagoshima advised us not to miss, but we were compensated with panoramic views of the coast of Honshu Island where densely populated narrow strips of coastline snuggled between the sea and steep mountains. Our ferry trip was further enhanced by having the choice of sitting on floor matting or proper seats, and as most of our other travellers chose the former we had plenty of room.
Our trip so far had been marred by poor weather, but we were consoled by the knowledge that we had travelled through an area rarely explored by foreigners. We had only seen one other person of European origin the whole time, and the children were so unaccustomed to people like us that they really did cry at our sight.