It is 9 pm in Matsuyama City on Shikoku Island, some 700km west of Tokyo. Matsuyama is the largest city on Shikoku Island. The population stands at 0.52 million. It is a busy city as the administrative and the industrial center of Ehime Prefecture. Although the city center falls utterly silent, a suburban area is still full of people enjoying their weekend. Where is it?
It is Dogo Hot Spring on the Iyo Railway. Dogo is Japan's oldest hot spring, which was opened about 3,000 years ago. As a written record, there is an ancient text, in which Prince Shotoku took a bath in this hot spring in 596. The current main building was reconstructed in 1894, and was designated as a cultural asset of national importance in 1994. The nostalgic building and the public bath in it are very popular attractions for sightseers.
When I visited Dogo, rickshaw men were urging sightseers to take a rickshaw to meander through the surroundings. A family with small children was just about to leave with their hearts filled with excitement. It was a Saturday evening... children were allowed to stay up late.
To get to this historical hot spring, please take a streetcar of Iyo Railway from JR Shikoku Matsuyama Station, and get off at Dogo Onsen-mae (Dogo Hot Spring) Station. It takes about 20 minutes. I am going to introduce you to the newest model, the electric car 2100 series in an upcoming blog article.
To be continued...
It is Dogo Hot Spring on the Iyo Railway. Dogo is Japan's oldest hot spring, which was opened about 3,000 years ago. As a written record, there is an ancient text, in which Prince Shotoku took a bath in this hot spring in 596. The current main building was reconstructed in 1894, and was designated as a cultural asset of national importance in 1994. The nostalgic building and the public bath in it are very popular attractions for sightseers.
When I visited Dogo, rickshaw men were urging sightseers to take a rickshaw to meander through the surroundings. A family with small children was just about to leave with their hearts filled with excitement. It was a Saturday evening... children were allowed to stay up late.
To get to this historical hot spring, please take a streetcar of Iyo Railway from JR Shikoku Matsuyama Station, and get off at Dogo Onsen-mae (Dogo Hot Spring) Station. It takes about 20 minutes. I am going to introduce you to the newest model, the electric car 2100 series in an upcoming blog article.
To be continued...
