I
have no problems with castles per se, except that they are like temples to me,
especially if they have the same motif. To some extent, you’ve seen all once
you’ve seen one, unless of course if you are an enthusiast, well-versed, or
perhaps just interested in ancient history. The past could really be amusing,
but for those who do not give a shit, it could translate to boring... OUCH! Who
just pelted me with a rotten egg? Show yourself, I will troll you! Sorry, I’m
schizo sometimes. No. I’m not. Yes, my precious.
So
the plan was to stay in Matsuyama for two days and perhaps visit my friend on a
daytrip at Imabari. But he said he would meet me at the airport, and then we
did the onsen thingy, and then we ran out of things to do, and then we got
hungry, and then we ate, and then we drove all the way to their house which
took a couple of hours. We even had to stop at the side of the highway to sleep
a bit because we were both wasted despite the lack of sake for lunch time.
Welcome to Imabari!
Imabari
is not really popular. Sorry if I have to be blunt. I just appreciate being
brutally honest. I have come to that point in life where travel is no longer
defined as getting an orgasm upon seeing a new landmark and posing in front of
it so you could post an update on Instagram. If I wanted to do that, I could
have stayed in Kansai and explored Nara or Himeji. When I travel nowadays, I
usually just try to catch up with friends and talk about life and the entire
existential BS haunting us on a daily basis.
The
problem is that this friend of mine speaks no English, and my Nihongo is shit.
We were classmates in Xiamen, both of us learning Mandarin. I only stayed for a
year. He is now on his third year. Needless to say, his Mandarin has so far
eclipsed mine, which meant language barrier came into play. I guess this is the
reason why he seemed a bit frustrated because: a) I seemed bored (I was born with
a bored face, so that’s me by default); and b) We couldn’t talk about anything
significant because of my shitty Chinese.
And
yes, there isn’t much to see in Imabari. The prefecture is popular for its bike
lanes. It is also a port city and there is a lovely harbor where you can spend
around five minutes unless you want death by dehydration courtesy of the summer
sun. But there were fireworks that night so what we did was steal his folks’
bikes. Okay, that would have been fun, but you know how nice Japanese people
are. They actually volunteered the bikes to us. Cycling that night was
chillaxing because of the cool breeze.
Imabari’s
castle was already closed that night, so we thought we would just reserve it
for the next morning. Given the lack of legit things to do, I am glad that we
did. Imabari gives off that small town feel, but the good thing about it is
that all the creature comforts you would need are there. I would even go as far
as to say that it is a really modern city pretending to be old school. But yes,
this is no Tokyo, and the absence of skyscrapers in the horizon tends to worry
me a lot.
Did
I mention how hot it was? This is the reason why most locals who came to see
the fireworks that night chose to wear their yukatas and opted for a leisurely
walk. I then wondered if it would be weird to start a similar trend back in
Manila. Nah, we have our own dress code. Sleeveless shirts, short shorts, and
flip-flops are our thing. You know, we are beach people. Okay, I digress once
again. Let’s talk about the castle now just to say that this is a relevant post,
shall we?
The
centerpiece of the Imabari’s castle looks like any other Japanese castle, at
least to me, because I am uninformed and did not do prior research. Sue me. The
vicinity is worth checking out because it is surrounded by a body of water. How
do you call that, a moat? The interesting thing about this is that the castle
used to be surrounded by the bay itself, which seems to be a weird combination.
I mean, most castles are far inland, right? Well, not this one!
Talking
about the vicinity, you have the usual red gates, many of them lined up and
surrounded by those mini stone temple thingies that serve as altars. You also
have the brown wooden ones which are not as attention-grabbing, but lend an air
of antiquity to the premises. If you are looking for a really quiet place for
meditation, you came to the right place. The thing is that I was not really in
the mood for that. I was not really in the mood for anything so I could have
just sat under a tree and slept.
The
castle has six floors and doubles as a museum for anything Japanese that you
could think of. You want to see a katana? You will see a katana. You want to
see a samurai helmet? You will see a samurai helmet. You want Lucy Liu to chase
you up and down the castle with a katana? I think we could negotiate that if
you can afford her. Or maybe we could just get someone who looks like her. Okay,
I digress again. If you are a history buff, you would surely enjoy, BUT!
Yes,
there are BUTS. One, I already told you that Imabari is not that popular,
meaning there is not that much effort to accommodate tourists. What do I mean,
specifically? The texts you would see inside would all be in Japanese. I could
not remember quite well, but I think there were some Chinese writings there
too, but this is debatable given how the use of Kanji was customary in Japan in the
past anyway. It could have been just Japanese written entirely in Kanji.
Secondly,
you are not allowed to take photos or videos until you reach the uppermost
floor, which is where you would really need your camera anyway because of the
awesome panoramic views! For the museum, just pretend to understand whatever it
is you are reading, and then try to appreciate the other visual clues
available. I would dare say that you could maximize the enjoyment if you are
fluent in Nihongo, but we know you’re not, so let’s stop kidding each other
here.
Once
you reach the top, you would be rewarded with a bird’s-eye view of Imabari from
all angles. You would even get to see the bridges connecting the island to the
neighboring ones, like so San Francisco, but with white bridges instead of red.
Even if you are not that interested in such gorgeous views, you could just stay
up there and claim one of the benches as yours. The cool breeze is truly
relaxing, and you would be shielded from the sun anyway. Fall asleep and just
set the alarm before closing time!
And
so that’s how my Imabari trip ended. My friend and I decided that I would just
go back to Matsuyama that day instead of staying at his place for another
evening, because what’s the point, right? We just ran out of activities to do,
and we were both not in the mood for a 24-hour staring contest. Matsuyama has
its own castle, by the way, but I‘ve already reached my quota for this
particular trip. That only meant one thing. SLEEP! Sleep is awesome, guys.
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