Ōtoyo Chō

We left Kotohira by train for the 42 minute journey to Oboke where a coach took us on a tour of the thickly-forested, mountainous Iya Valley. We reached 1000m. We visited the Scarecrow Village which was virtually deserted apart from hundreds of scarecrows designed as people, with some sitting on benches and others in the gym of the former school.
We walked across the vine bridge which was also supported by cables.
The Henke Yashuki Folklore Museum was a former Samurai house.
I had a wild vegetable noodle soup at a restaurant overlooking the river valley.
In the afternoon, we took an all-stations Shinkansen for the 90 minute journey from Kwanoe to Matsuyama, and then a taxi to another Tokyu Rei Hotel. We had pizzas for dinner.
Out of the cities, the attraction of towns and villages are the two-storey house with attractive tiles on the rooves. The house are mainly painted brown or white with few bricks noticeable. Some have small rice paddies rather than gardens. There are few high buildings, maybe a protection against earthquakes. There are lots of cables above the streets rather than underground, maybe because it would be easier to repair or replace them if there was an earthquake. That's a reason why there are many communication towers either on tops of buildings or standalones.Read more