[ Iya Valley ]

Have you ever imagined passing a beautiful village nestled on the mountain slopes where the descendants of the 12th century Taira Clan have been residing for hundreds of years?
The more than 300-year-old thatched houses hiding in the small forests that smatter the area are renovated to cater to both local and international visitors and provides charming scenery.

[ Shikoku Nights ]

Japan is known as being a strange place at times—from machines vending undergarments, to Harajuku “fashion,” to manga and tentacles, to a constant cavalcade of wacky commercials, there is a plethora of the odd, explicit, and simply weird for those who dare seek it. This is true across Japan but the further into the countryside one goes, the stranger it can become even for the Japanese, and Shikoku is no exception—especially once the sun sets.

Behind the erratic, never ending rush of a 1980’s work culture and pastoral rurality, the quirky backstreets of Shikoku’s cities and towns offer visitors more than a few surprises. Rickety doors conceal bizarre concepts such as “by appointment” bookshops, imposing stairwells lure the brave and audacious into cozily compact bars offering top shelf drinks and company, and the scents of coffee, breads, cakes, and a myriad of street foods lure the curious through back-alley mazes on a hunt for culinary gems hidden in cities much more exciting than one may realize.