A Shikoku Encounter

[Mulboyne]

[Mock Cockpit]

Faint whiff of bullshit about this article. Shikoku wasn't occupied by the Americans for a start although it wasn't made clear where this alleged encounter took place. He's trying a little too hard I think. Lovely pictures though, Omogo Gorge is indeed a nice place.

[Mike Oxlong]

I thought the Americans were there until February 1946, when the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces took over...

[Behan]

I thought the Americans were there until February 1946, when the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces took over...

So that's why Shikoku is the most backward, undeveloped part of Japan?

Just kidding!:p

[Mike Oxlong]

Yup! One of the first places in Japan to host a large group of Australians for an extended period of time...how the bloody hell are you!:grin:

[Mock Cockpit]

I thought the Americans were there until February 1946, when the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces took over...

You are, of course, correct.

[IkemenTommy]

Shikoku is the backward shit of Japan but after reading the bits of above "news article," I might go there for my summer vacation this year with only a backpack. Fuck Kyoto and all the other gaijinized tourist spots in Japan.

[Coligny]

Shikoku is the backward shit of Japan but after reading the bits of above "news article," I might go there for my summer vacation this year with only a backpack. Fuck Kyoto and all the other gaijinized tourist spots in Japan.

If you want "lost in the wood but not quite deliverance yet", I spent the week end in Kiyosato...

There's...

Nothing...

But you can come with your pet...

To see...

Nothing...

(well, aside from the house of Paul Rusch and some art deco museum. Beware, it's like Toyohashi, everything is closed at 8pm)

The good thing is whatever your country is, it doesn't matter. You're as much as a fureigner as them people from Tokyo with their fancey indoor plumbing and electrical thingamastuff.

[Shikoku.Kichiguy]

Shikoku is the backward shit of Japan but after reading the bits of above "news article," I might go there for my summer vacation this year with only a backpack. Fuck Kyoto and all the other gaijinized tourist spots in Japan.

Maybe that's why I enjoyed living there & avoided hitting the big isle as much as possible......being a backwards-ass hick myself.
Camping out yonder in them thar hills is a bl'ast!

[dimwit]

Yep the mountainous backwaters of Shikoku are amusing. In my 15 years here I been there about twice. Even Japanese have considerable difficultly understanding what people who live here are talking about. They also are extremely suspicous of outsiders. Getting from one end of Shikoku to the other through the mountains must take weeks.

[CJW]

Faint whiff of bullshit about this article. Shikoku wasn't occupied by the Americans for a start although it wasn't made clear where this alleged encounter took place. He's trying a little too hard I think.

Well, it's nice to be accused of trying too hard for once - but the bullshit comment was a little harsh. I've got quite enough to write about without having to fabricate facts. But I assure you, Sachiko's tales were recorded pretty close to verbatim. She was born in Tokyo, and moved to Okayama after the war, and didn't move to Shikoku until the sixties.

FYI, US forces stuck around in Japan in increasingly smaller numbers until the end of the formal occupation in 1951, although the BCOF were primarily responsible for the clean-up post 1946.

[Mulboyne]

Well, it's nice to be accused of trying too hard for once - but the bullshit comment was a little harsh

I thought it was a interesting piece with good photos.

[Mock Cockpit]

Well, it's nice to be accused of trying too hard for once - but the bullshit comment was a little harsh. I've got quite enough to write about without having to fabricate facts. But I assure you, Sachiko's tales were recorded pretty close to verbatim. She was born in Tokyo, and moved to Okayama after the war, and didn't move to Shikoku until the sixties.

FYI, US forces stuck around in Japan in increasingly smaller numbers until the end of the formal occupation in 1951, although the BCOF were primarily responsible for the clean-up post 1946.

The trouble with "blogging" is every bastard and his dog thinks they're "writers". Your article seemed to be in blogspeak, starting with an amusing little anecdote from the "colourful" local. Yawn. Some people are just gagging to have an "authentic" Japanese experience. Pictures were nice though.

[CJW]

No, the problem with "blogging" is that every bastard and his dog think they're a "critic". Sadly, it's usually less critique than it is a mix of unsubstantiated "facts", thinly-veiled ad hominems and "opinions". Yawn. Glad you liked the photos though. Over & out.

[Ketou]

No, the problem with "blogging" is that every bastard and his dog think they're a "critic". Sadly, it's usually less critique than it is a mix of unsubstantiated "facts", thinly-veiled ad hominems and "opinions". Yawn. Glad you liked the photos though. Over & out.

lol well done....

The photos really made me want to go and visit. Hard to find water like that in Kansai!

[dimwit]

How long did the trip take you? The roads in the middle of the island tend to be tortuous at best and ANY rainfall is certain to result in rockslides and impassible lanesways. Even for good drivers these road wear you down, if for no other reason than the fact the there are about five hundred other drivers who imagined they had superior driving skills before they arrived there. The Iya Gorge is infamous for this.

[Mock Cockpit]

No, the problem with "blogging" is that every bastard and his dog think they're a "critic". Sadly, it's usually less critique than it is a mix of unsubstantiated "facts", thinly-veiled ad hominems and "opinions". Yawn. Glad you liked the photos though. Over & out.

No that's the problem with the internet.
If you put it out there people will give their opinion and mine is your writing is terribly derivative. Sorry if that gets sand in your tricky bits.

[omae mona]

If you put it out there people will give their opinion and mine is your writing is terribly derivative. Sorry if that gets sand in your tricky bits.

Derivative of what?

[Mock Cockpit]

Derivative of what?

Of the travel section in virtually every newspaper. It's all depressingly similar in tone and style, full of amusing anecdotes and colourful characters, must be interacting with the real locals, not something so lowly as a mere tourist, but a traveller. Next please.

[FG Lurker]

I enjoyed the pictures and the article, and read a couple of others on the site as well.

[Takechanpoo]

But every single mountains all over Japan are full of old Japanese jijis and babas who wholeheartedly hate and fear gaijins.

[Mike Oxlong]

I've spent a fair amount of time in mountain villages and on mountain trails in all seasons in Japan, and have rarely met kinder, more interesting people willing to talk and share a drink or a meal than these so-called elderly xenophobes.

[Greji]

But every single mountains all over Japan are full of old Japanese jijis and babas who wholeheartedly hate and fear gaijins.

Tak, I have also found it just the opposite. The inaka is usually much easier on gaijins then downtown.

[Yokohammer]

+1 here.

Inaka people are great.

[Taro Toporific]

I've spent a fair amount of time in mountain villages and on mountain trails in all seasons in Japan, and have rarely met kinder, more interesting people willing to talk and share a drink or a meal than these so-called elderly xenophobes.

My Shikoku encounters are bi-polar. On the mountain trails, I'm treated like a rockstar (or talking dog with a Phd). However, on the Rice Ranch in Osen-gun, Ehime, after 25 years I am still waiting for my neighbors to warm up despite the fact I am the neighborhood's only diesel farm implement mechanic and pseudo-veterinarian.