You walk in through the noren, the curtain labelled “Men”. Slip off your shoes, thongs you brought from home because the slippers are too small. Then you may step on to the tatami. Remove your clothes and place them in the locker, lock and take the key.
You enter the bath area and go to a cubicle. Use the shower or bucket to wet yourself. Shampoo, rinse, conditioner, rinse, body wash rinse. Clean well, rinse properly. You must not contaminate the bath.
Step into the big bath.
Clear your mind.
Relax.
It is more involved, more complicated than taking a quick shower at home. But through those rituals, through taking the time to do them properly, the experience transcends mere clean and becomes something almost spiritual.
That said, the mere cleaning was well needed this evening.
We awake to the urgency of the hotel buffet breakfast. Dormy Inns tend to be rather generous with selections and there were certainly many local style dishes to try today. Plus very delicious petite cakes.
Today is predicted to reach the mid-thirties, so rather than burn our feet and our eyes on the sand dunes of Tottori as originally planned, we chose instead to visit a garden.
Okayama is known for Koraku-en, one of the three greatest strolling gardens in Japan. I visited it most recently in 2023. But that’s not our destination today.
Back when Alex was a bump in his mummy’s tummy we had our first visit to the island of Shikoku and Takamatsu’s Ritsurin-en gardens, a little over an hour’s train ride from Okayama.
The Marine Liner is a regular electric commuter train with a double decker green class and reserved seat carriage tacked on. We just sit in one of the busy unreserved single level carriages which make up the rest of the train.
The most amazing part of the journey is the Seto Ohashi Bridge, a double level thirteen kilometre bridge from Honshu to Shikoku. There are stunning views across the many smaller islands of the beautiful Seto Inland Sea.
There are also industrial sites, including a Kawasaki Heavy Industries shipyard that is empty of any ships.
When we arrive at Takamatsu Station there are several interesting trains already at the platform. The one Alex and I go straight to is an Anpanman set. We bought him Anpanman toys and books as a young child, including a train book in Japanese that made noises. The last time we were here was riding a special Anpanman torokko, or tourist train.
Takamatsu Station is clean and modern with an attached shopping centre with a Loft and Tsutaya Books. However, the gardens lie elsewhere in the town. To reach them, we have to run to catch a JR Kotoku Line diesel set. As our rail pass only extends to Takamatsu Station itself (you need to show staff at the gate) we use our IC cards.
We chug along the single track a couple of stops to JR Ritsurin Koen Kitaguchi Station, tapping off at the isolated, elevated platform. From there it is a short hot walk to the garden’s north gate.
I’ve been to the gardens at Mito, Okayama and Kanazawa and, in my opinion, Ritsurin-en is up there with Kenroku-en in Kanazawa. There are so many paths to explore that give you different aspects of the park.
In the streams swim beautiful massive koi and big turtles, making the ponds a traditional artwork. There are lotus flowers in bloom, maples hanging elegantly over the water. Tea houses along the way sell refreshments, but my favourite of these is Kikugetsu-tei, where only green tea is served in the traditional way.
The others beg off, but I pay the entrance fee and remove my shoes to kneel on the tatami. I am served a large bowl of bitter foamy matcha, hot by choice, and a sweet of red bean paste between crackers.
I would not drink matcha or eat such sweets in most circumstances, but in a tea house it is an essential part of the experience and I love it for that. I feel myself calming, the effort of the long hot walk disappearing as I sip the tea and feel the warmth and the breeze from the open sides of the building.
Afterwards, I walk around to another side of the large tea house and watch a boat punt around Nanko, the pond in front.
Eventually leaving, I walk around to Fukiage-tei, where I have a more modern drink of a Hawaiian blue ice cream float as noisy Chinese tourists feed the koi. I cross the famous Engetsu-kyo curved wooden bridge and rejoin B and Alex, then walk back and up the hill for a better view of the scene.
We depart via the East gate, after trying some local drinks. The private Kotoden Ritsurin-koen Station is half a kilometre of hot walk, but I delighted how old fashioned it looks, even more so when a matching train arrives.
The train carries us to the terminus near Takamatsu Castle, then wander to the port to watch the boats depart. The port buildings seem emptier of shops and eateries than would appear from the signage, so we return to JR Takamatsu Station.
As we are in that region of Shikoku, we have to try the famous local Sanuki udon. Out of convenience and hunger we have our very late lunch in a quaint Udon restaurant upstairs. The tempura was delicious, the freshly cut noodles soft but chewy. Two of us had cold broth, Alex warm.
Afterwards we browse Loft, but last minute omiyage and hurry to the Marine Liner back to Okayama.
The late view of the Seto Sea, with golden sunglades shimmering off it, is even more beautiful.
On our return to Okayama we go exploring the Aeon shopping mall. The Muji store is massive and I can’t help but buy some snacks and stationery. We go to the top looking for a food court to eat some other snacks we bought from the omiyage shops, end up at the central outdoor area in the evening light.
The custard in the lemon pudding I bought at Takamatsu Station is maybe the nicest I have ever tasted. There’s also a rubbish bin near the entrance doorway, a rare convenience for Japan!
Inside we find interesting shops. I am delighted by a branch of Poppondetta, a model train store with a working layout you can operate trains on for a fee. I can’t help but purchase souvenir items. I would buy more but for money, space and the fact that I need the time to finish building the layouts with what I already own.
There is also a Hands store with an assortment of interesting things and a Hobbyzone where Alex buys a Haikyuu! puzzle.
I’m not hungry after the big breakfast and lunch, but the other two order oyakodon from the food court. I would rather have tried the huge range of restaurants up on the top levels.
Exhausted by the day, we actually return to the hotel before the shops close! That means we can bathe in the onsen and have a bowl of the hotel’s ramen early. That may be a ritual restricted mostly to Dormy Inns, but that act of having a bowl of noodles in soup late at night is a comfort in itself.
It was fun returning to Shikoku. I would definitely love to return to what may be my favourite of Japan’s four big islands.