Saturday 30th March Set out at 8am today on a long ride on the bus to Matsuyama where we visited the castle. As before, the road was largely elevated & went again through numerous tunnels often fairly close to the coast. It is amazing to see so many industrial buildings interspersed with houses, blocks of units & small fields of various crops. Not once did we see any animals, domestic or wild. The 17th century castle at Matsayama is quite magnifice...

Thursday 28th March Had an excellent breakfast & then off at 8.30 to see a Shinto shrine in the suburbs. It had a fine gatehouse & the layout reminded us of a palace in Hoi An. In the courtyard there were stands which all had small wooden prayer cards, some in English. Then on to Nijo-jo Castle, another large one in Kyoto. Built in the 17th century, by the first Shogun, it holds the palace from where he controlled Japan for the Emperors, as Kyoto...

Tuesday 26th March We were in Premium Economy for the first time & it was more spacious but the food was very ordinary. The next flight was to Osaka via Taipei in Taiwan. Arrived at Osaka at about 2.45pm & after clearing immigration & customs, were met & taken in a swish people mover to our hotel. Most of the route was through the extensive harbour area with large warehouses & a huge refinery. At the hotel we checked in but they knew no...