I planned to go to Okayama after Kobe but the prices for overnight stay were a bit too high for me, so instead I decided to go to Tokushima, yet another city which I knew almost nothing about prior to arriving there. After I checked in and got some rest, it was time to start exploring this new place.
First, I just walked around the nearby parks, looking at the cherry blossom that finally started to kick in, and I was finally able to appreciate it. I can’t say it’s the most beautiful sight I’ve seen in Japan, but I get why people like it.
After walking around for a while, I made my way to the Tokushima Castle Museum which was located in on of the parks. After getting a little bit confused at the entrance, as there were separate paths for the museum itself and for the castle gardens, I was finally inside the museum. The exhibits were nice to look at, although I didn’t have a real understanding of their significance, as there were no signs in English. I could only guess that the paintings, statues, and scale models describe the history of the castle and the people who lived in it. The museum was fairly small, and it took less than fifteen minutes to go through it, including watching a short video about it. It was a nice place to start with, but it could have been better with more information.
I left the museum and from there I headed over to a dock by the river and hopped on one of the boats to do a little tour. Although I was not able to understand what the captain was saying about the surrounding area, it was still nice to be on water and see the city in a different way. For the most part, there were parks along both sides of the river, and on the horizon there was a view of Mount Bizan, until we had to turn around in order to go back to the dock.
There was one more thing I wanted to do in Tokushima, and that is to go to the top of Mount Bizan. While it was possible to take the cable car and arrive at the top in a matter of a few minutes, I decided to hike up there. There were multiple paths to choose from, and I chose the one that started pretty much at the cable car station.
The path started with stairs, and quite a few of them. As I was climbing the stairs, there were some flowers, and then some trees, on both sides. Nothing special really happened for a while, and then I got to a paved asphalt road, with signs in multiple directions. I followed the one sign I could understand and hoped it would lead me in the right direction. After climbing a few more stairs they simply stopped. The rest of the way was between the trees, going up the mountain in what looked like a dirt trail. Every few minutes I saw a sign in Japanese, so I was hoping that I’m heading in the right direction. I did see other hikers occasionally, and did manage to get to the top of the mountain. It felt like it took quite a while to get there, but it was only about fifty minutes, and that is after taking some breaks along the path.
At the top of the mountain there was a nice view all the way around, a mix of natural and urban scenery. I walked around the top of the mountain for a little while, taking in the different views everywhere I looked. It was certainly worth the hike. On the way down from the mountain, I made a little detour and found myself next to what I think was a buddhist shrine and a lovely and serene garden next to it. And that was the end of my little stop in Tokushima, a lovely place that I discovered by chance, and had a great time in.