Just like in Shimanto, I had booked two single rooms in Takamatsu. Not so much to recharge this time, but because most hotels near the station were expensive, and Toyoko Inn only had single rooms left. For smokers, no less. Luckily, when we checked in, it turned out that 1) this was a brand-new hotel that had only opened two months earlier, and 2) there were still two non-smoking rooms available, which they were happy to switch us to—especially for me, a loyal Toyoko Inn Club Card holder.

It was still too early to check in, but we were able to leave most of our luggage at the front desk, which let us head into the city a lot lighter. Our first stop was a udon restaurant. Udon is the local specialty in Takamatsu, after all. I had been to Takamatsu five years earlier too, and back then, I’d eaten udon at this very same restaurant.

After that, François wanted to check out Takamatsu Castle. I wasn’t particularly excited about it—I’m a bit of a culture barbarian and find all Japanese castles kind of look the same—but to be fair, Takamatsu Castle was different. Because, well… it didn’t exist.

Or, okay. If you count the entire castle grounds, with its watchtowers, gates, and the villa built there in 1917 as a “castle”, then sure. But if you’re expecting a structure like this 🏯, you’re out of luck. The watchtowers may look the part, but the main keep was demolished back in the 19th century. To give you an idea of what it once looked like, they’ve put up a frame made of scaffolding pipes and fabric. Uh. Interesting.

Right next to the “castle” is Takamatsu-Chikkō Station, where a cute little train took us to our next stop: Mt. Yashima. There, we checked out the abandoned base station of a cable car that hasn’t been in use for about 20 years. (These days, if you want to get up the mountain, you’ll need a car, or take the shuttle bus that occasionally runs from Kotoden-Yashima Station.)

After seeing the base station, we were really curious about the little station at the top of the mountain. But it was getting late, the last shuttle bus had already left, and hiking up didn’t seem like a great idea either. We decided to rent a car the next morning and drive to the top before our train to Tokushima. Getting up early isn’t really François’s thing, especially not on vacation, but shortly after 8:00 we were having breakfast, so that, factoring in the drive, we’d have about an hour to explore the summit.

To reach the abandoned cable car station, we parked in a large lot at the top of the mountain. Besides an observation deck and a temporarily closed aquarium, this area is also home to Yashima-ji: temple 84 of the Shikoku pilgrimage. Our route to the cable car took us straight through the temple grounds. I imagine that back in the day, people used to take the cable car up here, which would explain the well-maintained walking path leading to and from the station.

By the way, did you know that Apple Maps is so much better when it comes to walking paths and mountain roads? I usually do everything with Google Maps, but to get to the abandoned upper station, Google basically said, “Stop halfway up the highway and bushwhack your way through the forest. Good luck!” Apple, on the other hand, knew every single trail.

Although both cable cars had been parked at the bottom for safety reasons, so there was no carriage visible up top, the station itself was still impressive. Equally impressive was the fact that, right next to this abandoned, half-crumbling structure, there was a small building with restrooms that were still perfectly functional. Two healthy-looking cats were lounging by what used to be the gift shop. Clearly, this place was still being looked after.

The same couldn’t be said for the hotel we passed a few minutes later. In a very un-Japanese turn, it had been completely trashed. All the windows were broken, and the walls were covered in graffiti. Such a shame, for a hotel in a spot this beautiful.

We made it back in time for our train to Tokushima, where we’d spend our last night on the Shikoku mainland. Once again, we grabbed a rental car, made a quick stop at a Starbucks in a mind-numbingly dull mall (medallion number 4!), paid a visit to secondhand paradise Ecotown, and then drove on to Naruto.

We drove to the Great Naruto Bridge, which connects Shikoku to Hyōgo. This massive suspension bridge has an observation deck with glass floors, where you can watch the whirlpools below. (They depend on the tides, so make sure to check when they’re at their strongest before you go.) It was definitely a cool sight, but when I found out that a shinkansen was originally supposed to run through this bridge, I got a little sad.

On the way there, when we took the sleeper train over the Great Seto Bridge, François had already told me that space had been reserved there for a future shinkansen. But when I read more about the route via Naruto, I found out that the next bridge, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, wasn’t built with trains in mind. Too expensive, apparently. So that shinkansen line from Kobe to Tokushima? Not happening anytime soon. The shinkansen via Okayama and Takamatsu? Maybe, someday, but that plan too has been postponed multiple times due to lack of funding.

And that’s a shame, because Shikoku, with its three-trains-a-day lines, its abandoned observation towers and cable cars and hotels, could really use a shinkansen connection. “Japan is being crushed by overtourism!” we keep hearing these days. Japan has never seen so many foreign tourists, but they all seem to go to Kyoto, Tokyo, and Osaka. And sure, I love traveling without busloads of noisy tourists, I love exploring the abandoned spots, the akiya and the haikyo, and I truly enjoy rummaging through secondhand stores that haven’t been picked clean… But for Japan’s sake, it would be good to spread people out a little more.

That evening, we had a traditional Japanese dinner with one of François’s former colleagues, who had moved to Tokushima a few years ago. The food was delicious, but after the cable car, the train to Tokushima, the bridge with the whirlpools, and the fully Japanese dinner, I was ready for bed. Moreover, I was looking forward to our next travel day.

Our return trip was a proper bit of slow travel. No train, no car, no plane—we were taking the ferry. One of those ferries that mostly carry trucks, with a few cars and a small number of passengers. According to the Ocean Trans Ferry website, it can hold up to 266 guests, but I doubt there were more than 50 people on board.

By train, it takes about five hours to get from Tokushima to Tokyo. By plane, about an hour and ten minutes. By ferry, you leave the port of Tokushima at 11:20 a.m., and arrive in Tokyo the next morning at 5:30 a.m. (Thankfully in Ariake, on Odaiba—not some random sandbank in Ibaraki that they jokingly call “Tokyo Port.” I’m looking at you, Sunflower.)

So yes, we had 18 hours to kill on a ferry that, according to those in the know, had no internet and barely any phone signal in parts. And honestly? I was so excited for it.

François had booked us a two-person cabin with fold-down beds. The rumored lack of internet turned out to be not so bad: Since our cabin was on the land-facing side, we had reception most of the time. For the first few hours we were close enough to the coast to stream full YouTube videos. That HDMI cable and USB-C connector really came in handy. Later, we had to hold our phones near the window or step out onto the deck just to send a photo. And when the signal finally did cut out completely, it was pretty much bedtime anyway. After all, we were set to arrive in Tokyo at a ridiculously early hour the next morning.

When I woke up the next morning, just before five, we were about to sail under the Tokyo Gate Bridge. Some of you might know this bridge—also called the Dinosaur Bridge—from the music video I made for Aafke Romeijn. I quickly woke François up, and we headed out to the deck.

Not long after, we were back on land. We walked to the Yurikamome (not a monorail!), hopped on a train, and before long we were back home, cuddling our two cat babies. In my Starbucks app, four medallions now shine as souvenirs from this trip: Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi, and Tokushima. I’ve now collected 34 out of Japan’s 47 prefectures. 13 more to go.