3/25-27

Another ferry trip (my favorite way to travel) across the inland sea brought us into the warm arms of Matsuyama. Though I slept through most of the ride, Ben was pretty pleased by all the sights, and would occasionally wake me up to come look at a surfaced submarine, or the beautiful mountain islands and narrow straits. He even got to try his hand at Pachinko again, though we are both still thoroughly baffled by the game (if anyone has pointers, we'd appreciate it.)

I think Matsuyama can be described as "charming." We got off the ferry and walked to the tiny streetcar station, admiring the beachside town vibes. It's one of the smallest cities we've visited (1/2 million population). However, the "mass" transit system is still quite wonderful, and even includes some old style steam trains (mini sized) as part of the streetcar system. Cute!



We primarily used Matsuyama as our last outpost of relaxing and recharging. Every city after this will be quite large (Osaka and Tokyo). It was also the last place of sparse English, so it was a final test of our abilities. I think one of the most exciting interactions was when we were checking out of our hotel and the manager called us back, gruffly waving what looked like a bill for the last two nights and pointing at it. His tone suggested something bad, so we assumed he wanted us to pay (again), but I couldn't find the receipt in our wallet. After a few minutes of confusion, I'm sure he could read the anguish on our faces, and finally softened his tone enough for us to realize he was trying to GIVE us the receipt. Yeah, glad I was wearing deodorant that day.