Day 4 – 13 October 2025, Monday
Even though I had a relatively long day of cycling ahead of me today, I decided to squeeze in one bit of sightseeing in the early morning before starting my ride. I set my alarm for 5:20am but I woke up naturally at 5:00am. After washing up and having a light breakfast in my room, I took my bike out and cycled to Ritsurin Garden, less than 10 minutes away. I arrived just before it opened for the day.
Ritsurin Garden is the largest Cultural Property Garden in Japan, with the garden area spanning approximately 16 hectares and the total area covering 75 hectares. It was created more than 400 years ago during the Edo period in the late 16th century for the daimyo (feudal lord). The garden features six ponds and 13 landscaped hills, with Mount Shiun serving as a stunning backdrop for the gardens.
Ritsurin Garden has been given three stars in the Michelin Green Guide Japan, the highest rating, meaning it is “worth a special journey”. It is designated as one of the Special Places of Scenic Beauty by the Japan government. It is because of all these accolades that I decided to make a trip here.
At 6:00am sharp, the caretaker of the grounds opened the gates and I entered the garden along with a few locals. They appeared to be regulars because they didn’t purchase tickets; they simply flashed their annual pass and strolled in. There are two entrance gates – I entered via the North Gate, but there is also an East Gate, which seems to be the main gate and is closer to the South Garden. The South Garden is the more scenic part.
I paid the 500 yen (S$4.35) admission fee, picked up a copy of the English brochure and asked the staff for the best way to visit the gardens in an hour. He suggested that I follow the South Garden Recommended Course, which takes about one hour to complete, just perfect for me.
After walking past a couple of ponds and the North Japanese Apricot Orchard, I soon reached the ticket counter at the East Gate. A cluster of buildings was located here – the Sanuki Mingeikan (Sanuki Folk Craft Museum) and the Shoko Shoreikan (Commerce and Industry Promotion Hall). Here, the massive green vista of Mount Shiun loomed in the background. The early morning air was so fresh and crisp, and the temperature was perfect at 22 degrees C. It was definitely the correct decision to wake up early to come here for a morning walk.
Ritsurin Garden is famous for its pine trees. Even though “Ritsurin” means “chestnut groves”, Ritsurin Garden has always had many pine trees since the beginning. Today, there are around 1,400 pine trees in the garden, with 1,000 of them looked after by gardeners. Some of the pine trees are over 300 years old and their branches are beautifully curved like a bonsai, a testament to the many years of highly skilful tending.
Some of the pine trees are more famous than others. I first saw the O-teue-matsu pine trees. These five pine trees were planted by members of the Japanese Imperial Family and the British Royal Family to commemorate their visits to the garden between 1914 and 1925, making them about a century old.
Next up was the Tsurukame-matsu pine tree, the most precious pine tree in the entire garden. It is prized for its unique shape, which resembles a fluttering crane standing on the back of a turtle. As always, you’ll need to use a bit of imagination to “see” the crane and the turtle, but there’s no denying that the tree is very beautiful indeed.
Following the directional signs, I walked past Hokko, the second largest pond in the South Garden. I soon reached Bairin-kyo Bridge, a bright vermilion wooden bridge. Here, many colourful koi fish swam in the pond, swimming close to me as I approached the edge of the water, waiting expectantly for a treat that didn’t come.
I passed by yet more ponds, teahouses and bridges, and a lot more pine trees, cycad trees, and koi fish. Many elderly locals were now brisk walking around the perimeter of the garden, evidently a daily routine. It is nice to see the garden being well-utilised by the locals and for locals to outnumber the tourists, or at least, before the tour groups arrive.
The scenery was especially beautiful in the early morning when the air was still, with the water in the pond creating a perfect, mirror-like reflection of the sky above. From 6:50am onwards, the sun had risen fully and the sunlight was more intense, casting the gardens in a yellow glow. The shadows were stronger and it was harder to take nice photos.
In the end, I completed both the South Garden and North Garden Recommended Courses and ended my visit at 7:10am. I was rushing for time but it was still a comfortable pace and I managed to take many photos and videos. If you’d like to enjoy the gardens slowly to the fullest, I recommend allocating 1½ hours for your visit, but come early when it first opens at 6:00am, because the first 50 minutes are the nicest for photography as the light is not so harsh, and it is not too hot yet.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed my visit to Ritsurin Garden. I think it is much more beautiful than Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. It was definitely worth my time and effort to wake up an hour earlier to come visit. After cycling back to the hotel, I took a quick shower before having my breakfast at the hotel. I checked out of WeBase Takamatsu hotel at 8:40am and started cycling at 8:47am.
For Day 4 of the Shikoku Challenge, the itinerary is to cycle 96.4km from Takamatsu to Tokushima, with an elevation gain of 542m. There will be two roadside station checkpoints today. By now, a cycling distance of 100km is considered the norm. The elevation gain is gradually increasing, allowing my body to get used to the physical exertion and recovery required.
A short distance away from WeBase was Takamatsu Castle, aka Tamamo Park. Along with Imabari Castle (which I visited three days ago) and Nakatsu Castle in Ōita Prefecture, Takamatsu Castle is one of the only three castles in Japan to use seawater for its moat. There is an admission fee of 200 yen (S$1.75) to visit Tamamo Park and the castle but I didn’t have time to enter it, so I just took some photos f the turret from the outside.
After cycling for about an hour, I reached the first roadside station at Genpei-no-Sato Mure at 9:40am. With still a long distance to go, I just made a quick pit stop here to use the bathroom and collect the stamp.
It was a very sunny day. The sky was so blue that the puffy white clouds looked like they were giant tufts of cotton wool floating in the air, ready to be plucked from the sky. It was very hot but I preferred it over rain. The rice fields and mountain backdrop made everything look even more stunning.
I stopped for some quick photos at a sandy beach before cycling through a beautiful pine grove. At 10:30am, I arrived at Tsuda-no-Matsubara roadside station. After getting my official pass stamped, I bought a bottle of cold white peach oolong tea drink and some mocha snacks to recharge myself.
Here, I finally met three other guys who were also embarking on the Shikoku Challenge. Actually, I bumped into them at the first roadside station earlier and I overtook them along the way. From chatting with them, I found out that they are friends from Hong Kong and they just started cycling today. Instead of starting their Shikoku Challenge from Matsuyama (like me), they started in Takamatsu because there is a direct flight there from Hong Kong. They will also end their Shikoku Challenge at Takamatsu.
It will be a bit tougher for them because my first day from Matsuyama to Imabari was really a “warm-up” ride with a short cycling distance and elevation gain. The second day from Imabari to Kan-onji was also relatively short. Whereas starting from Takamatsu, (Day 4 of the official Shikoku Challenge route), they are being thrown straight into the action with a long distance and elevation gain.
And unlike me, they brought their own bikes from Hong Kong. One of them was struggling with his equipment. He said that he overpacked and brought too many things. He had a backpack but was trying to attach it to the bike instead of carrying it on his back. I knew that these were just first day jitters. I remember I also spent my first day getting used to my equipment and figuring out the best setup that worked for me.
I was very happy to see them because I knew then that I was not doing the Shikoku Challenge alone; there were also others on the same journey. I expect to see them more over the next few days. Before we parted ways, I wished them good luck, and most importantly, to ride safe!
The beauty about riding solo is that whenever you see something nice, you can just stop and snap a photo without worrying about having to catch up with the other members in your party. However, riding alone also means there is no one to talk to, or to share those beautiful moments with.
For a full day of cycling like today, about 7 to 8 hours from start to the end, that is a lot of time spent alone on two wheels. Most of the time, the scenery is mundane as you pass through uncharacteristic small towns and unremarkable landscapes. That’s just how life is – life is routine and mundane most of the time. But you need the mundane moments to make the spectacular moments spectacular. If every moment is spectacular, it won’t be spectacular anymore.
You should also look for the interesting amid the mundane. Interesting things need not be big or showy. They could be small things like noticing that the back light of a motorbike is the same colour as the top the female rider is wearing, a cute advertisement for a shop offering dental services or pretty flowers outside someone’s house. Things that bring a smile to your face or even make you chuckle. Find joy in everyday things.
The long hours spent cycling solo also allows for a lot of time for self-reflection. As I pedalled around Shikoku, I thought about my life, my family, my recently-departed grandmother. I thought about how blessed I was to be able to go on a trip like this, to do something I really enjoy. I thought about how lucky I was to be healthy enough to cycle for 11 days, to be able to see all the marvellous sights and eat all the amazing food. There is a lot to be thankful for.
Cycling solo is also a journey of self-discovery. You are not only discovering things about yourself, but also discovering things by yourself. When you travel in a group, you often rely on others for directions, suggestions for restaurants or things to do. But when you are on your own, you are forced to make decisions and you have more opportunities to discover things yourself. Everyone should go on a solo, multi-day cycling trip. You will learn so much about yourself, by yourself.
At 11:55am, I crossed the boundary, leaving Kagawa behind and entering Tokushima Prefecture. This is the third of four prefectures on Shikoku. I had covered about half of today’s distance, with another 50km more to go.
For lunch, I bookmarked a restaurant called Binbi-ya, a seafood restaurant along the coast at Hashikadani. This was another recommendation by Japanese YouTube cyclist Kentasan. When I arrived at 12:30pm, there was already a big crowd. It was evidently a very popular and famous restaurant. I put my name on the waiting list and got a table about 20 minutes later.
The restaurant was pretty big and it was full of locals and families. I ordered the assorted sashimi set (2,000 yen/S$17.40) and tuna sashimi. However, they got my order wrong and gave me abalone instead of tuna sashimi. It was too late by the time I realised they served me the wrong order so I didn’t bother to change it. The abalone sashimi cost 2,450 yen (S$21.32).
The assorted sashimi set came with rice, seaweed soup and a combination of Hamachi (yellowtail), red snapper, flounder, striped-jack, salmon, tuna, octopus, squid and fish roe. The assorted sashimi was as fresh as it got. Earlier, while waiting for my table, I saw one of the staff members fishing out a few of the live tuna fish from the tank outside the restaurant before scaling and cutting them up to be served.
On the other hand, the abalone sashimi was firm and chewy. Because of its texture, I imagined I was eating human ears. I didn’t like it that much, but at least I got to try something different. With this meal, I satisfied my sashimi craving for now, but I still want to eat my tuna and salmon sashimi. I ended up spending 1 hour 20 minutes on lunch, longer than planned.
After the extended lunch break, it was time to work it. After the flat coastal section, the climb began at the 62km mark. It was a small one at first, before a really big climb three kilometres later, going up to a peak elevation of 118 metres, a climb of about 100m over 2km.
The climb up Konarutoshin Bridge was really steep but the scenery was so stunning that I had to stop by the side of the road several times to take photos and videos. The view was astounding as I was surrounded by green forests and the Uchinoumi Sea below. The sunny day made the contrast between the blue water and the greenery even greater. It was literally breathtaking as I huffed and puffed my way up. This was definitely the “wow” moment for the day.
At the apex of the climb was the Yobomi observation deck with a panoramic view of the Naruto Skyline. I took a break here to admire the view and catch my breath. Shortly after, a Swedish couple arrived, with a toddler in tow. The toddler sat in a trailer attached to his papa’s bike, while mama cycled a regular bike with all the pannier bags.
I started chatting with them and learned that they were on a bike touring trip of Japan and South Korea for a month, so cool! It proves that having kids or young children is not an obstacle to travelling the world or pursuing your passions. We became friends in the short 25 minutes we spent chatting with each other. They are not doing the Shikoku Challenge so I probably won’t see them any more after this, but I hope to meet them again in the future. All the best and safe travels!
After leaving Yobomi observation deck at 3:00pm, there was still about 30km to go to Tokushima. The ride downhill was absolutely joyful, a sweet reward for the tough climb earlier. I reached Naruto Park 20 minutes later and decided to make a stop here to see the Naruto Whirlpools. My friend FA told me that this was one thing he wished he saw when he did the Shikoku Challenge last year, so I thought I should come here to see it on his behalf.
I didn’t really know where to go to see the Naruto Whirlpools so I parked my bike at the top of the hill beside Parking Lot No. 1. I followed the signs to Uzu-no-Michi Walkway, which was 350m away. I crossed an overhead bridge over Onaruto Bridge, which was already congested with vehicles heading out of Naruto towards Awaji Island/Kobe City.
I then saw directional signs leading to Ochaen Observatory and Senjojiki, which is the largest observation deck in Naruto Park. I didn’t know at the time, but Senjojiki has a great view of Onaruto Bridge and offers a front row seat for watching the whirlpools. I should have gone to Senjojiki but because I didn’t do my research beforehand, I continued to Uzu-no-Michi Walkway instead.
I arrived at Uzu-no-Michi at 3:32pm. According to the signboard at the entrance, the best time to view the whirlpool today is at 10:30am (high tide) and 5:20pm (low tide). Nevertheless, I proceeded to buy the admission ticket for 510 yen (S$4.45), without knowing much of what to expect.
Uzu-no-Michi is a 450-metre-long floating promenade that has been constructed on the girders of Onaruto Bridge, so vehicles are travelling above us as they drive across the bridge. The promenade is lined with wire mesh so you can feel the breeze of the Naruto Strait. Every hundred metres, there are rest stations with glass windows that offer views of the surging currents.
Even though it was only 450 metres, the walk on the promenade felt longer than that. At the end of the promenade was an observation room with tempered glass panels set in the floor, where you can see the water swirling 45 metres below. So, what are the Naruto Whirlpools?
The whirlpools are caused by tidal currents in the Naruto Straits. It is a bit hard to explain without diagrams but in essence, they are natural whirlpools formed by powerful tidal shifts where the Pacific Ocean meets the Seto Inland Sea, creating strong, colliding currents that swirl up to 20 metres wide.
As it was not the peak time during my visit, there wasn’t much to see, to be honest. There were definitely some disturbances on the water’s surface but there was no discernible whirlpool in sight. It was one of those instances where reality did not meet expectation. I don’t mind paying the admission fee because it wasn’t that expensive, but it was a long walk to the promenade and back. I would have been better off just seeing the view from Senjojiki but hindsight is always 20/20.
I left Naruto Park at 4:05pm, eager to continue riding because it was getting late. The traffic on the small coastal road – leading towards Onaruto Bridge – was very heavy at that hour. I wasn’t affected because they were going in the opposite direction. It was my first time encountering a traffic jam in Shikoku. The tailback of cars must have stretched for over 1km. I guess these are people who live in Kobe but come to Tokushima to work. I wonder if it’s a daily occurrence.
I took a short break at 4:50pm because I was getting tired. I munched on my chocolate bar and took the opportunity to set up my selfie stick for a shot since the evening light was nice. I also made a brief stop to take a photo of a cute Police Box, which looked like a face. The two round windows were the eyes, the police crest was the nose and the double sliding doors were the mouth. This is what I mean by finding the interesting amid the mundane.
As I cycled on the bridge towards the Tokushima city centre, I saw a beautiful sunset across Yoshino River. What a lovely way to end Day 4 of the Shikoku Challenge. I reflected on my day as I cycled across the bridge. It had been a long day, waking up early at 5:00am to visit Ritsurin Garden, which was totally worth it. The weather today was perfect, with spectacular views of the Naruto Skyline. I also met fellow cyclists and made new friends. In all, it was a great day of cycling.
I arrived at Hotel Sunroute Tokushima at 5:38pm, again, later than expected. My Strava showed that I cycled a total distance of 98.8km and an elevation gain of 684m, slightly more than the official route, due to the visit to Uzu-no-Michi.
My room was conveniently located at the same floor as the hotel reception so I wheeled my bicycle to my room. The room was pretty spacious and the bathroom was quite big. After checking in, I went through the usual SOP of plugging my electronic devices to charge, taking a shower, washing my clothes and wring-drying them. By the time I was done with all that, I was ready for dinner at 6:50pm.
Hotel Sunroute Tokushima was in an excellent location – right in the city centre, convenient for many business people because it is directly across the railway station and bus terminal. I asked the hotel staff for recommendations and they suggested a restaurant called I-kko, which is famous for their broiled chicken. I thought I wasn’t hungry initially but after I stepped out of the hotel, I realised I was famished. Thankfully, the station square store of I-kko wasn’t far away.
When I arrived at 7:05pm, I was delighted to see that there was no queue outside. However, when I entered the restaurant, the staff said that they were full, and turned me away since I didn’t have a reservation. I was disappointed because I really wanted to eat some chicken, having missed the opportunity in Marugame two days ago with the long queues at Ikkaku during lunchtime. I asked if I could wait for a seat, and the lady said “two hours”.
I wasn’t about to give up so easily. I discovered that there was another store, the honten (main store), located about 15 minutes’ walk away. But I was tired and I didn’t want to make a trip there only for them to turn me away again. I asked the staff if she could call the honten and help me make a reservation. Unfortunately, she said she couldn’t help with my request.
I was quite persistent and told her that I just cycled 100km from Takamatsu to Tokushima, and I am only here for one night so this was my only chance to try their famous chicken. Finally, she asked me to wait a moment. A group of four people happened to leave and she let me sit at the newly-vacated table, right next to the entrance. That was super nice of her!
I actually experienced something like this in Okinawa earlier this year. My friends and I went to a restaurant without a prior reservation and they turned us away because they were full. They eventually let us wait, and gave us a table when a group left less than 15 minutes later. I think they don’t want you to wait outside because they don’t wish to pressure the existing customers to finish their food quickly, so they’ll rather just turn you away.
Anyway, while I was eating later, I observed that several other customers also entered the restaurant without reservations and the staff also turned them away because it was full. So, they weren’t being discriminatory against me; it was really their practice.
Happy with how things turned out, I ordered a beer, a croquette, a pot of flavoured rice and their famous broiled chicken thigh. The total bill was 3,605 yen (S$31.40). All the food was excellent. The potato croquette had a crispy exterior with very smooth, mashed potato filling inside. The rice was served in an individual rice cooker and it was very wholesome, with carrots, mushroom and bamboo shoots. The glass of cold beer was of course, damn shiok.
But the best of all was undoubtedly, the chicken. It came sizzling on a hotplate and OMG…it was so juicy and tender. You can choose to have the chicken thigh served cut or uncut. I chose to have it uncut, so I used the scissors provided to cut the meat, which just sliced apart easily with the lightest touch of the scissor blades. The chicken skin was nicely marinated. It tasted a bit like KFC’s original recipe but much better. It was so, so good. I will go back to Tokushima just to eat this again. I’m so happy I persisted and got to try this. Sometimes, in life, you must be a bit thick-skinned and don’t give up so easily!
After the highly satisfying dinner, I went to FamilyMart to buy my usual snacks – custard cream puff, a small packet of Meiji fresh milk and my favourite fresh orange juice. It was 24 degrees C outside so it was the perfect temperature for a night stroll.
Hotel Sunroute Tokushima has a natural hot spring, Bizan no Yu, on the top floor. For the previous two nights, the hotels didn’t have an onsen so I was very looking forward to soaking in the hot spring tonight to soothe my tired muscles. Bizan no Yu is also open to the public for day use between 7:00am and 8:00pm, with an admission fee of 880 yen, but hotel guests get to use it for free.
There was an indoor bath, an outdoor Jacuzzi, an outdoor cold bath and a sauna. The indoor bath uses natural hot spring water from underground so the water was a bit cloudy and brownish. Soaking in the hot spring brings a range of benefits including relief of neuralgia (nerve pain), muscle pain and fatigue. However, there was no view because the hotel is located in an area with taller buildings nearby so the view was all boarded up. Nevertheless, it was great to soak in the hot water and relax the night away. And that wraps up Day 4 of the Shikoku Challenge. 11 more days to go!
