Shikoku Karst/四国カルスト/四國喀斯特

我們到了愛媛之後、第一天。這天決定去四國喀斯特。喀斯特是一種地形。日本有三場很大的。在愛媛和高知縣境有一場。（高知縣是四國南部的縣。）

On the first full day in Shikoku, we decided to head off to the Shikoku Karst Formation up in the mountains between Ehime and Kochi prefectures.  (Kochi is the prefecture that covers the whole bottom part of Shikoku.)

東温市に着いてから最初の一日だ。朝から車で四国カルストに行く事にした。四国カルストは日本三大カルストに入っていて、規模は結構大きい。因みに、俺は以前他の二カ所に行った事あるので、これで日本三大カルスト制覇出来た。どうだい？羨ましいだろ？この俺様は平凡な日本マニアックじゃないぞ。浅草とか京都とかとっくに前に行って、それどころかマニアの最先端を行って、カルストみたいな場所を制覇する事に尽くしている。なめんなよ。

途中でこの「戦艦岩」を見掛けた。

On the way there, we saw this huge rock jutting out of a river.  There was a sign nearby that called it "Warship Rock".
也看到這個「戰艦岩」。

Guys in the river taking pictures of the rock.
また、戦艦岩の写真を撮っている人も見掛けた。
也看到把戰艦岩拍到了的人。

このバス停は有名だそうだ。「ごうかく」と言う縁起のいい名前に成っているので、毎年受験季節に沢山の受験生はここまでの切符を買うらしい。元々この地名の漢字は何か分からない。調べても見つからなかったから、もしかして無いかな？

"Shikoku Karst"
「四國喀斯特」。大概海拔1400公尺。

海抜1400メートルぐらいの高さ。

This is the area.  We're up around 1,400 meters or so above sea level at this point.

The border between Ehime and Kochi, with Kochi on the left and Ehime on the right.
繩左邊是高知縣、右邊是愛媛縣。

愛媛と高知の県境を示す紐が有ったが、目についたのは、トイレが全部高知側に有る。汚い物を高知に設置するのは誰かの狡い愛媛県民がしたかな。

我注意到了廁所都在高知邊。愛媛縣的激進愛縣人、比方說可不要進其他縣去的人、只好忍住上廁所呢？

So here's what a Karst formation is.  Basically, it's a lot of worn away rock.
這片喀斯特是甚麼東西看得清楚。

この浸食された岩だらけの平原はカルストと言う物だ。

The scenery is really gorgeous here.  We're on one of the highest mountains immediately nearby, so it's easy to see all around.  (This is definitely not the highest mountain in Shikoku though.  That would be Mt. Ishizuchi, in Ehime, standing at 1982 meters.)

烏。改めて思ったけど、日本の烏本当にでかいなぁ。

又有烏鴉、又有老牛。

Cows!

、、、又有在小便的老牛。
Pissing cows!
放尿中

Now this was majorly cool.  We were driving along the road and we saw something furry walking along the side of the road.  It was a tanuki!  You never usually see them just walking around.  It was my first one ever seeing one in the wild.  (Is the side of the road "wild"?)  This one is pretty small, so maybe it's still just a pup.  Tanukis look kind of like raccoons in their markings, but they're more closely related to dogs.  They're also known in Japanese folklore for shapeshifting and fooling humans, so my guess is that this one was on the way up to the rest area we had just left to take on human form and sell expensive souvenirs that will later turn into plain old leaves to unsuspecting tourists.  Or something like that.

下の写真は本日の最高点だったかもしれない。狸だ！初めて野生の見た。（動物園で見た事が有るけど。）普通に道路沿いを歩いていた。変だなぁと思って、思い付いたのは狂犬病だったが、調べてみたら、日本は狂犬病の無い一カ国とされている。この狸小さくて可愛かった！ペット欲しい！でも騙されるのは怖い。団三郎狸の話とか思い出す。

上片的動物知道嗎？是貉子、、、嗎？我也不知道。日文名字是「狸」（ㄊㄚㄋㄨㄎㄧ）、可是好像這個字本來在中國有別的意思。我看維基、看到「貉」和「狸」兩個字。中文名字是貉子嗎？應該是。很可愛呀！臺灣沒有吧。不平白天看得到、所以我看到時候就興奮多了。

This sign is a joke based on the "Danger Animal Crossing" signs one sees on these types of mountain roads.  One of the major figures in the Meiji Restoration (when Japan ended the rule of the Shogun and started to modernize its economy and government) was Sakamoto Ryoma.  He was originally from Tosa (modern-day Kochi) and fled from there through the mountains to Ehime.  (He had to flee because in those days people were not free to move from one part of Japan to the other without permission from the clan whose rule they lived under.)  Because this road is crossing the trail that Ryoma used to flee Tosa, they have these signs warning you to be careful of "Samurai fleeing their clans who might run out into the road".  I thought it was funny enough that I stopped the car and did a U-turn to go back and take a photo.  Ironically, in doing so I ended up running over a fleeing samurai and his sword got stuck in our back fender.  That was a costly repair.  Have you ever run over a porcupine?  Imagine that times ten.

坂本龍馬是關明治維新的一個很重要的人。他本來是出自土佐籓（現在高知）。那時候離出自的籓、除了收到許可以外只好逃走（脫籓）。龍馬脫籓時候通這裡的山地過。這張看板開玩笑、像「動物出沒小心」的看板一樣、就是把動物寫成脫籓者。

この道路は龍馬の脱藩道を横切るので、こんな看板まで有った。ウケたから、Uターンして写真撮った。

Someone installed a big, smiling, fat Hotei (a Buddha) outside of their home.  This is the Japanese equivalent to that neighbor who sets up the christmas display with a waving, ho-ho-hoing Santa, and so many lights NASA can see them.
民家の前に凄い布袋さんが居らした。
看起來布袋。

Alongside the road was this HUGE torii.  This was another U-turn.  It's huge!
また、この超大型鳥居も有った。（最近「進撃の巨人」に嵌まったので、「超大型」と言う言葉をどうしても使いたかった。）

非常大的鳥居！

帰りはGPSが最短距離の道を選んだせいで、とんでもないグニャグニャとした山道を通って山を降りた。凄く時間を無駄にして、佐田岬半島に急いで行ったけど、結局着いた頃はもう暗く成った。あ〜。灯台まで歩きたかったのに、、、

下山時候、因為山道羊腸小道、花時間花得太多。本來打算去佐田岬半島看那裡的燈塔、可是到了已經變黑了。

We drove west out of the mountains through the most obscenely twisty and inefficient roads I've ever been on.  The stupid GPS gave us the shortest route by distance, which was probably the longest by time.  Our goal was to go to the end of the long, thin peninsula jutting out of the west side of Ehime.  (Look at the map I posted in the last post, or any map of Shikoku.  You can't miss it.  It's really long.)  We wasted so much time in the mountains though that by the time we got there it was already dark.  I wanted to walk out to the lighthouse, but I was afraid of getting mauled by a wild boar, and there wouldn't have been much point with it being so dark, so I had to satisfy myself with shots from the parking lot at the end of the road.

The light on the side of the hill is the lighthouse.  So close!  :(
山に乗っている光は佐田岬半島の最西端に有る灯台だ。

在便利商店停車場、我看到這個死掉了的飛蛾。雖然死掉了還很漂亮。

On the way home, I saw this dead moth in a convenience store parking lot.  So you can think about the impermanence of life and how that relates to big, fat, smiling Buddha from a couple photos up while I write up the next post in this series.
帰っている途中コンビニに寄って行って、駐車場にこの死んだ蛾が有った。俺が佐田岬半島の灯台に近づけなかった様に、こいつは永遠にコンビニ駐車場の電気には近付く事が決して出来ないだろう。南無阿弥陀仏。

Welcome to Toon City!/愛媛（信長じゃない方）に行って来た！/四國的探險！

先週愛媛に行って来た。「愛媛」と言えば、織田信長と名古屋のイメージが強いかもしれないけど、それは単にお前は地理の勉強不足してるからだ！愛知じゃねぇよ。愛媛だ！坊ちゃんさぁ、ポンジュースさぁ。知っとけ。

いやぁ、でも本当に愛媛を愛知と勘違いする人が多いと聞いた。なんか、愛媛はあまりイメージが無いって問題だろう。でも俺はPR問題に過ぎないと思う。愛媛には実際に面白い見所がいっぱい有る。因みに、泊まったところは松山市の隣りに有る東温市だ。

上禮拜我去愛媛。（在日本的四國）四國是日本四個大島中間、最小的。因為比較鄉下的地方、所以不太有名。但是我去了之後就知道還有蠻多好好的玩。

My longtime friend, Roger Rabbit, invited me to visit him, so last week I made a short trip to Toon City.  (Formerly Toon Town, it was incorporated as a city in 2005.)

Ha ha.  How droll.

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" jokes aside, "Toon City" is the official romanization of the city name.  Pretty neat, huh?  It's actually pronounced something more like "Toe Own" though.  So where is this Toon City?  It's in Ehime!

In Shikoku.

...Still doesn't ring a bell?

Well, I can't entirely blame you.  Shikoku is the smallest of Japan's four main islands, and it doesn't get a whole lot of press when compared to places like Tokyo.  Here's a map I grabbed off of Wikipedia that's in German:

這是四國的地圖。我住在東溫市(Toon)。它在這張地圖、在Matsuyama旁邊（東方）、所以找到了Matsuyama就找到東溫市差不多了。對了、你知不知道Matsuyama是甚麼漢字？是「松山」。然後松山市也有機場、所以也在日本、也在臺灣、有「松山機場」！我聽說從這年十月開始松山--松山的直飛。

我先塔長榮航空的Hello Kitty飛機去福岡。後來坐船從小倉到松山。

The map also shows the 88 temples in the Shikoku pilgrimage trail, but I'll talk more about that later.  The place I stayed, Toon City, is on the map, just to the east of "Matsuyama" and inland a little bit.  (Look on the north-western part of the map.)

So how did I get there?  By Hello Kitty Jet, of course!

桃園空港から出発して、キティージェットで福岡に飛んで行った。中身も全てはキティーに成っているので、キティーのファンからすれば最高の飛行機だけど、そうでもない俺からすれば、なんかの変な宗教の教会にうっかり入ってしまった気がした。

EVA Air, a Taiwanese company, flies these between Taiwan and Japan.  The entire interior, the pillows, the headrest covers, the lunches, everything is covered in Hello Kitty.  I recommend nausea medicine even if you are not one normally prone to air-sickness.
However, the jet only took me as far as Fukuoka.  From there I hopped on a ferry and rode through the night to Matsuyama.

福岡に着いたら、小倉に行って、北九州と松山を結ぶフェリーに乗った。

 It was a really nice ride.  We started on the east side of Fukuoka, facing the Seto Inland Sea, so the entire trip was on that sea.  If you look a map of all of Japan, or even the one I posted above, you can see that the Seto Inland Sea is almost entirely cut off from the ocean except for three thin channels.  As a result, even though it's a sea, it feels like a lake.  It's very calm, and you are in pretty much no danger of getting sea sick.

坐船很好玩！因為我們通過瀨戶內海、所以波浪都沒有得很舒服。你看地圖就知道、瀨戶內海可是內海的典型。只有三個很窄的海峽跟外海聯絡。好像大大的湖泊。

 瀬戸内海を運行したお陰で、全然波は無くて、気持ちよく乗れた。流石、瀬戸内海は名前通り、ほとんど陸地に囲まれて、全く荒っぽくない。

 There wasn't a whole lot going on out there except for this ferris wheel.  I wish my camera could take clearer photos at night, but on the other hand, I also kind of like the weird light squiggles I get when I take night photos.

 フェリーの共同寝室。夏の土曜日なのに、乗船客はめっちゃ少なかった。フェリーはバスと違って、完全に横に成れるから、よく寝れる。また、エネルギーを省く事で頑張っている日本だからこそ、政府にフェリーをもっと支えたり、勧めたりして貰いたい。

我們睡在這裡。乘船客很少得讓我擔心船舶公司的利益。跟別的國家一樣、20世紀的日本做很多道路、然而有車的人越來越多了。還有因為道路很多、客運也很便宜。可是說環境問題的方面、船舶比客運好多了。我希望日本政府不讓船舶沒有了。

Our sleeping quarters.  There are private rooms as well.  The boat was disturbingly empty even though it was a weekend and still kind of the summer season.  Boats are a very energy efficient (and fun!) way to travel, so I hope that the Japanese government will support these ferry services so that they don't die out.  Of course, unlike building yet more highways through the mountains, supporting ferries doesn't involve pouring any concrete, an activity Japanese politicians love to throw money at, so I'm not holding my breath that they'll help the ferries out.

And here's the terminal in Matsuyama!  (below)

松山に朝早く到着した。下はフェリーターミナル。

到了松山！

 なぜか、片仮名英語名にされた「フィッシングセンター」

 てっちゃん撤退したかな。開いてなさそうだ。まあ、まだ８時にも成ってないけど。

I took a train from here to Toon City.  This is not a JR line.  (JR = former national railway of Japan)  It's a separate line, the Iyo Line, owned by a conglomerate that owns department stores and all sorts of stuff around Ehime.

這裡坐「伊予鐵路」的火車。「伊予」是愛媛以前的地名。（江戶時代）這條伊予鐵路從松山到東溫走。

 ここから伊予鉄に乗って東温市に行った。駅舎は凄くレトローで格好いい。

 The station is very retro.

 The name poster inside the station is a prop from when it was used for shooting some TV show or something.

この駅舎は何かのドラマ（？）に使われたので、中にドラマに出場する駅名が書いている看板が有った。

 For some reason, a 1960's-era Greyhound bus pulled up to the train platform.

 電車の外見は古いけど、中に入ってみたら、普通に今頃の電車だ。

 Riding on the Iyo Railway!

 伊予鐵路的火車前面有很大的窗、所以看得清楚。

 Levers!  Knobs!  Measurement devices!

 The view from the front of the train was really good.  There was a big window separating us from the driver, but because it was so big, we could still see clearly out the front.  NYC MTA, take note of this when you order new trains.  Thank you.

下の写真には松山市内の路面電車が有る。この駅で路面電車と伊予鉄が合流して、乗り換えが出来る。調べてみたら、日本にはまだ路面電車が沢山有る様だが、２０世紀の前半と比べたら大分減って来た。路面電車と言う技術は船と同じく、省エネルギーからすれば古し良し技術だ。もっと復活させて欲しい。

 At this station the trolley lines in Matsuyama meet up with the Iyo Train line which we're riding on to get to Toon City.  Matsuyama is one of the many cities in Japan that has trolleys.  I say "many" even though in the early 20th century there were way more.  Like many countries, Japan tore up a lot of their trolley lines in the mid-20th century, but compared to my home country, the US, Japan still has quite a lot of trolley lines.

上面是路面電車。松山市也是一個有電車的城市。

 前方にこんなに大きな窓が有ったお陰で、良く見えた。

And here we are at the last stop at the other end!
到了！

 到着！終点。

Another retro station.

 この駅舎も雰囲気がいい。

自動販売機の上に「たばこ」の看板が見えるだろう？塞がった窓がそこに有った。以前は小さな駅内の店が有っただろう。

火車站看起來跟以前的一樣。也有繁體字的看板！（到了戰爭結束了之後、日本還用繁體字。現在日本的「驛」寫「馬＋尺」。）

 I'm getting old, and my memory fails me, but for some reason we went back into Matsuyama by car immediately after arriving at Toon City.  I think.  It may have been the next morning though.  At any rate, here are some photos of Matsuyama from inside a car.

下の写真は同じ日か、次の朝か、どっちか覚えてない。兎に角、車でもう一回松山に行ってみた。

 這些照片是松山市內的。我們到了東溫市、後來坐車再去松山。

That's it for now, but there's still lots more to come!

続きはまだいっぱい有る！

還有啊！