{"id":4089,"date":"2026-07-06T11:25:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jenny-chan.com\/blog\/?p=4089"},"modified":"2026-07-06T11:25:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:25:45","slug":"matsuyama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jenny-chan.com\/blog\/?p=4089","title":{"rendered":"Matsuyama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For my only full day in Matsuyama, I started the morning walking over to Okaido, then followed the signs towards the ropeway entrance for Matsuyama Castle. There’s three ways to ascend Mount Katsuyama \u2013 by cable car, chair lift or just hiking up. I was adventurous (and lazy) so I took the chair lift both ways, which was actually a lot of fun despite having no handlebars to strap you into your seat. =P<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matsuyama Castle is one of the 12 original castles in Japan. As it’s situated on a hill, there’s also great views of the city once you make it up. I bought my admission ticket and made it inside the castle. I spent about an hour going through the floors and the castle grounds.\u00a0Upon exiting the castle, I stopped at one of the stalls outside to grab an\u00a0iyokan<\/em>\u00a0soft serve ice cream. It came with an edible spoon, which made it more fun to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Matsuyama\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Matsuyama\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

After taking the chair lift down, I went to a nearby shrine, then walked along the main shopping street, where I spotted Ehime no Gakkou 1970, which is a store that sells fresh orange juice on tap.\u00a0I forget how many varieties they had to choose from that day, but Ehime is known for their mandarins, so they must have had at least thirty varieties of oranges on rotation. You simply grab a tray, then fill up cups with juices you want to try. Each juice is priced differently based on their levels of sweetness, acidity and bitterness. Most were between \u00a5250-400 per cup. I got their Hassaku, Kawachi bankan, and Ehime kashi dai\u00a028 go, which came to \u00a5900. I saw some people with 10 cups each and there was no way I could drink that much OJ in one sitting haha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Ehime<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Ehime<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Since it was already nearing lunch hour when I\u00a0left, I went inside Gansui for a meal of\u00a0Uwajima Taimeshi<\/em>, which is red sea bream sliced into thin strips and mixed with dashi and raw egg to eat over rice. While I liked the taste of the sea bream, the texture was much chewier than I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went inside the Okaido shopping arcade afterwards and since I didn’t have anything else planned, I spent two hours at karaoke. It was amazing how a two-hour private room with unlimited soft drinks and popcorn only cost\u00a0\u00a51,400 on a weekend. I also lost\u00a0\u00a5500 at the claw machines and there was instant regret in comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Gansui\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Karaoke\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I made my way back to the hotel afterwards to replan my itinerary. Since I needed to return to Osaka the following day, I figured it would be easier if I reserved my train tickets ahead of time. So I walked out and quickly caught the bus towards Matsuyama City Station. I made it halfway to the station before I realized it was going to Matsuyama City Station and\u00a0not<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Matsuyama Station. Honestly why have two stations named so closely to each other. (T__T)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, it wasn’t that bad of a mistake as it was nice out and I enjoyed the extra walk towards Matsuyama Station. I grabbed my train tickets then took the tram back to Dogo Onsen to spend my second night at the hot springs. I had a quick meal of\u00a0taki taimeshi<\/em>\u00a0at a standing-only restaurant, then made my way over to the onsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Dogo<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Dogo<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I decided to use the Tama-no-Yu bath that night, however when I went to pay for the 2F resting room I was told it was at full capacity. Then the staff suggested I pay an extra\u00a0\u00a5500 more<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0to use a private room on the 3F instead. It was such a steal there was no way I could have resisted the offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0\u00a52,500 private room fee included towel and yukata rental, as well as the viewing of the Yushinden, which is the bathing space used exclusively by the Imperial family. Overall the experience in a private room was so nice. I was able to change and have my post-bath snack and tea inside the room to myself. Having a bath to end the night after a long day of walking made for such a relaxing experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Dogo<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Dogo<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For my only full day in Matsuyama, I started the morning walking over to Okaido, then followed the signs towards the ropeway entrance for Matsuyama Castle. There’s three ways to ascend Mount Katsuyama \u2013 by cable car, chair lift or just hiking up. I was adventurous (and lazy) so I took the chair lift both ways, which was actually a lot of fun despite having no handlebars to strap you into your seat. =P Matsuyama Castle is one of the…<\/p>\n

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