Ehime

Ehime is a prefecture on the northwest coast of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands, facing the Seto Inland Sea. Its capital, Matsuyama, is Shikoku's largest city and a place of pilgrimage temples and one very famous bathhouse, with citrus groves terracing the coastal hills.

Dogo Onsen has welcomed bathers for well over a thousand years, and its wooden main hall is a landmark in its own right. Matsuyama Castle watches the city from an original hilltop keep reached by chairlift or ropeway, and the preserved merchant towns of Uchiko and Ozu slow the clock further inland.

Cyclists cross the prefecture's islands on the Shimanami Kaido, the bridge-linked route over the Inland Sea that begins in Imabari. Eat mikan oranges and jakoten fried fish cake, and time October for Matsuyama's autumn festivals if you can. Ferries and trains connect Ehime with Hiroshima and the rest of Shikoku.