After many years of living in Japan, I finally got to visit Shikoku for the first time 1. I first learned about Shikoku through the Island Bear Project, something I was interested in as an enthusiastic hiker 2. Rural Japan is always interesting to visit, but access to these regions can be difficult for people who rely on public transportation. Luckily—and I’m very grateful—a friend decided to travel with me this time, and we explored Tokushima Prefecture by renting a car. At a glance, it’s hard not to notice that Tokushima doesn’t try too hard to attract tourists, unlike other areas in Japan—it seems like people here are very comfortable being themselves. It’s also hard not to see that there are very few young people in these towns.
Shikoku is the smallest of Japan’s major islands. ↩︎
The Save the Island Bear Project is a bottom-up conservation project carried out in collaboration with the Shikoku Natural History Research Center, the Nature Conservation Society of Japan, and the Japan Bear Network to promote the conservation of the endangered Asiatic black bear in the Shikoku region. Link ↩︎