Japan’s Most Overlooked Island & Why You Should Go 🇯🇵 72 Hours in Shikoku

I won’t lie.
Spending almost the entire summer in Tokyo writing a book left me burned out in every possible way. Physically, because it was the hottest summer in Japanese history and mentally, because writing a book mostly involves staring at a screen until you begin questioning whether words even exist.

Writing a book isn’t quite as glamorous as movies would portray it, whisky-soaked epiphanies and inspirational montages. Just sweat, caffeine, and mountains of junk food.

So when the Shikoku road trip with Ryotaro finally rolled around, I was disturbingly enthusiastic to see real actual mountains, travelling alongside Japan’s most cockshaw individual and eating my way across the nation’s most overlooked island.

And while the epic episode itself will drop this Autumn, I thought I’d share some highlights with you guys, as I know many of you are planning your trips to Japan before 2025 is over! So let’s go through all four prefectures and what we got up to! 🍻

Tokushima

Tokushima was one of the few major Japanese cities neither Ryotaro nor I had ever stepped foot in. We kicked things off with Tokushima ramen, a bowl that feels like the chef got halfway through making a pork rice bowl and thought, “Sod it, let’s add noodles.”

It starts with the usual tonkotsu broth, pork bones boiled for days on end, then walloped with a hefty splash of soy sauce for a salty punch. Instead of neat slices of chashu braised pork, you get strips of pork belly that look like they’ve staged a breakout from a gyūdon. The pièce de résistance is a raw egg cracked straight over the top, yolk melting into the broth like a cheat code that makes everything silky, messy, and tantalisingly addictive. It was indulgence in liquid form, with absolutely no sense of restraint and it set the tone for the entire trip.

For years, folks have asked me to try the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage, as if it were a casual Sunday stroll. In reality, it’s a month-long epic through mountains, forests, and 88 temples scattered across the island. Someday I’ll do it properly (preferably when I’ve got both a month and the mental fortitude of a monk). For now, Ryotaro and I settled for Temple No.1, Ryozenji. A beautiful, peaceful spot, and importantly, it didn’t require me to walk 1,200 kilometres.

Kagawa

Next up was Kagawa, where I discovered Mount Iino, affectionately nicknamed Sanuki Fuji. Imagine Mount Fuji, but shorter, stubbier, and with none of the prestige. Essentially the Fiat 500 version of Japan’s most famous mountain.

Sanuki udon is Kagawa’s crowning glory: a dish of such local pride and prestige that it borders on the spiritual, with over 600 udon shops in the prefecture alone. The noodles are firm, chewy, and famously addictive, made with a trinity of high-gluten wheat, Seto Inland Sea salt, and spring water drawn fresh from the mountains. The broth, meanwhile, often carries the briny punch of iriko, dried baby sardines caught locally that add depth to the flavour.

Born from poor rice-growing conditions, Kagawa pivoted to wheat centuries ago, and the result is a noodle so iconic it’s believed 90 percent of Kagawa’s residents eat Sanuki udon at least once a week. Ryotaro and I went straight to source: Yamagoe Udon. A restaurant that helped popularise a variant of the cuisine involving a raw egg. We then followed it up with honetsuki-dori (bone-in chicken), grilled to juicy perfection and so flavour-packed it made KFC look amateur.

The highlight though was Takaya Shrine, perched on a mountaintop like a gateway to heaven. Standing there, looking out over Shikoku, it felt like I’d accidentally walked into Ghost of Tsushima. Only with Ryotaro beside waving around his phone taking selfies.

Kōchi
Then it was off to Kōchi, home of katsuo tataki: bonito fish seared over roaring straw fires until the entire street smells like Poseidon’s barbecue. The fish was smoky, oily, and scandalously good. Ryotaro, who speaks about Kōchi with the emotional intensity of a man recalling his first love, insisted it’s the only place in Japan worth eating it. Given the way he inhaled his portion, I’m inclined to believe him.

Matsuyama – Castles and Spirited Away

Finally, we rolled into Matsuyama, one of my all-time favourite cities. Home of Dogo Onsen (which inspired Spirited Away), a castle on a mountain that looks like it belongs in a Kurosawa epic, and a sushi restaurant so fresh it made me wonder why I’d ever eaten raw fish anywhere else. Most of it came straight from the Inland Sea or Pacific, and it put to shame anything you’ll find back home.

We ended our road trip atop Matsuyama castle a few kilograms heavier and overlooking one hell of a view, completing our whirlwind Shikoku road trip.

In just three days, we crammed in temples, shrines, mountains, castles, udon, chicken, ramen, fish, and a frankly dangerous amount of Ryotaro’s banter. It felt like a proper Abroad in Japan adventure again, with all the chaos and food comas that entails. And all jokes aside, it was a solid reminder why I enjoy travelling with the man himself: his cultural insights are genuinely second to none.

Meanwhile, back in Tokyo, we’re finishing up the monster that is 101 Things to Do in Tokyo. The video is ridiculous. It’s over an hour long, features heaps of footage shot with Natsuki over the summer, and is probably the most ambitious single episode we’ve ever made. We wanted to get it right, once and for all, and create the gold-standard Tokyo travel guide. It’s daft, it’s ambitious, and frankly, I’ll be glad when the editing is over!

The book, by the way, is now in its final stages and due to be finished in September. Once it’s done, the gloves are off, and I plan to make the last stretch of 2025 properly special. I’ll be diving back into the countryside. Because as much as Tokyo is fun, I’m far happier in the wild corners of Japan, hunting down temples, volcanoes, and chatting with locals.

More on that soon. For now, have a great weekend guys!
And of course, if you have any questions on the Shikoku trip/itinerary, fire away in the comments below!

- Chris