Matsue: Find of the Year

When I decided to go to Matsue, the thing that swayed me in its favour was that it wasn't on Google Street View, which meant it was as close me exploring an undiscovered land as I am ever likely to get.

First impressions weren't great. The streets were mostly deserted (it was Sunday evening). But before long I noticed there were lots of people in costume for a festival in groups of two or three, and they all seemed to be going in the same direction. Since the streets were decidedly not about to host a festival, I supposed they were goping to rehearsals. Imagine my surprise when, at my hotel, they were gathered under my window and were shouting up. Not at me, obviously, but there was a lot of cheering and good natured laughter. This helped in overcoming the initial shock of identically-dressed locals who'd apparently followed the newcomer back to his hotel.

But soon, I started to appreciate Matsue's charms. First was a large lake, which hosted a couple of very nice sunsets while I was there. I loved walking along it's shores and the locals seem to like it too.

I went to a temple with some immaculately raked gravels areas, and was amused by the set of a child's footprints going from one path and then turning quickly back as their parent no doubt yelled at them.

It has some great restaurants, and the canals around the castle area are very pretty indeed.

Then, on the last evening, after a meal I went out looking for a bar. I saw a light down a street leading to some parking, and the word "pub salon". Well, this was the first time I'd seen the word pub since I'd left England, so I was sold. Inside, though, was a bar that had quite a lot of whiskey. I thought I'd try a few, and the staff were nice enough to entertain me and my bad Japanese, which I was grateful for. Especially since one of them looked not unlike Konishi Manami. This next image will have to do until I get something better sorted out.

Taken from the blog Looking Into You

 I'm kicking myself that I only stayed here for three nights.