A tour of our city - Tokushima

There are TONS of tiny shops and restaurants around, so much so that you are never really sure (unless there is a giant sign) whether it is a residence, a business, or both. Actually we live in an very distinguishable apartment building but the bottom floor contains a dentist office. I have no idea if it’s the whole thing or just part of it. 

Our apartment, we are on the top floor.

Similarly to Denver, Tokushima is divided into many tiny neighborhoods. I have no idea how the boundaries are determined or where they are but they are very important. Because there are no street names or signs the only way of navigating is to tell people what neighbor you are in and what your building is called. Directions are given using landmarks such as the river or the barber shop (being sure to indicate the colors on the pole because there are hundreds) and indicating your buildings name and color.

Our bike parking and the street behind out apartment.

It is easy enough to get around by walking, though the sidewalks are few and far between if you are not in the downtown area. People drive on the left hand side of the street, when lines are indicated, when there ar no lines people drive where ever they want. This can be particularly difficult to navigate on a bike.

The closest major street, complete with sidewalk.

There are rules on “how to bike” I would assume, but you would never know it. Clint gets particularly irritated at the lack of consistency and that no one seems to pay attention at all.

People ride on sidewalks, on streets, on the left, on the right, and always extremely slowly. Cyclists don’t pay attention to much it seems, particularly other riders. But it seems I am going off on a tangent, back to the neighborhood...

Local grocery store - within walking distance.

Shinmachi river walkway

Downtown

Another angle of downtown

The city has just about everything we could need and is within biking distance. the only thing that is a slight bummer is the lack of a movie theater. I hear there is one in a neighboring town but a bit to far for a bike ride.

Shinmachi river boat tour

A river side park

We also have some pretty incredible views. There are mountains on one side of us and a very large river on the other. Just outside the city, closer to our house there are patches of rice fields and large gardens everywhere.

Kuramoto beach 30 minutes away by bike

Yoshino river

Rice field complete with inflatable people (used as scare crows)

Our neighbors garden

Lovely  (but small) mountains

 We are really excited to go out and explore more of the city and the surrounding area. I'm quite sure there is much more to see and visit than we have seen in our short tine here so far.