Matsuyama, Ehime Pref. – As your flight from Tokyo makes its gradual descent towards Matsuyama, the prefectural capital of Ehime, there is plenty to capture your gaze through the window.

Below lie the placid, glinting waters of the Seto Inland Sea with its myriad islands that comprise the western end of the Setonaikai National Park. To the south rise the rugged mountains of Shikoku, still wild and so thickly forested they remain a mystery terrain to most people in Japan. And, directly ahead, there is Matsuyama — formerly a proud samurai castle town and now a bustling modern city and the largest on the island.

As soon as you arrive, hop onto one of the city’s vintage streetcars heading to Dogo Onsen, a hot spring district that was already renowned a thousand years before it inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 film “Spirited Away.” The stately wooden premises of its honkan (main building) public bathhouse date only from 1894, but in that time the healing waters have eased the fatigue of countless visitors, from imperial household members to white-clad, leg-weary travelers on the Shikoku henro pilgrimage trail that runs the entire circumference of the island.

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