3 - Yashima, Japan
Yashima is an imposing plateau to the northeast of Takamatsu, the second largest city on Shikoku – which is one of Japan’s major islands. This plateau stretches out to sea, and can be seen in the fifth photo below. It is the site of a famous battle that took place on 22nd March 1185 during the Genpei War. The top of Yashima hosts the Yashima Temple, which is a well-known Shikoku pilgrimage. This is about the only thing that does draw crowds to this strangely neglected geographical anomaly, but it wasn’t always so.
During an upsurge in mid-eighties’ Japanese economy, the people of Takamatsu decided that the plateau was an excellent place to encourage tourism, so took to pouring money into developing this sacred land. Six hotels were built, along with many parks and trails – even an aquarium. Though somewhere along the line people realized that Yashima plateau wasn’t so such an attractive opportunity, especially with views of the nearby rock quarry. Visitor numbers then dropped as millions of Yen were lost on inflated real-estate deals. All the hotels and shops were forced to shut down, as was the cable car that at one point transported many to Yashima’s heights.
Yashima is an imposing plateau to the northeast of Takamatsu, the second largest city on Shikoku – which is one of Japan’s major islands. This plateau stretches out to sea, and can be seen in the fifth photo below. It is the site of a famous battle that took place on 22nd March 1185 during the Genpei War. The top of Yashima hosts the Yashima Temple, which is a well-known Shikoku pilgrimage. This is about the only thing that does draw crowds to this strangely neglected geographical anomaly, but it wasn’t always so.
During an upsurge in mid-eighties’ Japanese economy, the people of Takamatsu decided that the plateau was an excellent place to encourage tourism, so took to pouring money into developing this sacred land. Six hotels were built, along with many parks and trails – even an aquarium. Though somewhere along the line people realized that Yashima plateau wasn’t so such an attractive opportunity, especially with views of the nearby rock quarry. Visitor numbers then dropped as millions of Yen were lost on inflated real-estate deals. All the hotels and shops were forced to shut down, as was the cable car that at one point transported many to Yashima’s heights.
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