Long before the ballyhooed construction in the 1980s and '90s of the three stupendous bridge systems linking Honshu with Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's main islands was by far the least visited. But despite the completion of those civil-engineering white elephants, Shikoku has pretty much remained intact from over-infestation by the tourist hordes.
Shikoku's sights and attractions may be distinctly modest compared with the more spectacular ones of Honshu, but one thing the visitor can look forward to in Shikoku is the food.
The Kuroshio -- the Black Current -- flows past Kochi Prefecture on the southern coast of the island, and it is this current that delivers the bountiful fish that figure so strongly in the local Tosa cuisine (Tosa being the former name for Kochi).