Long before you step into the firszt gift shop peddling the usual range of touristic fripperies, you are in no doubt about how serious Uwajima is on the subject of bulls. In fact, the first thing you see as you get out of the station is a great bronze statue of a bull, standing implacably before the entrance. And in the gift stores themselves, every souvenir ever made in the place is probably emblazoned with the image of the bovine.
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| One of Uwajima's many bovines |
Elsewhere, too, in this town in southern Ehime Prefecture, there is no escaping them. Motifs of the animal decorate shopping arcades, town maps, taxis -- even manhole covers. That's how serious Uwajima is about bulls.