Nibbling a sweet mikan from Ehime, prime terroir for Japan's citrus, I decided to explore somewhere I had a vague feeling might be an interesting off-the-beaten ramble.
Never averse to a break from Tokyo,I booked a ticket to Matsuyama, the capital of Ehime Prefecture. What I knew about the place came from "Botchan," a wretched novel by Soseki Natsume that is mostly about the troubles a math teacher from Tokyo encountered while teaching in Matsuyama in the early 20th century.
The city embraces "Botchan" as one of its claims to fame — there is even a wooden Meiji Era (1868-1912) tram named after it — but one wonders if anyone actually read it since it is a silly tale that mostly disses the locals. The book ends with the eponymous protagonist back in Tokyo, relieved to have escaped the boonies.