Matsuyama and Miyazaki's Bath House

On Monday I went with Justin and Sarah to Matsuyama, it took us under two hours because we took the expressway. I felt like the car would explode any minute, we got it up to 120 . . . km/h. Heh heh. That's not so fast when you convert it into miles per hour, only around 75 mph. Above is a picture of the Matsuyama Castle. It's only the second castle I'm ever been to, so I was impressed (Marugame is like a mosquito compared to it), but others said it was actually a lot smaller than other castles.
Later I stopped by a famous clock near the Dogo Onsen. Later we watched the clock open and do a little show, complete with little wooden bathers doing a little dance. The bird on top of the Clock is the same heron found on top of the bathhouse: legend has it that the hot spring has healing powers, and when it was first found a white heron was soaking its wounded leg in the water, then it was miraculously healed. There are other miracles of healing in the stories about the hot spring.
Here's the main entrance to the Onsen (hot-spring). This bath-house was the inspiration for the bath house in Miyazaki's Movie "Sento Ochihiro . . "(Spirited Away). It was my first time at an Onsen, and this is the oldest onsen in Japanese recorded history, it was mentioned in a book dating to somewhere around 500 AD.
The onsen was different, one thing being that everyone, men and women, stripped down to their skivvies in the same room, in plain view of the open sliding doors overlooking the street. When they explained to me that I was to change there, I triple checked to make sure they really meant right there, before changing. I didn't want to misunderstand and start getting undressed in the wrong place! I sat there for a while until a jkind-spirited english speaker confirmed to me that yes, I was supposed to change right there.
The hot spring itself was a smallish room, you shower first then get into the water. the temperature was pretty hot, so I only stayed for a while. The whole experience actually reminded me a little of the temple.
The Miyazaki store . . . Totoro madness!

Here's another shot of the castle.