Uwajima City

　　The Ehime Prefecture, in which I live, is often said to be divided into three areas, namely Nan'yo, Chuuyo and Touyo due to the differences of cultural background, climate, and the fabric of society. My hometown, Matsuyama City, is located in Chuuyo, but I had spent my time in Nan'yo until 12 years old, when I entered a junior high school in Matsuyama and started living in the dormitory apart from my family.
　　The topic of this entry, Uwajima City, is the central city of the Nan'yo area, off the coast of which several small islands are seen. These islands and deeply-indented coastline are one of the distinguishing characteristics of Nan'yo.
　　By the way, Uwajima City Authorities are now worrying about the decrease of its population, especially in the youth. Graduated from high schools, most of the young people will go to the prefectural capital city of Matsuyama City or other bigger cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and so on for higher education. They tend to find their job in those cities and never come back to Uwajima City. Facing this issue, the city authorities figured out an attractive tour plan for people from outside the city to show their fishery resources and nature of the islands to urge them to come and live in the city. I joined this tour with my daughter and I'll write about it in the next entry.