Yusuhara, Kochi

Clouds sit in the valleys before the roads do. Yusuhara occupies the western edge of the Shikoku mountain range, its forests accounting for nearly all of the town's surface, the remaining clearings given over to terraced paddies and the occasional upland meadow of the Shikoku Karst plateau to the north. The air at this altitude carries a particular weight — not cold exactly, but present, the kind that makes you aware of where you are.

The town's built fabric is harder to read than its landscape. Kengo Kuma has designed several structures here, and they sit without announcing themselves loudly, using local timber in ways that make the buildings feel like they are still in the process of becoming part of the hillside. Alongside them, the older rhythms continue: kiji — pheasant — is raised as a local industry, and the meat appears in local cooking with the directness of something that didn't travel far. Takatori kimchi and Shishijūrei miso are produced here too, small-batch things that carry the logic of a place that has long had to provision itself.

The festivals mark a different register. Tsanoyama Kagura, a form of sacred dance, belongs to this district's ritual calendar, as does the Ryoma Dappan Marathon, which retraces a historical escape route through the mountains. The Shikoku Shinkansen Kagura festival draws performers from across the island. None of these events feel staged for outside consumption — they exist because the town still needs them to.