Next destination: the Ushimado International Villa, which seems to have been renamed the Setouchi Ushimado International Villa, presumably because it’s now being administered by Setouchi rather than Okayama Prefecture. They still use the same logo, though. This one actually reopened a few years ago. However, it’s now being marketed as an accommodation facility for the nearby Olive Garden facility further up the hill. Presumably for that reason, there was no English on the website.

In recent years the city of Ushimado has tried to market itself as the "Aegean of Japan." While perhaps not that reminiscent of Greece, it’s still a lovely area, as you’ll see when we take the “back way” there.

The most direct way to get to Ushimado is to go straight south from Hattoji on Route 368. One of the nicer views is this view of the Hattojigawa River that comes right after you emerge  the end of a tunnel. The wide river here is apparently created by a dam, unsurprisingly called the Hattojigawa Dam. From here, the road follows the river south.