The waters of the Inland Sea lap on its shoreline; the air is tinged with salt, yet behind Marugame lie densely vegetated mountains that rise up steeply from a plain to create a geological amphitheatre an ever present backdrop and the backbone of Shikoku.
Thus trapped by rock and sea, the people of Marugame define and live out their lives.
The author is a respected writer on matters Japan. He first moved to Japan in 1997 and now lives on the island of Shikoku.