Tokushima

An interesting museum devoted to the Awa Odori Festival. Exhibits include video and panoramas of the festival, and even a dancing Odobotto robot to show you how it's done! There are several daily performances of the Awa Odori dances (¥500).

A brisk uphill walk from Chuo Park, behind the station, takes you to the castle ruins and a view over the city. The castle museum (9:30AM-5PM) is set in an exquisite traditional Japanese garden — come early in the morning for a misty, meditative, and crowd-free experience.

Once the home of the samurai Jurobe, this is now a bunraku (puppet theater) museum. Performances are held at 11:00 weekdays, with an additional show at 14:00 weekends.

Located in an old house formerly owned by an indigo merchant. For a small fee (¥500-3000), you can dye your own piece of fabric with real indigo, and learn how to create one of the traditional patterns.

One of the most acclaimed modern art museums in western Japan, with work by contemporary Western and Japanese artists.

Natural and geological museum covering pre-historic Shikoku to the present day, with some hands-on exhibitions.

This mountain has 1500 cherry blossom trees, making it an impressive sight at blossom time. At the Awa Odori Kaikan, there's a ropeway to the top of Bizan. The walk down takes about 15 minutes.

Some nice gardens and ponds. It makes for a pleasant walk while waiting for your bus, or at night, when people are out exercising and you can listen to the frogs, birds, and other animals. You can climb up to the top of the hill to the castle ruins to overlook the city.