Bowling in Matsuyama, Japan (April 19, 2026)
The plan was well thought out. We sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and then take a short train ride of 45 minutes to catch our 12:21 bullet train from Matsuyama, Japan all the way to the KIX airport hotel. Just one problem. Our hotel had a bizarre check out time of … 8am? Really?
Thank you, lemon. Let’s see what lemonaide we can create today. That was my attitude as we got up earlier than we wanted and made our way to the train station. As we looked for breakfast options at 9am in Matsuyama, we discovered an amusement complex. With bowling!
Bowling in Matsuyama made our gap between trains evaporate
This set-up was amazing. You sign in with an arm band and pay for the time you spend here at the end. It wasn’t just bowling, this center had a full trampoline room. So, we first bowled a full game with lots of strikes and spares (always feels good to knock down all those pins) and then we exchanged our bowling shoes for socks to bounce as high as we could get and do summersaults until we were exhausted.
Oh, and the whole time we’re here, drinks are “on the house.” That is, they are included so feel free to have any amount of soda, coffee, tea or water you wish to consume. I like this policy. No nickel and dimes for the extras. When you’re here, it’s all included. Play. Drink. Be merry!
And we had a ball. (No pun intended). If you’re going to spend a solid 6 hours on a train, a round of bowling and jumping on a trampoline gets the heart pumping and the body moving. Not so bad being sedentary the rest of the day.
Also, who puts more than a dozen disco balls in the entry way?
It wasn’t until Violet pointed out that this amusement center is part of a casino that it all began to make sense. Yes, the casino is designed to rake in the money. The play areas are for the families and friends who don’t gamble and still want to have fun while the gamblers do their thing. This is a good compromise.
While we didn’t have time, there was also karaoke and a bath house in addition to the “kid gambling” which includes more than 100 “claws” that are unable to pick up anything 95% of the time (but only cost you 100 yen for the “chance” to get a prize many times its value).
Ready to continue on our journey to the KIX airport
Will, Violet and I agreed that if we lived in the town of Matsuyama, we would all have memberships here. Violet further pointed out that jumping on a trampoline is “technically” a good workout, but it’s so much fun, it doesn’t feel like exercise. True that.
On the home front, Elena messaged all of us that she’s back home safe and sound and after our pictures from cat island yesterday, she sent us one from our missing family member, Leo:
Can’t wait to be back home for some Leo lap time. Glad Elena’s home
Leo is well taken care of and continues to live an epic life. After spending the day on cat island (see related blog post), we all have a better appreciation for how much care, love and vet access Leo gets. The remaining cats on cat island my be loved, but they are showing signs of how difficult life can be living outdoors full time.
