Mitsu Ferry

Locally knownKnown to people who live here. Not in the international guidebooks.

Researched and written by Hinato

Mitsu ferryfree crossingMatsuyamamunicipal roadMuromachi

Ehime · Matsuyama

33.8629°N, 132.7166°E

What Mitsu Ferry looked like originally and what it looks like now are two different stories — both worth knowing before you arrive.

A boat crosses eighty metres of harbour between Mitsu and Minatoyama in Matsuyama, on demand, from seven in the morning to seven at night, every day of the year, for nothing. It is legally a city road — a stretch of municipal highway that happens to be water — which is why there is no fare and no timetable. You press a button on the pontoon and it comes.

It has been running since the Muromachi period, originally to supply Minatoyama castle and to bring food across from the beach each morning. The poet Issa is recorded as taking it to get to a verse gathering. About thirty-eight thousand people a year use it, mostly locals. The crossing takes about three minutes and is the shortest and cheapest boat ride in Japan, in a port district that is worth walking anyway.

What to know before you go

When to go

Year-round

Opening hours

7:00 AM – 7:00 PM, on demand

Closed: Operates every day of the year

Time to allow

15–30 minutes

Fee

Free

Access route

Directions

Between Mitsu and Minatoyama in the inner harbour of Matsuyama port. Reachable from Baishinji or Mitsu stations on the Iyotetsu Takahama Line. Operating 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM, on demand rather than to a timetable, every day of the year. Free — the crossing is legally designated as a municipal road.

What locals know

**It is a road, legally.** That is why there is no fare. The crossing is a designated stretch of city highway that happens to be over water. **Press the button.** There is no timetable — you signal from the pontoon and the boat comes across. Waiting time is a few minutes. **Three minutes, and that is fine.** This is not a sightseeing cruise. It is a two-minute piece of ordinary municipal infrastructure that has been running since the Muromachi period. **Walk the Mitsuhama district.** The port side has an old shopping arcade, a morning market and the town's okonomiyaki shops. The ferry is the way to arrive. **Eat Mitsuhama-yaki.** The local layered okonomiyaki is made in about twenty shops in this district and the ferry lands you in the middle of them.

View on Google Maps