Japan City Guides: Shodoshima

Shodoshima

Comprehensible information can be found on the website Japanvisitor.com

"This," he said, as he poured it out, "is virgin olive oil, so you can drink it."

But, outside of the gift shop, it is rare to find an olive that is not growing on a tree. Although there are plenty of those. To the left of the monument, the hill is covered with an olive grove, and it is lovely to walk there. You can look out over the tops of the green and silver leafed trees, and the surface of a clear watered sea, to a horizon bursting with little islands that crowd in on one another as they fade off into the mist. You really get the feeling of being on an archipelago.

What is best of all is just the feel of the place. When you step off the ferry from Osaka, Himeji , or Okinawa, the change of pace wraps around you like a comfortable, old sweater. No one is in a rush. Bus drivers will spread out timetables and discuss the routes and fares with customers. When night falls on Shodoshima it is one of pitch blackness that cities never see. You can fall asleep listening to the waves on the shore, the wind in the trees, and you can wake up to see fishing boats cutting across a golden swath of rising sun, splashed over the harbor just outside your door. If you need a break, a weekend away, in a place where you can slow down and hear yourself think, Shodoshima is waiting.

There is an express boat operated by Goto Sangyo Kisen (06 6573 0530) to Kobe (1 hour 35 mins) and Osaka(2 hours 10 mins) twice daily with more sailings on weekends and national holidays from Sakate on Shodoshima. A slower ryokan ferry operated by Kansai Kisen (06 6572 5181) travels between Sakate and Kobe (3 hours) and Osaka (4 hours 20 mins).

There are ferries to Uno with the Shodoshima Ferry Company (0879 62 1348) and Shin Okayama in Okayama Prefecture with the Ryobi Ferry Company (086 274 1222) and to Takamatsu in Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku with the Shikoku Ferry Group (087 851 0131) from Tonosho on Shodoshima.

From Ikeda and Kusakabe on Shodoshima there are also ferries to Takamatsu. From Ikeda the passage with the Kokusai Ferry Company (0879 75 0405) is 1 hour. From Kusakabe, the journey with the Uchinomi Ferry Company (0879 82 1080) is also 1 hour

There is a 1 hour ryokan ferry to Hinase in Okayama Prefecture from Obe on Shodoshima with Setouchi Kanko Kisen (0869 72 0698).

Text and Photos by Alan Wiren

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