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Do you know where
the Tokara islands are? |
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![]() NAKANOSHIMA One weekend, I had a chance to visit Nakanoshima, one of the Tokara islands. It was a exciting trip to visit an unknown island for me. And I knew it would be an island I would otherwise have never seen. The larg e
ferry "Toshima" departs Kagoshima port for the islands at around
midnight. In the quiet night, a lit up ferry was waiting us. To my surprise,
there were many passengers. Most are men who visit the islands for fishing
for the weekend. And some are local people from the islands carrying lots
of luggage (I guess, many souvenirs inside). The ferry also ships a lot
of cargo. At 11:50 p.m., the ferry departs the City.The bay and scenery in the night was so quiet and peaceful. There was only the sound of water and the ferry. Before the ferry began pitching with waves, I was already in bed to avoid seasickness. The voyage takes about 6 hours for the first island to 13 hours for the last island. My destination Nakanoshima was the second island from the North. The ferry arrived at Nakanoshima at around 7 o'clock in the morning. Nakanoshima is the biggest island in the Tokara island group. In the middle of the island, Otake volcanic mountain which is 979 m high rises. It looks like a green mountain floating on the ocean from the ferry. The scenery was dynamic! The village of Nakanoshima was much smaller than I expected. The island's main road is a narrow one lane track. I had heard that there was nothing, but truly there were no shops. No restaurants, no bakery shops, no book stores, or convenience stores... nothing. Even vending machines which are usually seen anywhere in Japan were absent. Maybe it is the one of the attractive things about the island. On the island, there are some minshuku (family inns), free hot-springs, and some sightseeing facilities
like the historical museum and astronomical observatory. At the historical
museum, you can learn everything about Tokara islands. History, nature,
culture and people's life. It was worth visiting. One of the beautiful things
about the island are stars. Stars from the island are really gorgeous! It
looked like stars were falling over me and felt like I could touch the stars.
You can experience real star light not moon light. In the South East of
the island, there is Yaruse light house on the Seri cape. The view of a
white light house and the blue ocean looks like a scene from the Mediterranean.It is needless to say that the island is full of nature. Mountains, various plants, special animals, coral and beautiful blue sea. On the foot of the mountains, greenery highland and pasture spread out. You will see black cows, tokara horses and tokara goats around the island. Tokara horses are smaller than normal. There is nature unique to Tokara. The sea around Tokara is a treasure trove of fish, coral and creatures.
Beautiful pure nature stays in Tokara, because the islands don't attract
mass tourism. However, many fishermen and divers come to islands for the
Tokara's sea throughout the year. |
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