Explore and experience the history and culture of Japan along with the great view of Setouchi! Shodoshima Vol.2

Shodoshima Island was designated as one of the Japan Heritage sites as an “Island of Stones” in 2019. The island is home to a district with many complicated small alleys, which is called “Town of Mazes.” You can explore and experience the history that laid the foundation of Japan through maritime traffic as well as rich food cultur

Roadside Station Shodoshima Olive Park

Sky and Sea, Olives and Herbs, Clouds and Windmills… Lovely photogenic scenery will delight you here

Shodoshima Olive Park

This park was created based on the theme of olives on Shodoshima Island, the birthplace of olive cultivation in Japan. It was the filming location for a live-action version of “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” one of the Gibli Studio movies. It became popular when someone found out that if you straddle a broom on the hill with its windmills and have a photo taken at the moment you jump, you look like a witch flying in the sky. The park includes a facility using the setting of the movie and restaurants and a café serving dishes in perfect harmony with olive oil, as well as offering craft classes using olives and herbs. Enjoy the breeze of Setouchi at this olive theme park.

Shodoshima Olive Park

Corico, an accessory shop in the setting of the movie 

Shodoshima Olive Park

Dishes with Shodoshima’s olive oil

Shodoshima Olive Park

Handmade accessories with real flowers 

Shodoshima Olive Park

A book monument, “Hajimari no hon” 

◎Facilities:Free Wi-Fi, restaurants, shops

Address1941-1 Nishimura-ko, Shodoshima-cho, Shozu County, Kagawa Prefecture
Access5 min by bus from Kusakabe Port, 8 min by car from Ikeda Port, or 10 min by bus from Ikeda Port
Regular holidayOpen 365 days
URLhttps://www.olive-pk.jp/en/

A perfect hub for people actively enjoying the island “Shodoshima Furusato-mura”

Shodoshima Furusato-muraShodoshima Furusato-mura

With an accommodation facility, this hub is perfect for people actively enjoying the island and offers various activities and events, including sea kayaking, marine sports, and fishing, where you can fully enjoy the calm ocean of Setouchi, and island tours by battery car or electric bicycle. You can enjoy the island through various seasonal activities, such as a tour to observe and experience somen noodle making.

Shodoshima Furusato-mura

Japanese plum soft-serve ice cream

Shodoshima Furusato-mura

Bicycle rental

Shodoshima Furusato-mura

Sun drying of somen noodles

The Secret of Hanasuwajima

The Secret of Hanasuwajima (an artwork entered for the Art Festival)

◎Facilities:Free Wi-Fi, restaurant, shop

Access13 min by bus from Ikeda Port
Regular holidayShop/Café : Open 365 days (business hours may vary depending on the season),  Tenobe Somen Kan : Mondays (Mar.-Dec.), Sundays (Jan.-Feb.)
URLhttps://www.shodoshima.jp/

Travel back in older time Japan “Twenty Four Eyes Movie Studio”

Twenty Four Eyes Movie Studio

This place is a location setting for the movie “Twenty Four Eyes,” based on the novel of the same name by Sakae Tsuboi, which is one of the literary masterpieces of postwar Japan. The novel has been made a movie several times since 1954. The decade of the 1950s is called the golden age of Japanese cinema. This studio has a facility introducing some of the movies, the Tsuboi Sakae Memorial Museum, and a mini-theater along with Book Café featuring movies and art. You can get a great view of the Harima-nada Sea from the wooden school building. The nostalgic atmosphere of the Showa era (1926-1989) is interesting if you want to learn how people in Japan used to live. This facility also displays artworks entered for the Setouchi Triennnale, offering a place to enjoy movies, literature, and art.

You can get a great view of the Harima-nada Sea from the wooden school building. The nostalgic atmosphere of the Showa era (1926-1989) is interesting if you want to learn how people in Japan used to live. This facility also displays artworks entered for the Setouchi Triennnale, offering a place to enjoy movies, literature, and art. The studio is still being used for filming movies, dramas, and TV commercials. With a new figure gallery certified by Kaiyodo, the biggest figure company in Japan, this place in Setouchi is increasingly popular as a facility where you can experience Japanese culture.

Twenty Four Eyes Movie Studio

Twenty Four Eyes Tenmangu Shrine

Twenty Four Eyes Movie Studio

Location setting for an old classroom

Twenty Four Eyes Movie Studio

Cinema art wall Photo provided by Shochiku Co., Ltd.

Twenty Four Eyes Movie Studio

Flower field with various seasonal features

Bollard of Love

“Bollard of Love” (an artwork entered for the Art Festival)

Twenty Four Eyes Movie Studio

Figure Gallery Kaiyodo

◎Facilities:Free Wi-Fi, restaurant, shop

MAP

Address931 Tanoura-kabuto, Shodoshima-cho, Shozu County, Kagawa Prefecture
Accessabout 60 min by bus from Tonosho Port, or 15 min by bus from Sakate Port
Regular holidayOpen 365 days
URLhttps://www.24hitomi.or.jp/en/

This was the first designated National Park in Japan. This scenic site with one Michelin star is said to be one of the three most beautiful gorges in Japan. “Kankakei Gorge”

Kankakei Gorge

Created during the volcanic activities of 13 million years ago, this natural sculpture has been formed over the course of 2 million years.Take an airy walk on the ropeway with an altitude difference of 317 meters and a total length of 917 meters, which is the only ropeway offering a panoramic view of sky, ocean, and gorge at the same time in Japan, and you can fully enjoy the beautiful landscape of Setouchi and beautiful gorge. You can see beautifully colored leaves in autumn. At the top of the mountain, there are restaurants and souvenir shops, where you can enjoy a delicious olive beef croquette burger and momiji cider. As there is a path between stations, you can hike one way.

Kankakei GorgeKankakei GorgeOlive Beef Croquette Burger

Olive Beef Croquette Burger

Momiji Cider

Momiji Cider

◎Facilities:Free Wi-Fi, restaurants, shops

AccessTonosho Port → 1 hr by route bus → transfer at Kusakabe Port → 15 min by bus
Regular holidayOpen 365 days
URLhttps://www.kankakei.co.jp/

A 100-year history of olives exclusively produced on Shodoshima Island “Shodoshima Olive Garden”

Shodoshima Olive Garden

Shodoshima Island is where olive cultivation started in Japan. People on the island have long been nurturing and raising olives, and living with olives. With the original olive tree, this olive garden will celebrate the 100th anniversary this year. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary, natural cosmetics made with olives from Shodoshima were launched commercially in September. This garden also has play equipment designed by a global sculptor, Isamu Noguchi, as well as his design gallery, creating a place with the nature of Shodoshima and art being fused together.

Shodoshima Olive GardenOLiPURE

Natural Cosmetic OLiPURE

Shodoshima Olive GardenShodoshima Olive Garden

◎Facilities:Free Wi-Fi, restaurant, shop

AccessKusakabe Port → 5 min by car, or Ikeda Port → 8 min by car
Regular holidayOpen 365 days
URLhttps://www.1st-olive.com/

Hishio no Sato

Hishio no Sato

Hishio no Sato

With high-quality salt available, Shodoshima has been making soy sauce for more than 400 years, with about 400 soy sauce makers at the peak. Now there are 20 soy sauce factories and tsukudani (small pieces of seafood, meat, or seaweed simmered in soy sauce and mirin) factories, where the traditional processes of manufacturing have been handed down for generations. If you walk in the town along with its black wooden walls, you can smell the nice aroma of soy sauce. In the area called “Hishio no Sato,” which contains many factories making soy sauce and tsukudani, there are nice walking paths as well as the only sake brewery on the island. 

Shodoshima Shuzo

https://www.morikuni.jp/

Shodoshima ShuzoShodoshima Shuzo

Kinryo Shoyu

https://kinryo-shoyu.co.jp/english/

Kinryo ShoyuKinryo Shoyu

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The information herein is as of Aug 2019
Writer
att.JAPAN Editorial Team
att.JAPAN consists of members in their 20s and 30s, and we are all travel lovers. In addition to information about sightseeing and great dishes all over Japan, we offer a wide range of information about various subjects/topics, such as onsen (hot spring) and ryokan hotels. We introduce lots of information only att.JAPAN can offer, including information about famous sightseeing spots, the latest news about new facilities all over Japan and rare less-known areas in Tokyo, one-day model walking courses, and anime pilgrimages. We also offer contents to introduce Japan from the view of writers from abroad.

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