I
first visited Japan in 2003, as a bleary-eyed eleven year-old blinded by the pace, brightness and culture of a place so different from anything I had ever experienced. Twelve years later, as I sit in the back of a taxi heading into downtown Tokyo, I realise that little has changed – the city is a complex hive of activity, surrounding visitors with unfamiliar sounds, bright neon lights and endless winding backstreets. It is not only awe-inspiring but also incredibly disorientating; if you want to lose yourself, this is the place. The hustle and bustle of Tokyo however was only a whistle-stop on this trip. Our main destination: the Oki Islands. If you’ve never heard of Oki, you are in good company – I lost count of the number of times I was met with a blank stare upon revealing my plans. Japanese people I spoke with had rarely heard of the islands – often confusing Oki with Okinawa. Even Google seemed to know little of this mysterious destination. Oki consists of four islands, roughly fifty miles north of Matsue: Dōgo (the largest and most populous), Nakanoshima, Nishinoshima and Chiburijima. I travelled with my brother, Mat, who runs the US branch of Inside Japan Tours – and our tour took us across all four islands.
Saigo Port, where we spend our first night, is an idyllic, traditional fishing town. Our guide whisks us through the attractions of Dōgo – the dramatic coastline, ancient shrines and an interesting history. Apparently, two exemperors were exiled to Dōgo: Emperor Go-Toba in the thirteenth century, and Emperor Go-Diago in the fourteenth. Our second day begins with a round of Bull Sumo (Tōgyū). Rumoured to have been introduced to the islands by the aforementioned Emperor Go-Toba, this ancient tradition is (thankfully) radically different to Spanish bullfighting. Much like human Sumo, the two bulls push against each other in an attempt to gain ground, while two handlers or ‘coaches’ prevent them from harming each other. From Dōgo, we cross over to Nakanoshima and enjoy a local delicacy for lunch: Oki Beef. Despite the local origin, there is actually only one restaurant in the whole of Oki where you can eat Oki Beef – the rest gets shipped off to the mainland, famed for its high quality. After some brief sightseeing, we are dropped off at our accommodation for the night: a delightful little Minshuku called Tajimaya.
We arrive by plane on Dōgo Island, only a forty-minute flight from Osaka Itami. It is immediately apparent that Oki could not be any further removed from the giant metropolis of Tokyo – the luscious green rural landscape reminds more of Yorkshire than it does of Japan. We need not worry about navigation: each island only really has one main road, and more often than not it goes in a circle.
27