Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sesoko Island, which has several excellent beaches, is linked by bridge to the Motobu Peninsula.
There is a small village at the port, Hama (
浜
), but most of the island's approximately 950
residents live in Aguni village (
粟国村
; Aguni-son) or Higash (
東
; lit. east), which is about
three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) to the west. The port and the villages lie on the island's
south central side. There are a couple of
minshuku
at the port and at least half a dozen in
town. Aguni Airport is on the island's top northeastern side, about 1.25 miles (2 kilometers)
from the port or village.
For whatever reason, lack of knowledge—everyone goes to Kumejima or the Kera-
mas—Aguni is infrequently visited. That's a shame because it's a very beautiful island.
However, if you thought Kume was peaceful, Aguni is downright somnolent. There simply
isn't much going on. That's the way it is on some of these small islands. Nonetheless, it's a
lovely place, covered in wild cycad palms. Its western end, almost uninhabited, features great
cliffs at the Mahana Observatory (
マハ ナ展望台
; Mahana Tenbō-dai) on Cape Fuden (
筆ん
崎
; Fuden-zaki). Near the lookout there's a scenic lighthouse and a great windmill that gen-
erates 25 percent of Aguni's electricity. This is the island's highest point. The cliffs rise almost
330 feet (100 meters) straight up from the sea.
Near the island's north shore there's a fairly large limestone cavern. It could also be de-
scribed as a great sinkhole, for it is a large depression in the earth. A Shinto priest spent most
of his life on Aguni and the cave holds his ashes. It's called Hora tera-tera Shōnyūdō (
洞寺―
テラ―鍾乳洞
) and is considered a sacred place.
Aguni has one large beach, Ugu (
ウーグの 浜
; Ūgu-no-hama), also called Nagahama (
長
浜ビーチ
; Naga-hama bīchi). It occupies the lower half of the island's east side and is about
three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) long. You'll probably have the whole place to yourself
as there's almost never anyone there. By the way, it also happens to be yet another one of those
There's not much tourism on Aguni so the main livelihood of most of the island's res-
idents is agriculture. Most of Aguni's level sections are devoted to sugar cane and you'll see
signs advertising the black sugar cane candy they make here. In addition, there is one in-
dustry on the island and it is famous throughout Japan: sea salt (page
191
). Called Aguni-no-
