Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
shio (
粟国の塩
), it's found in many of Tokyo's most famous restaurants. It is also found on
many fancy cuisine and connoisseur websites. It's a super premium product. The salt works
is up on top of the island on the north shore. The owner is usually around, and if you are in-
terested he'll show you around. It's a fascinating process and the results are truly tasteworthy.
There's a good deal more to it than you might otherwise think.
We'll now return to mainland Okinawa and proceed by car up to the Motobu Peninsula.
Both Aguni and Kume are as distant as the next islands are close. Some of the next few we can
even reach by bridge. For those where we'll need a sea ferry, we'll depart from other ports.
here are no further islands that we can reach from Tomari Port, so we are finished here.
8
SESOKOJIMA
瀬底島
There's no need to take a ferry to this islet. Sesokojima (
瀬底島
; Sésoko-jima) is one of
Okinawa-shotō's close-in islands and there is a bridge connecting it to Okinawa's Motobu
Peninsula. The bridge is 9 miles (14 kilometers) northwest of Nago on Route 449. It's fairly
close to the end of the peninsula, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) before the Churaumi Aquari-
um.
Sesokojima is a small island, only 1.25 square miles (3 square kilometers) in area. It is not
quite 1.75 miles (3 kilometers) long from north to south, but its width varies considerably.
The top half, by the bridge, is slightly more than 1 mile (1.8 kilometers) across, but from there
it narrows down. The lower half starts at around three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) in
width and tapers to about 1,640 or 1,970 feet (500 or 600 meters) across for its most southern
one-third. There are about 350 people living on Sesoko.
It is a lovely island, green and peaceful, with scenic views in all directions. There are sev-
eral
minshuku
and there is the start of a large luxury hotel. That project, unfortunately, went
into bankruptcy, so all you see now is an enormous half-finished construction site. It looks
like it would have been a nice place. Maybe it will be rescued by some developer. Most visit-
ors come for the day to enjoy one of several excellent beaches. One is small, right by the end
of the bridge on the islet's east side. The other is large, three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer)
long, on the west side of the island. There is also a public golf course on Sesoko, popular with
Japanese golfers. The hotel construction site and the golf course are located on the island's
west side.
9
MINNAJIMA
水納島
