Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
long narrow peninsula. Up through the middle you'll pass by Karimata (
狩俣
; Kari mata),
a small village, and then come to the Yukishio Saltworks (
雪塩製塩所
; Yuki shio seien-sho).
The salt processed here is famous for containing the most natural minerals of any sea salt in
the world. There are factory tours, which are free, and naturally you can buy the salt itself in
the gift shop. Also worth trying is the ice cream, which rather remarkably has an enhanced
flavor because of the addition of salt.
Leaving Yukishio, the left (west) fork of the split leads to the Miyako Pony Farm (
宮古馬
;
Miyako uma), a ranch and breeding station for the rare Miyako horse, one of eight breeds of
horse considered native to Japan. They are small, somewhat similar to the Mongolian horse,
and their lineage goes back centuries. In the middle of the 20th century there were over
10,000 of them but today there are less than 100.
Continuing out on to the end of the peninsula leads to the Karimata Wind Farm (
狩俣 風
力発電所
; Kari mata Furyo kuha tsudensho), a collection of wind turbines that generate elec-
tricity. The idea, of course, is to lessen the island's dependence on fossil fuels.
A horse at the Miyako Pony Farm, a ranch and breeding station for this increasingly rare horse.
The very tip of the left side of the peninsula is Cape Nishi-Henna (Japanese:
西平安名崎
;
Nishi-henna-zaki). Altogether, although it's really only about 8 miles (13 kilometers) north
of Hirara, it's taken all day to reach here. That's somewhat the nature of these small islands.
here really is a lot to see. From here, if we backtrack, pass the Yukishio Saltworks and take
the right-hand side fork (east), we'll travel less than three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) to
what also used to be a dead end, but no longer. Ever since 1992 the end of this fork is the
starting point of a great bridge, the Ikema-Ōhashi, which connects mainland Miyako to the
little island of Ikema. We'll discuss Ikemajima further below.
