Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tokara horses roam wild at Cape Seri.
The port at Tairajima, the third inhabited island, is visible lower left. Dese rock is on the far right.
But, having said all that, perhaps this lack of “civilization” is the reason why you have
come. For if you wanted to be on the Tokyo Ginza (
東京銀座
; Tōkyō-ginza), you'd be there.
Rather, you're here, and here is a quiet, calm and peaceful natural beauty. In the southeast of
the island, cultivated pastures spread out before you. You'll find Okinawan black cows, fam-
ous for their fine beef, and you'll see Tokara horses, a smaller breed than most. There are
also goats. At the south- east land's end, you'll come to the Yaruse Lighthouse (
ヤルセ灯台
;
Yarusé tōdai) at the end of Cape Seri (
セリ岬
; Seri-misaki) and there you'll look out over the
vast and endless Pacific and perhaps think about the tiny space we each occupy, like the tiny
space each of these islands occupies. And although tiny and seemingly insignificant, each of
us on this great, large planet is significant.
HIRASE
(
平瀨;
Hirasé). There are not many named “satellite” islets in the Tokaras as most is-
lands are small enough on their own. But here's one. It's really tiny, a little oval about 490 by
275 feet (150 by 250 meters) planted right at the bottom of Nakanoshima, a little less than a
mile (1 kilometer) southwest of Cape Seri. Hirase's name literally means “flat stretch of shal-
low water ending at a sand-bank” or, more figuratively, the “flat utmost tip of a cape.”
5
TAIRAJIMA
平島
