The Islands and Beaches of the Amami-shotou Group

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to the Amami-Oshima Group (the southern islands of Kagoshima-ken). As you can see, the beaches here are pretty good.

The Only Way To Travel

The other day I travelled to the Amami-shotou island group from Kagoshima. I took the ferry and I decided to splurge on a first-class private room. It was great and I wish I could travel that way all the time. On the way down, the ship was surrounded by hundreds of dolphins who were leaping out of the water everywhere. The ferry company nicely provided a private boat to take me the last 90kms from Takara-jima to Amami-Oshima.

A Coffee Shop Called Burroughs

On the island of Amami-Oshima recently I discovered a coffee shop called Burroughs, for the American author William Burroughs. Turns out the owner is a big fan. The place is filled with Japanese translations of all the major Beat authors, and a few English originals. When I went in, they were playing a good Joni Mitchell song. I was sorely tempted to ask for the Naked Lunch, but it was dinnertime. It's on Route 58, in the middle of town, a few lights south of the harbor.

The World's Best Onsen?

I really enjoyed my research trip to the Osumi-shoto group. I'm covering that area for the next Lonely Planet Japan book. One of the highlights of my trip was the chance to soak in beautiful Higashi Onsen, on the rarely-visited island of Io-jima. I had the place all to myself.



Here's a shot of the island.

Tanegashima

Here's a picture of a beach on the east coast of Tanegashima. This is a great island for a laid-back beach vacation.

Yakushima

I just returned to Kyoto from a research trip to the Osumi-shoto, which includes Yakushima, Tanegashima and Io-jima.

On Yakushima, I climbed the highest peak on the island, Miyanoura-dake. I also checked out the giant Jomon-sugi cedar tree and soaked in two great onsen.

This picture is taken from the top of Miyanoura-dake. It's a great hike.

Kyoto Kimono Workshops

Yesterday, a friend of mine who produces kimono for Kyoto geisha took me on a tour of some of Kyoto's traditional kimono workshops. About 20 workshops participate in the production of a single kimono. We visited four: the dye workshop that does the base color, the workshop where they steam the color to set it, the yuzen painting workshop where they paint the patterns, and a workshop where they embroider the final pattern. I was amazed at the amout of work that goes into a kimono.