Shodoshima Island

Shodoshima Island
Sunday, August 12, 2007

We got up early today and went to the train station where we were going to be picked up by some of the teachers at one of my schools. We were going on a day trip to Shodoshima Island. I was pretty excited about this because we had been talking about it for a couple of weeks. They had given me the lowdown on all of the things there were to do on the island. I really needed to vacation there for a week to take it all in but that will have to be done another time.

We drove for a little while until we were at the bay (I guess) on the edge of my city, Okayama. We bought tickets for a ferry and then drove the car onto the ferry. The ferry ride was about 90 minutes so we just chilled out and talked. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of so many trips back home, although I have never taken a ferry with a car on it before. Two of the teachers brought their children so we played with them and looked out at the water and all that jazz.

Our ferry


Moe driving the ferry.
Soy Sauce Museum

When we got to the island we all loaded back up into the cars and drove off of the ferry onto the road. Sweet little ride, if I do say so myself. We drove over to the Soy Sauce Museum. In the museum I learned that there are five different types of soy sauce. I also learned about how soy sauce is made. Maybe I’ll try that back in my classroom when I get home…Dianne might think I had really lost my mind. haha We got some fun pictures and had a great time. At the end was a souvenir shop. Guess what I got…yes, soy sauce. Right next to the museum is the soy sauce factory where they produce it. Not a great smell in the air but an interesting place nonetheless. We went over to a little ice cream stand after that and bought, you guessed it, soy sauce soft cream (say that three times fast)! It was really sweet, like caramel. It was actually pretty good.

Teachers in the barrel.

Peace--we peace in every picture!
Where Tara and I sleep at our apartments.

We are making some soy sauce.
Soy sauce soft cream

Next we twisted and turned and pulled over a lot to let cars pass as we drove over to another tourist attraction. This time we were going to an old elementary school building where a movie had been filmed. The movie was called 24 Eyes. It was about a teacher and her 12 students during WWII. While Japan was telling everyone to fight for their country, this teacher just kept on teaching and educating her children. She ended up getting into a lot of trouble. I want to see the movie. I can’t find much about it online but I will find it somehow. Funny though how you could buy everything at these souvenir shops except the movie. Hmmm…American marketing would come in handy.

24 Eyes movie poster

This is a map of 24 Eyes.
Something about 24 Eyes.
The teacher and her 12 students.
Tara and I are taking a break in a boat.
You could feed the giant ugly fish for 100 yen.

The school house was really neat. It was old but in good condition and had some of the cameras and lighting equipment inside of it still from filming. There were statues of the teacher and students outside. As we were looking at all of this, we realized how close to the shore we were. So close that we could walk right to it. Tara and I walked out there and climbed up on some rocks and felt the ocean water as it hit us. It was so beautiful. I can’t describe the intense feeling that I had. It was gorgeous and I took a lot of pictures but they didn’t do the beauty of the island justice. There was something about being at this place that just made me feel so peaceful and happy. I wish everyone could have seen it through my eyes.

In the old school house classroom.
There is some of the lighting equipment still in there.

Here I am...sort of looking "special" if you know what I mean. I don't care, a wave hit me in the back and got me all wet and I jumped forward. It was great! See how happy I am?

We ate lunch at a little restaurant that only served noodles. Yes, I had to take my shoes off, and yes I sat on the floor. I don’t know how to spell what I ate but I can say it. It was a bowl of thin noodles in ice water. You got them out with your chopsticks and dipped them in a special sauce (like soy sauce) and then ate them. The Japanese people slurp everything here and I can’t stand it. All I can think about is how if I had done that at home I would have been reprimanded for bad table manners.

After lunch and gift shops we went winding around the mountain on the island until I swear we were at the very top. We went to see these monkeys. You climb to the top of a mountain and there are all of these Japanese monkeys everywhere…I mean EVERYWHERE! They are not in cages, just at home in their natural habitat. You don’t want to have any food on you though or these bad boys will get vicious. In theory, this sounds like a great idea; in reality it is really creepy. I was just walking around and there were monkeys everywhere. Not sweet little “oooh, oooh, aaah, aaah” ones either. These things were hissing at each other, chasing each other, biting and snapping at each other. I thought they might, “think I was something good to eat,” and try to eat me too but they didn’t. They did get really close to you though. They were inches from me. My pictures look like I used the zoom but I didn’t. I have never been frightened of monkeys, although after today I will think twice about them and their cuteness. While we were standing there looking at the monkeys, a huge deer walked out of the woods and just starting eating. Even though all of the humans were around, it felt perfectly safe coming out. I felt like I was on some bizarre episode of Animal Planet.

I'm pretty sure this sign says something about how the monkeys will jump on you when you least expect it.

They were all just sitting there...waiting...
A little monkey family.
Mama and baby
Grooming
The deer...that was so weird!

After leaving Monkey Mountain we heading to a gift shop and then rode back to the ferry. We have a 90 minute ride back and we were so tired so we just chilled out as we cruised home. When we got back into the city we were hungry so they took us out to dinner at a little pasta café by our apartment. Apart from more slurping action, it was so delicious! The green tea sherbet for dessert was a bit of a shocker when I was expecting lime. haha Home was the next stop and straight to bed. What a fabulous day!