Sakushima trip #1 (Aichi Prefecture)

After months of waffling (according to friends observing my social media posts), on Christmas Eve 2024 I rode to Sakushima, an island in Nagoya Bay. It was a wonderful trip in more ways than one, and I look forward to visiting the island again.

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There are several islands at the mouth of Nagoya Bay, one of which is attached (administratively) to Aichi Prefecture (where Nagoya is located), and the remainder to neighboring Mie Prefecture (home to the Suzuka racing circuit among other things). The island within Aichi jurisdiction is “in” the city of Nishio, and its name is Sakushima. I’d had my eye on it as a possible destination for months and months, and as the onset of winter made further exploration of northbound routes toward Gero hot springs unattractive, I finally got serious, checked out accommodations, and in late December I picked up the phone and was able to get a spot in a guest house with good reviews for Christmas Eve.

In sharp contrast to northbound rides out of Nagoya, and even the south-easterly exit toward Hamamatsu, this route is almost perfectly flat, much of it running through agricultural land with a big-sky feel. Komoot estimated three hours for the ride, and (from past experience with its optimism) I gave myself good margin to be safe. There are just three morning ferries to the island, and to have a shot at the second ferry at 9:30am, I left the house at a little after 5:00am.

• GPX data: Nisshin ↣ Sakushima

Because of the early departure, and because the route soon diverged from roads that I’d ridden before, the first half of the ride was spent in darkness, relying entirely on Komoot navigation. The scene below was one of the first noteworthy sights to present itself once the sun came up. I paused for a photo here to share it with a friend keen on traditional architecture who recently came for a visit. There are many structures in this style on the road to the coast (most in better condition than this), and on the island as well (many similarly the worse for wear).

With the ferry schedule in mind, I kept moving,¹ and have no other pictures from the ride down.

I arrived at the ferry building at about 8:30am, and so had plenty of time to sort out ticketing. I hadn’t done my homework on the ferry before setting out, and had no idea how big it would be and what luggage restrictions might apply. As it turned out, it’s a relatively small craft with a little over 100 passenger max capacity and an area for placing small cargo—definitely nothing as large as a car! Happily there is special provision for bicycles, for a ¥550 round-trip surcharge, so that was a relief. With that settled, I was left to change to walking shoes and chill out before departure

There is a marine service shop next to the ferry building, where a number of boats are parked. The boat in front that caught my eye has a Miami Vice vibe to it, and may actually date from its heyday.

Several tiny islands around Sakushima are connected by causeways that probably double as platforms for fishermen in the high season.

Sakushima is one of several islands that feature art installations. I first learned of this phenomenon from Jonathan Lewis, who told of the practice originating in Naoshima in Okayama Prefecture, and I think (?) the installations dotted around Sakushima may have followed from that and other Okayama examples. The main attractions can be found on the Sakushima website; the photos here are of a few others that caught my eye as I pedalled around.

Parking the bike and hiking up a trail ascending one of the island’s mountains on the morning after arrival, I came across a series of small shrines along the path. At lunchtime, chatting with a local resident, I asked about these, and was told they were from Kobo Daishi. When I cocked my head quizzically, he said, “oh, you can look it up” and politely changed the subject. I’ve now remedied my ignorance. Kobo Daishi was a major figure in the establishment of Buddhism in Japan, active in the Shikkoku region, where 88 sites visited by him form a course of pilgrimage for worshipers. In the Taishō period, miniature replicas of the 88 Shikkoku sites were installed on Sakushima, and the associated shrine became a destination of pilgrimage in its own right. Then the Pacific War happened. The replicas have recently been identified and restored. Further particulars can be found on the Nishio City website.

It’s hard to make out in this photograph, but there is a two-meter-high dome fashioned from steel rings welded together.

After pushing up the trail a ways, I returned to the bike, which I’d parked in front of Cafe Olegale. I was pretty hungry by then, and glad to find that the cafe had opened up while I was hiking on my little side-quest. Lunch was a filling donburi with loads of nori and shirasu, with a serving of quiche on the side. I also had a muffin made with tofu and something like rhubarb that was also very tastey.

There is a hiatus in the pictoral narrative here, oops. I was actually a bit lucky to have stumbled upon Cafe Olegale at opening time, since many shops had closed for the holiday. When the topic of dessert came up, the owner recommended another shop further down the road for its dorayaki. After a long chat about bicycles and much else with a neighbor (and former triathlete) who also dropped in for lunch, I set out and eventually located the cafe Monpemaruke. Here again I enjoyed a pleasant conversation with the owner. When I said I’d come down by bicycle, it emerged that she had done an all-country (日本一周) tour herself, before setting up the cafe. And a wild journey it was, on an early model ebike with regenerative braking from a Nagoya builder, covering much of the distance with a spent battery.

As we talked, the rustic cafe was filled with the smokey aroma of charcoal from a stove on which red beans were simmering in preparation for a mochi-tsuki festival at the new year. I mentioned that I was staying at guest house Chidori (千鳥), and was told to look forward to dinner—and that the grandfather in the family was a fan of classic pops, which figures later in this account.

Mieko would have found a visit to the island awkward given her general aversion to seafood; but she would have adored the sense of community among the islanders.

After our conversation over coffee and dora-yaki, I toodled around some more by bike. There were some nice ocean views along the way.

This shot isn’t much, but shows how clear the water is around the island.

In further exploration of the island, I came to this stretch of forest with a distinct personality.

Proceeding clockwise around the island, I came upon this ceramic pillar adorned with ships’ lanterns and other bits and pieces.

The path continued along a seawall for a distance, and then came to an end, with stairs to the right connecting to a “northern ribbon” path into the low-lying mountains. That led eventually to a junction with on fork signposted as leading back to the Eastern Port, where I had disembarked from the ferry and a short distance from the guest house. Parking the bike for the evening, I warmed up with a nice hot bath, crashed for an hour or so, and made my way down for dinner at 6:00.

And such a dinner. I ordered a beer to go with, and it took me some time to work through the feast. It was served in my own little space, and I took a constitutional stroll around the table a couple of times before finishing.

The tatami room with my dinner spread was separated from another by the usual sliding partition doors that divide up such spaces, and the other family staying at the guest house were dining next door, with spirited holdings-forth by two elder men clearly audible. When I emerged from my own spot, they had also finished, and I was swept into conversation with the elder pair, one of whom quoted an English lyric in my direction, which I pegged as from Peter, Paul & Mary (Blowin’ in the Wind), which he placed as a Bob Dylan composition, and it went on from there. At the end of our trip down memory lane, he confirmed that he was of the family that owned the shop (the family dining next door turned out to be friends of the owners). When I told him I’d been told to expect his as a fan of 60s music, he said “Oh, that must have been Monpemaruke.” Island society is a village (!). And so I headed off to bed.

Breakfast was closer to my usual!

In the morning I opened the curtains and realized that the room had beachfront views from both windows.

I caught the noon ferry back to the mainland (there are two, and I scored the newer one on the return). It’s a leisurely 20-minute cruise across the gap, one part of it at low speed to avoid disturbing a nori seaweed farm near the route.

The family that owns the Chidori guest house were closing up to pay a visit to family and friends on the mainland as I left, and the grandfather plopped down in the seat next to me after I boarded. We continued our conversation of the night before, swapping stories. He went to a private university in Nagoya, and said he still has his hair cut at the same barber’s. The easy openness of interactions across the island makes me want to visit again.

This photo from the ride back doesn’t capture it properly, but there was a liminal feel to this silo standing under a big sky. In and around Nagoya, hills are never far away, and the open plains near the coast made a strong impression.

It’s only a 45 kilometer ride between the house and the ferry terminal, and since I’d covered the portion near the house in darkness once already, I wasn’t bothered about making time on the return. So when I passed this large coffee house (わらく珈琲), I stopped for a second breakfast.

The route set by Komoot/OpenMaps runs over a very long bike path, most of which is in Anjō City. It features a series of underpasses that make for uninterrupted travel over most of its length, and must have been built into the initial urban design.

Here is where I joined the path (on the route going down) and left it for trafficked streets (on the way home).

That was the first trip to Sakushima, and I’m looking forward to the next!