Days 6-7 5/18-19/18 Shodo Island - The Olive Island of Japan

Days 6-7 Friday-Saturday: A Weekend in Olive Country

We were out of the house by 6:45 AM on Friday - excitement about the weekend and anxiety about making our somewhat tight connections to get from Kyoto to Shodo, made sleeping any later impossible.  Shodo Island was where we were to be introduced to the olive culture of Japan.  From the online Japan Guide:

"Shodo (小豆島) is the second largest island in the Seto Inland Sea and one of the first islands born to the gods in the creation myth of Japan. The name literally means "small bean island", which technically refers to the azuki bean but today would more fittingly refer to the soy bean or olive as the island has traditionally been a producer of soy sauce and now is even better known for its olive plantations." 

The island is also famous in Japan as the filming location for a very iconic film, "Nijushi no Hitomi" or "Twenty-Four Eyes" made in 1954 that follows the lives of a school teacher and her first class of students as they grow up on the island during the rise of Japanese nationalism leading up to WWII.  Today, the movie is celebrated on the island at a popular tourist destination, Movie Village, that we did not visit.

 Shodoshiyama, the largest city on the island is about 150 km (90 miles) from Kyoto as the crow flies, but alas, we are not crows, and our trip would take us through Okayama and then to Kagawa Prefecture and finally to Shodo -about 225 km (135 miles).  We would do this trip entirely by public transportation: 7:10 AM subway from Doshisha to Kyoto Station; 8:05 AM Shinkansen train to Okayama; and then a 9:32 AM Marine Line Rail to the harbor town of Takematsu, where we would be met by Tia, a Seattle born wife of our host.  Finally, with Tia, we would have to dash from the train station to the harbor to catch a 10:40 AM fast boat to Shodo Island.  By some miracle, we made all our transfers, met Tia at the busy train station and by 11:15 AM, we were on the Island where we met our host Tak Kubota, the broadly smiling Director of the Kagawa Prefecture Agricultural Services on Shodo.

Pat and Tak in front of the Olive Park

300 year old olive tree imported from Spain

 

Tak and Tia had a full day planned for us, the first thing item on the agenda being "LUNCH" - we couldn't agree more.  Our quickly grabbed salad breakfast at Kyoto station seemed like days ago.  We lunched at Olive Palace,  a modern golden wood paneled restaurant with panoramic views. 
We ate a delicious traditional lunch with fresh sushi, tempora, a cold noodle soup of green soya noodles (colored green with olive leaves), and of course, rice. Our meal came with a Shodoshima specialy, tsukudani, small pieces of seafood preserved by cooking in a sweet soy sauce, that we especially enjoyed.  YUM!  We bought some packages at the souvenir gift shop that is part of the larger complex at Olive Garden. Our hosts ate turkey sandwiches and french fries.

View with olive trees in foreground, islands in background

Windmills in homage to sister island, Crete

At the "Olive Park" we visited some of the older olive trees on the island, and were surprised by the nonworking old windmill that looked awfully familiar, and we learned that they are a symbol of the bond between Shodo and its sister Greek island of Crete.  The picturesque landscape of old olive trees, a Mediterranean windmill and the bays and harbors of Shodoshima below us was not lost on the locals: we saw a bride and groom posing for pictures, and some Japanese youngsters "jumping the broom" for some unfathomable reason.  Here were 50 year old Mission Olive trees that looked as though they were 100-200 years old, we were told because of the excellent growing conditions on the islands.  Olives had to be harvested quite early to prevent them from getting too wet, and contracting diseases.

Next we stopped by the Industrial Technology Center and met Hiroyuki Shibasaki, Tak's colleague who showed us around the quality control labs - where we recognized the alphabet soup of analytical techniques that help insure the quality and safety of the food on the island.  In addition to the analytic equipment, there was a small experimental olive press on the ground floor.  A team of about a ten scientists and workers kept everything in tip top shape and provided analysis to help support the farming and food production on the island. 

"Rope Bridge" Ride up the Mountain

The day had been steadily clouding over, and a heavy rain was predicted for tonight and tomorrow.  So Tak decided that we should drive partway up the mountain today and he seemed very excited about taking us to what he called a rope bridge.  I was a bit reluctant until I realized he was not asking us to climb a rope ladder, but to sit back and enjoy a thrilling cable car ride up and over the Kankakei Gorge.  The cherry blossoms were long gone, but dogwood blooms covered the cliffs below and the birdsong was magical.  Sadly, we did not see any of the local monkeys that Tak said we should be glad to have missed.  Last time he was here, they had stolen his eyeglasses that he had laid down for a moment on a rock.

Short movie of the ride

We made it to the top!

Next stop was a tour of an ancient Soy Sauce Museum and store - Yamaroku shoyu.  We fell in love with the product, the depth of flavor was like no soy sauce we had ever tasted, so we bought a four pack gift pack to go home with us.  Later, we discovered that in fact, you can buy this on Amazon.  So great we can find it again for the future!

A bit spent from the long day, we finally checked in to our beautiful Shodoshima International Hotel, ate a tavern style dinner with Tak and Tia on Friday night.  We loved that a pint of draft beer was served with a side of grilled mackerel and got our first chance to try the olive fed yellowfin tuna.  Pat and Tia refrained from eating the Fish Sperm custard served at the end of the evening. We retired to our comfortable hotel room exhausted by the days events.

Saturday morning started with a 6:30 AM trip to the public spa or Onsen (of course, a separate one for men and women) and we enjoyed soaking in the fresh air hot mineral bath "au natural" which you enjoy after a thorough washing up.  Here's a view out the main spa area from the hotel website as understandably, photos are not allowed in the spa when it is being used.

The small island in the distance is Angel Island, a path to which appears only twice a day at low tide. By 7:30 AM, the tide was low enough for us to make our way to the island, and then get breakfast before being picked up at 8:45 AM by Tak and Tia.
Back in the car with our hosts, we headed off to our 9 AM appointment with Takao Noen, asparagus, olives, farmer and producer of an oil that had first grabbed our attention when it won a gold medal at the 2016 NYIOC.  Since then, he has been written up in the Olive Oil Times and won recognition in a french competition for "Lex Meilleur Huile de Competition"complete with a silver cup which sits in his modest showroom. He talked with us through Tia who served as our interpreter and then had to dash off to harvest some asparagus.  We were able to meet up with him later when he toured us through his grove.

Sign reads: Beware of traps for wild boar!

Farmer Toyohiro Takao

We had an 11:20 appointment at Nakabu-an, where we all learned how to make soya noodles and ate a delicious lunch.

Toya Olives we finally saw a tree in blossom, visited the press, souvenir shop, and groves

Toyo Olive - biggest producer on Shodo

Olive Tree in Blossom

Nestled up against the mountains in Shodoshima's interior are the Senmaida or "one thousand rice fields". Seemingly hundreds of terraced rice fields are built into the surrounding hills, creating a beautiful rural sight. In the nearby village stands an outdoor kabuki stage on which local kabuki plays have been performed since the Edo Period. Local Kabuki theater buildings in Nakashiyama were impressive.

Dinner by ourselves that evening was our first experience in our own tatami matted and rice screened room.  Food was delicious and experience, once again, magical. Tomorrow we would leave, but keep posted, we will be posting a WORLD OLIVE PRESS NEWSLETTER more focused on the olive side of our trip.