Shiraishi Island!

16-17th June

This weekend was one of the best yet in Japan! Tina, Marie, Chelsea, Taube , Julian, Jodi, Jono, Jess, Liam, Karen and I went to Shiraishi Island which is about 3 hours from Himeji. We caught a train to Okayama and then another train to Kasaoka before catching the ferry to Shiraishi Island.

The view from the ferry!


It was a beautiful day on Saturday and was perfect for the beach! We arrived and Taube and Julian (Americans from our apartment who organised the trip) met us and walked with us to our villa. It is an international villa which only foreigners in Japan can hire. There are 5 twin rooms which we had booked out and there is a shared living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and toilet.

The villa.



We then headed down to the beach. We had a nice lunch (and beer!) at the café on the beach and were entertained by a local magician who happened to be number 6 in Japan! He had some amazing card tricks! It was time for a swim so we braved the cold water but it wasn't so bad and it was so good to finally go to the beach! I don’t think I have been for about a year and a half!

Marie took this cool picture of us all heading to the beach!


The Restaurant and chef!


The Japanese Copperfield!


The beautiful beach!


Marie just had to take this photo for who is in the background rather than what is in the background!


Marie, Tina and I enjoying the beach!
(P.S. i bought my bathers here and think they are very "Japanese" - very かわいい!!(cute!!)


We met some very cute Japanese boys who I think had been swimming in their underwear!



We had booked kayaks for the afternoon and we had a great time going around the coast and to a small island with a shrine on it. Earlier Tina, Marie, Julian and Jono had actually swum to it! Chelsea and I made a great team considering we hadn’t really done it before!

Island with the shrine on it.






We relaxed for a little while after kayaking and then two guys came up to us and offered a ride on their traditional Japanese boat. It was all wood and you sat on top and one person stood at the back sort of rotating the rudder to move the boat along and around. It was a really cool experience and was also so nice of them to offer to take us. The guy that took us on the boat was called Sho and was 25 years old and had lived all his life on the island.

Jono doing a scene from Titanic!


There was an amazing sunset that we watched from the villa. I couldn't resist taking lots of photos as it just kept changing and was so beautiful!










We then got ready for dinner as Taube and Julian had organised a beach party BBQ! We arrived at the beach and there were tables set up and 2 BBQ’s with a huge amount of food which only cost 2000 yen each (about $20). We got to cook our own food and a guy, Yoshihiro that we had met earlier helped us too. There were a group of junior high school students on a school trip and they were having a party further down the beach so we just stayed at the beach having drinks, watching their fireworks and enjoying our bonfire! It was a fantastic night!



The next day I woke up so early as the sun seemed to rise even earlier! We got ourselves organised and cooked a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. We then headed up to the lookout which gave us a great view of the island and coast.



Tina, Marie, Taube and Julian then continued to hike up the mountain and the rest of us decided to go for a bike ride and the beach. Jono, Jodi and I tested out the villa’s bikes which were very average but we went for a ride around the marina. We then met the others for a drink at the “Moo Bar”! An American lady that has lived on the island for 5 years opens the bar during summer and it’s right on the beach. We had a fantastic banana daiquiri and pizza!

The marina.


The Moo Bar!


Then sadly it was time to pack up and catch the ferry back to Himeji. I had a fantastic time with a great group of people and I am looking forward to visiting the island again!