On our last day of Silver Week, we got up quite early to catch a cab to the pier.
At 8:00, we were on a ferry to Ogishima.
On my flight to Hawaii this summer, I was flipping through the in-flight magazine and came upon an article about Ogishima.
The island is supposed to have more cats than people living there.
During this time of year, the surrounding islands also participate in the Setouchi Triennale Art Festival.
Lots of contemporary artists display their artwork around the islands, some use abandoned houses.
Since the ferry ride to Ogishima is only half an hour, we were there too early to view some of the art displays, so we went around to the opposite side of the island to see their lighthouse.
It is about 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) from the ferry pier to the lighthouse.
There is a paved road so it is a nice walk.
The scary part is seeing signs that there are inoshishi (wild boar) in the area...
While descending down the incline to the lighthouse, tons of isopods were scurrying out of the way (they look like huge cockroaches!), while huge grasshoppers were in kamikaze mode, a lot flying into us....me screaming...gah!
The lighthouse is rather small, but I loved how they used the sea glass to decorate the signs.
Since the only way to go all the way around the island was to go up a hill (where there may be wild boar), we decided to go back the way we came...
Through the isopods and flying grasshoppers...
Each art display cost 300 yen per person to view, so we only went to see one.
Then we explored the southern part of the island.
There were some cats here and there but definitely not more than the amount of people living there.
We saw a poster explaining that cats on the island are being neutered/spade.
If their ear is "nicked" to look like a cherry blossom petal, then they have been neutered/spade.
Many of the cats that we did see were already neutered/spade.
Since we had some time before our ferry back to Takamatsu, we hung out at one of the only places open, Onba Cafe.
Onba means "cart" or "wheelbarrow" in the local language.
This cafe has a little workshop off to the side and they make custom onba...so cute!
We were feeling a bit hungry, so Satoshi had their ice cream with coffee while I had their chocolate pound cake with an iced coffee....total of 1400 yen for both.
It was nice to be able to sit and just space out.
The island is rather quiet and very peaceful.
We enjoyed our time on Ogishima but were ready for lunch.
Back in Takamatsu, we stopped at the first Sanuki udon shop we saw...Gainayatsu.
Sanuki Udon is the type of udon served in Kagawa.
The noodles are thick and chewy.
Purists eat it with just a little shoyu, while other prefer just a little dashi (stock).
Satoshi had their small curry udon, while I chose their cold niku (beef) udon.
Satoshi's was piping hot.
My noodles and soup were ice cold, perfect for the humid day, while the owner heated up the beef...and while this was sweet-salty delicious, this turned out to be quite gross toward the middle of my meal, as the fat from the beef congealed with the cold soup...
We both agreed that small was just the right size, leaning on a bit too much for me.
I picked up some soy salt by Kamebishi to try. I'd seen this somewhere online and was curious to try it. Soy sauce is dried to a flake type of "salt". I'll be sure to update when we try this.
And then it was time to get on the bus back to Osaka.
We were bummed to find out that the "business" type of bus with free wifi was not to be found on our route back to Osaka...boo!
The weather was overall cooperative, there were some sprinkles here and there, but for the most part, we were able to do and see what we intended to.
I hope you enjoyed our adventure, we sure had fun.
Gainayatsu
1-27 Nishinomatsu-cho, Matsuya Bldg 1F
Takamatsu, Kagawa
Phone: 090.5270.8779
Hours: 10:00-20:00, days off not set call before going
Onba Cafe/Factory
216 Ogi-cho
Takamatsu, Kagawa
Phone: 087.832.3123
Hours: 11:00-16:30
Open mostly for Setouchi Triennale period and weekends & holidays
