amami

I have spent the last two days on Amami Oshima - one of the southern Japanese islands 🏝️ located between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Two days ago, the ferry has brought me and Anna-Maria at 4.30 am to the port of Naze. That’s basically the main city with approximately 10.000 inhabitants on Amami-Oshima. There was no possibility to store our luggage at the harbour or before 9 am in the hostel. So, the idea was to bring all our belongings 🧳 to the mangrove forest, store it there and participate in the 10 am kayak tour 🛶 through the forest 🌳 It was still very early when we arrived in Naze Port. So, we had to wait nearly 2 hours before we could take the first bus to the mangrove forest. I believe we were lucky in multiple ways: on one hand we had an English speaking guide - probably because Anna-Maria had been writing the company (that organised the tour) upfront. Moreover, the time slot we picked was sunny ☀️ and even exposed some blue skies in between. Later, after our tour the weather became more cloudy, windy and it started to rain 🌧️ For a few minutes there was even a real downpour.
When we returned to Naze we could finally check-in in our hostel and store our luggage in our rooms.
In the afternoon, we visited a Shochu 🍶distillery. Shochu is an alcoholic beverage - similar to Sake. It is typical for Kyushu and the southern islands of Japan. On the Amami islands, brown sugar 🎋 is used as a special ingredient for Shochu whereas other regions use sweet potato 🍠 , barley 🌾 or just rice 🌿 The difference to Sake is that it is much more potent (approximately 30% alcohol instead of only around 15%) since it is distilled after its fermentation. The owner of the distillery who showed us around put a lot of effort in explaining the production process in detail to us. After we have finished our tasting, his wife also joined us with their newborn 👶 for a brief chat. They seemed to be very happy to have us as their guests in their distillery and recommended the close-by Japanese restaurant „Kitahachi“ for dinner that serves local food 🍲 from the Amami islands. That evening we were not able to go there since the place was already completely booked out but we made a reservation 🎟️ for the next day. Instead, the owner of the restaurant „Kitahachi“ sent us to another restaurant across the street which served also very good local food. 🍱 It didn’t take long after we sat down at the bar before our neighbour started a conversation with us. It was really striking. Here on the Amani islands the Japanese seemed to be so much more open than on the „main land“. 💬

The next morning, we went to Akiyaba Tategami - a huge rock 🪨 in front of the crystal clear and blue coast of Amami Oshima. I read the day before in the „Amami Oshima World Heritage Conservation Center“ near the mangrove forest 🌳 that this rock is associated with the gods by the indigenous people. It is truly an impressive sight.
From there, we started our ascent to the top of the mountain ⛰️ that houses the „Amami Nature Observation Forest“ - knowing that at its peak, some beautiful views would await us. Then we walked down to the city „Tatsugō“ on other side of the mountain to catch the bus 🚎 and drive back towards Naze. We both got already off the bus at „Nazeasahicho“ but spent our afternoons separately: Anna-Maria wanted to relax in a cafe ☕️ and read her book and I wanted to see a little more of Amami Oshima. So, I walked 1 hour along the coast until I arrived at our hostel in Naze.
In the evening we met again for dinner at „Kitahachi“ (the restaurant we made a reservation the day before). The 6-course menu 🍽️ with local dishes was excellent. One or two glasses of Shochu highball complimented it perfectly. Also here the Japanese were quick to chat 💬 with us - they were from all over the country (Yokohama, Hakata, Osaka, Nikka, …). Some were in Amami-Oshima for work; others for leisure. It was a fun evening. When some of them were leaving, they even payed our pretty hefty restaurant bill with the words „enjoy Japan“ 🇯🇵Read more