Kamishima Island
Kamishima Island is a uniquely-shaped island, located 14km to the northeast of Toba harbor, and renowned for its beautiful scenery. A stroll around the island takes about three hours. There many places to explore, from Kamishima town’s picturesque alleyways to the nature trail that winds through Kamishima’s forests and around the coast. Along the way, visitors will discover a white-tiled lighthouse and the Kantekisho ruins, the remains of a pre-World War II naval building used for observing shell firing tests.
At Niwanohama, towering karst limestone rock formations stretch to the south. These white rocks provide a dramatic contrast to the island greenery and blue ocean. Visitors may also catch a rare glimpse of two species that visit the island between September and October: the grey-faced buzzard (Butastur indicus) and the chestnut tiger butterfly (Parantica sita niphonica).
Mishima Yukio (1925–1970), one of the most important Japanese novelists of the twentieth century, used the island as the setting for his 1954 novel The Sound of Waves. The novel is a romance between a young fisherman and an ama (a female diver). Multiple film adaptations of this book have helped establish Kamishima’s image as a romantic spot.