A Trip Round The Islands - Shiraishi

Shiraishi Island is one of those places that’s great not for any intrinsic qualities, but because of the fun times you have there. The beach isn’t especially pretty and the hikes, whilst enjoyable enough, are not particularly spectacular in my opinion. There’s only one bar. The beach isn’t all that clean.

But this was the second time we’d visited the island and we had a supremely awesome weekend. The first occasion that we came to Shiraishi was last August for a “group bonding” day. It was fun to hang out with the other JETs and we did a pretty but painfully hot walk up to the island’s observatory. This time, we decided to take it easy and spend as much time as possible on the beach.

I’m not really a beach person-I enjoy reading in the sun for about an hour, but anything more tends to get a little dull. However, Shiraishi has a friendly bar on the beach run by a Japan Times journalist and her husband. The bar keeps things moving along nicely with reasonably priced cocktails, offers of food and by making a bonfire to keep people out there until late at night.

I really wanted to swim but there were loads of jellyfish on the first day. I’d never seen jellyfish in the wild before, so it was pretty cool. I did get to jetski for the first time which was amazing, though I had my eyes shut for most of it and almost crushed the chest cavity of the guy who took me out. Never take me out on a fast moving vehicle. I will crush your chest by mistake.

Back at the International Villa, we bumped into the other guests and one couple offered to cook dinner for everyone else staying there. We were incredibly grateful for this and had one of the most delicious, enjoyable meals since arriving in Japan. They wouldn’t even let me wash up, no matter how much I insisted. Gyoza, duck, salad, crackers and all sorts of nice things. The guy next to me kept trying to get me drunk on shochu and semi-succeeded. If this kind of thing didn’t happen so often I’d have been blown away by it. This type of kindness is one of the main reasons why I’d recommend Japan so enthusiastically as a place to live.

School feels like a slog at the moment. There are 2 months left and I’m not sure I want to be teaching my (increasingly rowdy) students for the rest of my time in Japan. But I do usually enjoy the lessons once they get going.

I also completed my first week of running and found some beautiful Okayama countryside. I just need to cut out the huge slabs of cheese that I’ve been consuming and I’ll be fine. Mmm. Cheese.