Shiraishi Island



Shiraishi Island (白石島 Shiraishijima) is an island in the Seto Inland Sea. Administratively, it is part of Kasaoka in Okayama Prefecture.

Understand
Shiraishi is a quiet island of roughly 500 inhabitants (as of 2017). It is mostly visited for its summer activities: swimming, sea kayaking, windsurfing, and lounging on the beach. The vast majority of visitors come on weekends in July and August. The island's Bon dance, commemorating a bloody battle centuries ago, is well-known and attracts a large crowd each August.

The island also has its own miniature version of the 88 Temple Pilgrimage.

Since the 1990s, the Okayama prefectural government has specifically encouraged foreign tourism on Shiraishi Island. They help maintain the Shiraishi Island International Villa, a guesthouse specifically targeted at foreign visitors.

Tourist Information Site
The island has its own multilingual guide site.

Get in
Most travelers will arrive by direct ferry from Kasaoka, which is easily accessible by JR train; it is also possible to come from Shikoku if you are willing to travel on Saturdays and change ferries a few times.

There are two ferry companies serving the route from Kasaoka to Shiraishi. The more useful of the two is operated by Sanyo Kisen (三洋汽船), and departs most frequently. The path from the train station to the Sanyo Kisen ferry terminal is well signed in English and takes less than ten minutes to walk.

Although this ferry does not carry cars, free parking is available in the summer months near their terminal. There is generally no reason to take a car to Shiraishi; the island can be walked from end to end in an hour or less.

The Sanyo Kisen ferry timetable is also available in English from the official website.

Sanyo Kisen also operates a car ferry, but it leaves from a different port.

Get around
The island is quite small&mdash;about six kilometers in circumference. This makes it easy to get around by foot or bicycle. There is no public transportation on the island.

Do
This is a small island, and the ocean is the name of the game. The public beach has the island's main ocean-related leisure facilities.

For sea kayaking and windsurfing, find C.G., a Japanese man with a ponytail and Hawaiian shirt.

There are annual festivals. If you're visiting during one, it should be an exciting time.



Eat
If expecting to self-cater for a significant length of time, plan on shopping in Kasaoka before getting on the ferry. There is a large supermarket very close to the ferry terminal and train station there.



Connect
Mobile phone service and 3G/4G Internet on Japan's major carriers are available. There is free WiFi at the port and at some hotels.

Go next
It's possible to make day trips to some of the other islands serviced by the Sanyo Kisen ferry such as Manabeshima. Kasaoka is likely to be your jumping-off point to other major destinations.