Oki Dogo

So this weekend, I finally returned the favor and visited Martin out on Dogo, the largest of the Oki Islands, and it was quite the experience. I arrived Friday evening, on the very last ferry of the day, and was met at the port by Martin and one of his JTE's (that's Japanese Teacher of English in JET jargon). She dropped us off at his apartment, and then later we met up with her, 2 other JTE's, and Ellie, the other Dogo ALT, and the six of us enjoyed dinner at a great izakaya. Dogo is much more developed that any of the Douzen islands, with 2 super markets and a conbini, and they're constantly working on the infrastructure of the island; there seemed to be road construction going on everywhere. After a late night of karaoke, we returned to Martin's place for some much needed rest. I must say that I'm envious of the Dogo JETs and the great network of friends they have there. It seems that they are always busy hanging out with their English teachers, who, for the most part aren't much older than Martin or me.

The next day, we attended a community barbeque outside of Martin's apartment with his landlord and some of the other residents. It was a fun time, and we had some great food. It's been a while since I've had anything from a grill, and it was a welcome change of pace for my taste buds, even if it was whole squid and thin strips of beef instead of dogs and burgers. Once that wrapped up, we walked a few blocks up the road to a car rental place so we could do some sight seeing. I think I've been driving my tiny little stick too much, because driving an automatic felt weird the entire time. We didn't have much time, but Martin wanted to show me the Shirashima Coast, Dogo's answer to Kuniga in Douzen. After ten to fifteen initial minutes of confusion with our GPS, we finally found our way and made it to the coast line on the northern point of the island around 4 pm. Although there were no wild horses roaming this island, the views were nonetheless breathtaking, and I took a good number of photos.


Afterward, we decided to try and make it to the Dangyou Shrine and Waterfall. As I drove deeper into the island, I became increasingly aware of the magnitude of its size; it really is a large piece of land. As we neared the falls we entered what, at first glance, appeared to be an ancient coniferous forest. However, the regularity of the giant trees gave it away as being man-made. Martin explained to me that the particular type of narrow, straight pine had been imported to the island long ago to build up a strong spear-making industry back during the Edo Period. The forest was not alone in its magnificence however, for further up the road it was interrupted by a river, flowing from the falls. It seemed to have dried up to my eyes, but the river bed was rather wide and littered with large stones; as if it had been created as a channel for the island to discard its pelagic remnants after rising from the depths of the sea.
We arrived at the falls as the sun was starting to set. As we walked up a long gravel path in the dark forest, Martin kept daring me to tell him that the scene was not reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, and upon reaching the falls he proceeded to hum music from the movie. I never was able to answer him. The dark forest, with it's tall trees was a sight to behold in and of itself, and the falls only added to it. You can see what I mean in the video below:



Afterward, we stopped by the main shrine of the island. It was dark by this time, but there were two stone lanterns burning in front of the shrine, which gave off just enough light to illuminate a massive tree at the front of the property. The tree, named the Yaosugi, was enormous, over a hundred feet tall. Which shouldn't surprise you considering it's over a millennium old. The tree was so large that metal beams are propping it up to prevent it from collapsing under its own massive weight. It was hard to get good pictures at night, but it was still an amazing sight to behold.


The next day, we woke at 8am in order to go sightseeing with Yoshida-san, I wonderful older woman who has had strong ties with Dogo's JET community since her daughter married a former ALT. She took us to see one of the island's most famous landmarks, Tokage-Iwa, or "Lizard Rock." This large rock formation rests precariously on a high mountain ledge and, to some ancient resident perhaps, resembled the form of a lizard, though I'm sure you'll all agree with me that it looks more like a woodpecker. Afterward, we stopped by another ancient tree, this one over 600 years old. The Kaburagi, as it's called, sprouts a new truck every hundred years or so, and is really a sight to behold. It's one of three or four such trees on the island. We ended the afternoon at Yoshida-san's beautiful, and very traditional, house, where she served us tea and Japanese snacks. I had to leave early so that I could make my ferry at noon, but the morning impressed me as eventful. Indeed my sightseeing for the whole weekend was short and limited when one considers the size of Dogo and the great number of sights contained withing. It just means I'll have to return in the near future to see the rest.

As usual, all my photos will be available on Facebook. Next weekend is Halloween. I will be celebrating by attending an international Rugby match in Tokyo being played by the teams currently ranked first and third in the world. Should be a fun time.