Exploring Fukue Island

For Thursday October 6th

We started today with a visit to Dozaki Church.

Dozaki Church

This beautiful church was built in 1904 and has since become a Christian Museum, exhibiting items depicting the Christian history of the Goto Islands.  Christianity was banned in Japan for 260 years until 1873.  During this time many Christians came to Goto and practiced their religion in secrecy while pretending to be Buddhists.  There are many Christian churches on the islands, in a country where only 1% of the people are Christian.

Statue of one of the 26 martyrs who were crucified in Nagasaki in 1597

Dozaki church interior

The church is set in a nice garden by the sea and was well worth the visit.  Had there been somewhere to sit in the shade, we would have spent more time there, but benches in shady spots seem to be a rarity in Japan.

They do have one of the nicest toilet blocks I’ve ever seen!!

After a cookies and cream icecream we set off again on the scooters.  We had planned to go back to Fukue to see the ruins of the old castle, but we came to an intersection and decided to see what we could see in the other direction.  Wow!!  Just around the corner was a beautiful harbour with fishing boats and a huge red bridge.  We went a bit further down this road and found more and more gorgeous scenery.  The sea is so beautiful in this part of Japan as there are many inlets that are protected from the weather and waves.  The water is as clear as can be and the most beautiful shade of blue-green.

Just one of the pretty bays we saw along the way

The road went from being a wide main road down to a little narrow one-car track but as we had the road almost to ourselves, that was no problem.  What could have been a problem was a big kite (the bird, not the flying toy) that decided to take off just as we came around the corner.  I’m not sure who got the biggest shock, the bird or John, but once John’s heart started beating normally again, all was well.

Looking at the map, we could see that if we stayed on that road, we would loop back to Fukue, so we decided to continue.  We saw a sign to ‘Don Don Falls’ so we took the little side road and went to have a look.  The falls were quite small but in a very nice setting, so we sat on a rock in the shade and had our lunch.  The falls make a ‘don don’ noise that sound a bit like some Japanese taiko drummers drumming just past the top of the falls.

  

Having a break at Don Don Falls

Back on the road again, we headed back to Fukue.  We stopped in at the shopping mall to buy some cookies (in case John gets hungry over the next few days on the smaller islands that we’ll be visiting).  I also bought some Camellia Oil as this is one of Fukue’s signature products.  I’m not quite sure what to do with Camellia Oil, but I plan to just admire it for a while.

Farmhouse on the way back to Fukue

We then found the castle grounds but were a bit confused!  There was an entrance to a garden but we couldn’t find an entrance to the castle.  After we found a man in the garden’s ticket office who could speak English well enough to explain it all to us, we discovered that the castle is no more.  Only the walls remain and the Fukue High School now sits in the former castle grounds.  The adjacent garden is open to the public, so we went for a stroll through it.  It has a lovely pond full of lilies and a gorgeous old tree as well as some very typically Japanese ornaments.

Garden near the former Fukue Castle

Once we’d finished strolling, the man in the ticket office gave us each a free drink.  Unfortunately for John, it was an iced tea which is not one of his favourite things!  He thinks the world would be just fine without raw fish, miso soup and cold tea! 

The ticket office man is involved in the Goto Tourist Association so we told him how difficult it is for non-Japanese people to find information about travelling in Goto.  He seemed to be willing to see if he could change that situation, so hopefully English speakers will be able to find the information they need in the future

From our window

We came back to the hotel to revive and have a bath before heading out to the main street for dinner.  We found a ramen (noodle) restaurant, but neither of us had ramen – I had a curry and John had a rice dish with meat and a nice sauce.  As usual, we attracted a lot of glances from the locals, but everyone is friendly, so we don’t mind being looked at like we’re aliens.  After dinner, we went for a stroll down the main street which has a good variety of shops for browsing.

  

The rest of the evening disappeared with washing, email and reading.  Tomorrow we take on Narujima, the next island in our island–hopping adventure.