Manabeshima

Manabeshima covers about 1.5 square kilometers in the Kasaoka Islands, and the village around the harbor still looks like the fishing settlement it has always been: houses clad in planks taken from old boats, stone-piled breakwaters, cats asleep in the lanes. Okayama Prefecture lists it as a furusato mura, a protected heritage village, and it is the only one on an island. Film crews noticed early. Gokumonto (1977) and Setouchi Shonen Yakyudan (1984) were shot here, and in 2019 the island became part of the Japan Heritage story of the Bisan islands. Many foreign visitors know it from ManabeShima Island Japan, the illustrated travel diary the French artist Florent Chavouet published in 2010. Cats are said to outnumber the residents, of whom the 2015 census counted 201. Sanyo Kisen boats from Sumiyoshi Port in Kasaoka take about 45 minutes by fast boat or about 70 minutes by the regular boat, which stops at other islands on the way, and the island has two landings, Hon'ura and Iwatsubo. Shimayado Sanko, an inn built from the relocated former Manabe Elementary School, takes overnight guests. Over three days in early May, the Hachiman Shrine festival sends three mikoshi racing through the village; the main day is the 4th.