Shodoshima is Japan's largest olive-growing area, a legacy of an early 20th-century agricultural experiment, and it pairs that Mediterranean-feeling landscape with a working soy sauce brewing district and one of Japan's three largest gorges. It's a spread-out island best covered by rental car or the limited bus network rather than on foot, so a day trip here is more about a scenic drive with several distinct stops than a single concentrated sight. The soy sauce breweries around Hishio-no-Sato still ferment in wooden barrels and the smell of the district is part of the experience.
| Distance | 70 km from Takamatsu |
|---|---|
| Travel time | 35–70 minutes (depending on ferry type) |
| Getting there | Ferry from Takamatsu Port Pier 2 |
| Address | Tonosho Port, Tonosho-cho, Shozu-gun, Kagawa 761-4121 |
How to get there
- Mode
- High-speed ferry
- Duration
- 35 min
- Cost
- ¥1,260 (~$8.35 USD)
- Frequency
- Several daily; check at jumbo-ferry.co.jp
- Mode
- Car ferry
- Duration
- 60–70 min
- Cost
- ¥700 (~$4.65 USD)
- Frequency
- Multiple daily ferries
Location
Tonosho Port, Tonosho-cho, Shozu-gun, Kagawa 761-4121
34.4907, 134.1752 View on map
Highlights
- Shodoshima Olive Park - terraced olive groves overlooking the sea, the source of the island's olive-oil-based products
- Kankakei Gorge - reachable by ropeway, one of Japan's largest gorges with a lookout over the strait toward Okayama
- Hishio-no-Sato soy sauce district - a cluster of wooden brewery buildings in Tonosho where soy sauce has been fermented for generations
- Angel Road - a sandbar that appears at low tide connecting small islets, walkable only during the tidal window
- Nakayama terraced rice fields - stepped paddies on the hillside above the coast, a working agricultural landscape rather than a preserved display