Saturday, Aug 23 Live Band and Fireworks night on the beach! #shiraishijima #japan

 This Saturday night is the last event of the summer on Shiraishi Island. Every year several local bands come out and play on the beach with the background of the Seto Inland Sea. Following that, is "Japan's smallest fireworks festival." But don't be too misled by the moniker. It may be the smallest fireworks festival but it is pretty powerful! Through contributions from regular customers and local residents, the fireworks are procured and set off from the wooden pier in front of San-chan's. They're so close you can almost reach out and touch them in the sky. Very impressive for a little island like ours.

Accommodation is all booked but there is still room for camping on the beach.

This is one of the biggest nights of the year on the island. Come see for yourself! Facebook page here!

Obon is here!

Obon is here! And the living is good on Shiraishi Island. If you're one of the lucky ones who booked early, then you're in for a fun time on the island over the next several days. While all accommodation is full, people are welcome to bring tents and camp on the beach.

The Moooo! Bar on the beach will be open every day, of course.

The Shiraishi Bon Dance will be performed as follows:

Aug 13, 14 and 15 from 19:30 to 23:00 outside the village hall (near the port)
Aug. 16 20:00 to 23:00 on the beach. Toronagashi ceremony follows with lanterns set out on the sea.

Here is a short video of the Shiraishi Dance (by Evan Staley):

Bye-bye Typhoon 11, Hello sunshine!

 These girls are happy the typhoon is gone :)

Typhoon 11 has passed and normal weather has returned to Shiraish Island! Unfortunately, the ferries will still not be running today, Sunday August 10. But that doesn't mean you can't come to the island! There is a charter taxi service that will bring you out to Shiraishi (or back to Kasaoka) for 8,000 yen one way. If you have a group of 10 people, it's cheaper to hire thi "marine taxi" than it is to take the regular ferry. Keep this in mind the next time you'd like to stay on the island later than the last ferry to the mainland at 5:42 (to watch the sunset, or have dinner on the beach for example).

Hakuto taxi is available 24 hrs a day. Just call them from the port, or make an appointment beforehand: 090-8065-8001 (Japanese only).

The Moooo! Bar will open again tomorrow, Monday. The Obon holiday starts this week--See you on the island!

Ferries stopped to Shiraishi Island for Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014

The ferries have all stopped to Shiraishi Island today. The typhoon is scheduled to hit this area at around 2 a.m. so we hope the weather will be nice by Sunday morning and that the ferries will be running again.

Until tomorrow morning's update, we leave you with a video of one of our regular customers at the Moooo! Bar on the beach:

Stay safe everyone! 

Typhoon Alert, Shiraishi Island, #japan

Typhoon 11 is headed our way (and to the rest of Japan), so the Moooo! Bar and all the other places on the beach are closed today as we make preparations for the typhoon. The progress of the typhoon is available on the Japan Meteorological Agency website. It looks like it will hit this part of Japan Saturday and Sunday. So things should be back to normal by Monday morning.

If you have a reservation for tonight or this weekend on Shiraishi Island, please make alternative plans! The ferries will stop at some point (maybe even today) and should you make it to the island, you'll be stuck here until at least Monday morning.

We will keep you posted on the ferries and as soon as we hear they have stopped, we'll put up a new blog post.

In the meantime, stay safe!

Sunny day today (Aug. 7) on Shiraishi Island, #japan

Seto Inland Sea forecast...

Shiraishi beach during the week :)

You're probably wondering about the weather forecast--so are we! There appears to be a typhoon headed this way, which is projected to arrive over the weekend. We'll keep you posted here on the blog, as these things can change rather quickly. Not all typhoons make landfall, and if this one does, we'll update you on the ferry schedules should they be affected. They may even stop running depending on how close the typhoon comes to us. For now, however, we're just waiting out the rain! 

San-chan's--the only restaurant on Shiraishi Island, #japan

If you're coming out to the island, you'll probably have at least one meal at San-chan's, since it's the only restaurant on the island. You can order regular Japanese fare such as yakisoba, udon, fried rice and sashimi, or, for the more adventurous, you can order some finer delicacies such as these:

Read more about Creepy Creatures from the Seabed that you can eat! 

New car ferry to Shiraishi Island increases options for tourists

We are happy to announce you have more options for getting to Shiraishi Island (Kasaoka-shi, Okayama) than before. The Fuji Line is now operating out of Fushigoe Port in Kasaoka (the same place the orange direct-to-Shiraishi car ferry leaves from) and will stop at Shiraishi Island on it's way to Kitagi Island. That means you can use the same ferry to get to both Shiraishi and Kitagi. From Kitagi, the Fuji Line turns around and heads back to Kasaoka via Shiraishi.

The times leaving Kasaoka are:
9:25 and 15:25
The times returning to Kasaoka from Shiraishi are:
11:01 and 14:32

Here is the entire schedule, in case you'd like to include Kitagi Island in your trip:

7:15 Lv. Kasaoka direct to Kitagi Ar. 8:05
9:25 Lv. Kasaoka, Ar. Shiraishi -- 10:08, Ar. Kitagi -- 10:28
10:28 Lv. Kitagi, Ar. Shiraishi 11:01, Ar. Kasaoka 12:30
14:00 Lv. Kitagi , Ar. Shiraishi 14:32, Ar. Kasaoka 15:25
15:25 Lv. Kasaoka, Ar. Shiraishi 16:10, Ar. Kitagi 16:32

Keep in mind that Kitagi Island has 2 ports of call. For full details on drop off and pick up points on Kitagi, see this link (Japanese)