Tsuken Island is an inhabited island located around 15 minutes away from the tip of the Katsuren Peninsula
by high-speed boat (30 minutes by ferry). There is no land bridge connecting to this island.

The entrance granting access to the island is Heshikiya Port, located on Katsuren Peninsula.
The island is more than accessible with five round-trips available each day
from the ship leaving Heshikiya at 7:30 to the ship leaving Tsuken Island at 17:30.

Arriving at port on Tsuken Island, there is a sign that abruptly reads “Carrot Island”.
Tsuken Island is an abundant producer of “Tsuken carrots”,
to the extent that of the agricultural fields that cover 80% of the island,
60% of those fields are carrot crops.

On this occasion, we will take a two-day overnight trip to experience the lifestyle and culture of Tsuken Island.

Our cycling tour around the island begins at the fishing port,
where mozuku seaweed is bred for the next year’s harvest.

Tsuken is actually one of Japan’s leading producers of mozuku! Only Japan cultivates mozuku,
and the Katsuren Fishery Cooperative in Okinawa is Japan’s leading producer of mozuku.
Moreover, the majority of the mozuku produced by the Katsuren Fishery Cooperative is grown on Tsuken Island.

Next, we cycle on to the island’s sightseeing spots including the “Carrot Tower,
” “Hotuga” (the “Pigeon Well”), and “Tumai-hama Beach”.

Come nighttime, we attend a social gathering at the Ouchi guesthouse
(“Minshuku Ouchi”) run by our tour guide, Kenjiro Kamimura.

This guesthouse is available to one group for just one night.
As its name “Ouchi” implies, the guesthouse becomes the guests’
“home” for just that day – which means, for just this day,
we’re gathering at the “Kinjo home” as that’s who’s staying there that day.

After a toast, we’re treated to a procession of filling and exquisitely delicious “fishermen’s food”.

The next morning, we partake in an activity where we carve our own decorated shima-zori sandals.
We decide on a design, draw a rough sketch,
transfer the sketch to the sandals, and then carve them out with a penknife.
The plan is to finish this process and have our sandals made in around three hours.

At the end, we all take a commemorative photograph together with our completed sandals.