Japan -Niigata Prefecture- Awashimi Island

Authentic experiences

Awashimi island has long stretches of serene coastline with distant views of the mainlands snow capped mountains. With less than 330 persons living on this island, like other small islands this village has its share of abandoned homes. Walking in town was a bit strange in the early evening, very dark, very narrow alleys and no people around, this is something I would not do in other countries, Japan is very safe.

See the snowcapped mountain in the distance?

At our boat we were greeted by a young man that spoke excellent English. We learned that he learned English in the UK while at school and he is currently a practicing physician doing his rotation in this rural community. The following day he came by to visit us with his friends. Later that evening he extended an invite for Gary and I to have our second dinner (we ate earlier) at this village’s former Mayors home. The generosity of strangers never ceases to amaze us, we were so honored for everyone’s hospitality. It was so nice to be invited and to be able to taste all the homemade Japanese dishes, we had so much fun that night.

One dish that stood out was pufferfish (fuju), it’s a delicacy and it was fresh and delicious. If you are thinking, wow I have never had pufferfish, or isn’t pufferfish poisonous? Yes, pufferfish is poisonous, the toxin it creates is 1,000 times deadlier than cyanide, which comes from the fish ingesting a type of bacteria that lives on corals. The Japanese have learned how to process fuju in a certain way to remove the parts of the fish that contain the toxins. In the current era pufferfish is also farmed, hence removing the animal from the coral bacteria. The fish that we ate was wild caught, we were blessed to have such skillful hands prepare our meals.

Invited into their home for an authentic Japanese dinner. Thanks to our new friend Hidenobu, for translating throughout the night.

Puffer Fish - Fuju

Made new friends they came to introduce themselves and we gave them a tour of our yacht. They gifted us with a large bag of snacks and treats, which we enjoyed. The gentleman on the far right is wearing one of our SV Illimité hats we gave as a gift.

They also extended me the use of their laundry machine, it has been weeks and there haven’t been any facilities at our previous stops. I was so thankful for the opportunity to get a load of wash done!

Flowers

Play video for a moment of Zen, the quietness of the islands is not wasted on me. Watching the ebb and flow of the tidal current keeps me connected to mother nature.

Biked part of the coast - garden