Kamijima

Kamijima-cho is located in the northeast of Ehime Prefecture and almost in the center of The Seto Inland Sea. Historically, industries such as shipbuilding, marine transportation, and the salt making have brought the town wealth. In 2004, four towns and villages —Yuge, Ikina, Iwagi, and Uoshima— merged to become Kamijima-cho. The local people of Kamijima-cho are tolerant of people and cultures coming from outside the island and are open-minded, probably because the town has traditionally been accepting foreign people and cultures as an important point of The Seto Inland Sea route.

When some sailing boats stop at the port of Kamijima-cho during their journey, the locals hurry to check them out. Far from being scared of foreigners, they love to take care of them. It’s like they have this communicative gene inherited from their ancestors.
Some stopped by and chose to stay on. “The sunset of Kamijima-cho is exceptionally beautiful but this is the point where the moment of sunrise is most beautiful. There are no place as beautiful as this anywhere in the world. Since the sun rises from behind the island, it shines on to the Innoshima Island across first and we see the gradation of the sunlight coming across the sea, step by step towards us. It moves me every single morning.” There must be many more episodes like this in Kamijima-cho.

Interviewed in October, 2015