Monkey Island

Yesterday, John and I decided to get out of the house and explore a part of Japan we had never seen. We made the decision to go to Monkey Island (also called Sarushima Island). Monkey Island actually has no monkeys, but was given that name because long ago a monk was drowning off it's coast and a silver monkey saw him and pulled him ashore to the island.

Today, the island boasts a popular beach, food house and hiking. To get the the island, you take a ferry from the Yokosuka waterfront. The ride is about 10 minutes long and costs about $31 for two adult round trip tickets (1200 yen each).

Once there, you can decide to hang out on the beach or go exploring (or both). The beach is popular amongst the locals. You can rent chairs, tarps, barbeque grills and floats once you are on the island. I didn't inquire about the price, but I can guarantee it's probably more than $40 to rent all items for the day. The island itself covers about 12 acres. The walking paths are paved, but it is hilly and there are several times you may have to climb stairs.

The island was used as a fort pre-World War II. There are lots of 19th century structures that remain on the island. The walking paths all connect so it's very hard to get lost or turned around if you stick to the trails. There are also signs (not in English) that show the layout of the island, so it makes getting around easy. Before you start hiking, you can grab a walking stick to help you around, just remember to return it as you leave!

Here's some pictures of our day out:

The small ferry that takes you to the island.

You can see the island in the distance.

The ferry dock is right next to a Japanese naval museum.

John and I stood on the top deck. The island is in the background.

John relaxing on the way to the island.

The small beach on the island. The beach gets pretty crowded during the summer.

The welcome sign.

The start of the walking trails.

It was very green.

The gun storage area/building on the right.

Walking around the island.

The walkways were so pretty!

Some winding stairs.

Down at the tide pools.

Adventure!

Some of the tide pools.

The trails were connected via old tunnels.

Lots of walls built during the fort times.

Even though the buildings were boarded up, we caught some adventerous Japanese going in and out of the broken boarded area. I wouldn't go in because there's probably spiders in there....

One of the biggest tunnels.

It was so pretty.

This isn't an earthquake warning as much as it is a tsunami warning.

We had shaved ice to end the day. Delicious!

On the way back to Yokosuka.

This was an old lookout building. The whole thing was chained and roped off. There were a lot of spiders and spider webs inside the building.