Shodoshima

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Shōdoshima (小豆島, Shōdoshima^?) is an island located in the Inland Sea of Japan. The name means literally "Island of Small Beans". There are two main towns on the island: Tonoshō and Shōdoshima, comprising the district of Shōzu. The island was the first area of Japan to successfully grow olives, and is sometimes known as "Olive Island".

Shōdoshima is home to Dobuchi Strait (土渕海峡, Dobuchi Kaikyō^?) the world's narrowest strait, 9.93 meters at its narrowest.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Tourism & Culture
4 External links

[edit] Geography

Shōdoshima is part of Kagawa Prefecture and is located north of the prefectural capital Takamatsu. It has an area of 153.30 km² and a coastline of 126 km. It is the 19th largest island in Japan, 2nd largest in the Inland Sea.

Frequent ferries run to the island from Takamatsu, Himeji, Teshima and Okayama. Ferries run infrequently to Osaka and Kōbe as well.

[edit] History

Shōdoshima was once known as Azukishima and was part of Kibi (later Bizen) Province, given to Sanuki Province, and finally considered part of Kagawa prefecture.

[edit] Tourism & Culture

Shōdoshima is a popular destination for domestic tourism in Japan. In addition to natural features such as the Dobuchi Strait and the Kankakei Gorge (寒霞渓, Kankakei^?), Shōdoshima is famous as the setting for the antiwar novel Twenty-Four Eyes (二十四の瞳, Nijūshi no Hitomi^?), written by the native author Sakae Tsuboi (壺井栄, Tsuboi Sakae^?) and later turned twice into a film (1954 and 1987). The island is the birthplace of two other distinguished writers: Sakae's husband the poet Tsuboi Shigeji (1898-1975) and the novelist and short-story writer Kuroshima Denji (1898-1943). All three were prominent participants in the proletarian literary movement, an important and politically radical current within modern Japanese literature. Shōdoshima is also known for its olives, wild monkeys, and beaches. In addition, tourists are attracted to a miniature version of the 88-temple Shikoku Pilgrimage.

The island is also famous for being the first in Japan to successfully cultivate olives. Olive trees proliferate on the island and olive-related merchandise is quite popular with tourists.

Milos, Greece is Shōdoshima's sister island.