Ferry to Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture

The New Years and free time, but where to go? A friend and I skipped around with ideas -- Macau, Geojedo, and then happened to think of Tsushima. Yes! So we discussed Jan 1-3 as being the best times for our schedules, and as luck would have it, the Daea Express (daea.com) ferry was having an awesome round-trip deal of W49,000 round-trip for those exact dates! We jumped on it! 

Knowing that Japan has little to no English and also knowing that we would be limited to wi-fi internet at hotels and maybe restaurants and coffee shops, we did a hefty amount of research before going. 

• Trip Advisor: Things to do in Tsushima - pretty informative
• Klimbing Korean Mountains (and beyond): Tsushima Island, Japan - quite useful!
• Tsushima Weebly - a whole blog on the island and absolutely the best info. Be sure to check out the Brochures and Maps under Tourist Information!

We found other sites, but the Weebly site absolutely rocked!

There are a few ferry lines that go to Tsushima -- Beetle and Daea are two that I recall. We first tried to book with Beetle, but since Tsushima has two ports, one on either end of the 70km island, we wanted to go into one port and out of the other. We couldn't figure out the ferry schedule with Beetle for both ports, so searched a bit more and found the Daea ferry, which alternates on weekdays of going in and out of the two ports. Great!

This is NOT a ferry, just a quick shot from the Busan harbor of a masted ship taken the night before we ferried across. 

I do recommend going into Izuhara, the southern port, since there's more to see easily by walking around the town: shinto shrines (there are always shinto shrines), the unique Japanese-style cemeteries rich in Shinto but also Buddhist motifs, castle ruins along a fantastic mountain trail, the Kaneishi Castle Garden, Kokubunji Temple, all this in a 2-4 hour walking trail in and around a quaint little town. 

Izuhara port taken from Shimizuyama Castle Ruins above Izuhara
(a quick 45 minute hike from the Tiara shopping plaza, which is centrally located)

From the Shimizuyama Castle Ruins where this shot was taken, we circled back to the Tiara Shopping Center (we just hiked a loop) and walked on to the Hachimangu Temple.

Tie your wishes in white paper form to the tree

Remember to rinse your mouth at the shrine too!

Then onward to the Kokubunji Temple with its unique shrine within and cemetery behind. The evening light was fast disappearing, but this is the perfect time for the hawks to circle in mass above the town. We counted well over 15, and one of them had landed on a rooftop just above our heads while another landed in a tall tree nearby. Spectacular to watch them! There are quite a few cats running around the town, and I fear for them with this many hawks around.

Hmmm, so we got a really incredible deal of W49,000 round-trip .... but what we didn't know is that Jan 1-3 the island shuts down. The whole ferry (Ocean Flower) had been totally filled. That means there were a lot of tourists but no tourism. Absolutely nothing was open ... information center, souvenir shops, restaurants, and even though the houses were decorated with the propitious New Years luck wishing symbols, most windows were covered with hurricane shutters and the residents were gone, and though buses were running, their irregular schedules weren't even posted in Japanese. Hmmm.

New Years propitious "wreath" on almost every residential front door.

There were two grocery stores opened, so we could get canned coffee and rice crackers, and the Japanese fast food chain Mos Burgers that specializes in rice burgers was open. So instead of getting more traditional Japanese fare, we ate ... Mos Burgers. But we did have a very pleasant time just being outdoors walking along sun-dappled forested trails (bumping into absolutely no one of the trail!) and browsing around the town. If we had arrived in Hitakatsu first, we would have been frustrated by the lack of nearby cultural things to see or do.

Izuhara opened a bit on the morning of Jan 3 (information center and a couple of tourist shops), but when we took the bus to Hitakatsu, that larger town was still pretty buttoned up, and there wasn't much to see within easy walking distance. 

Very pleasant atmosphere despite not doing a super lot, so I'll definitely be returning. A word for others though, avoid going to Tsushima Jan 1-3 unless you want to just have a very laid-back getaway.

Some traditional wall posters in the convenience store opposite from the Hitakatsu port.

A huge wall mural made from chipped tile. The mural features several of the indigenous wildlife,
centralizing on the Tsushima cat which is found only on this island!