Kujukushima means "ninety-nine islands," which in older Japanese was a way of saying "too many to count." The actual figure is 208 — the densest cluster of islands anywhere in Japan, in about twenty-five kilometres of water, and only four of them have anyone living on them.
This is a ria coastline: a landscape of hills and valleys that was flooded when sea levels rose, leaving the hilltops as islands and the valleys as the channels between them. The result is unusually intricate — deep inlets, narrow passages, and islets close enough together that a boat threads rather than crosses.
Almost all of them are wooded to the waterline. There is no development, because there is no room and no water.
The whole area is part of Saikai National Park. That designation is why the islands are still empty and why the water between them is clean enough for the thing the region actually lives on.
Oysters. The sheltered, nutrient-rich water between the islets is close to ideal, and Kujukushima oysters are the reason to be in this port between November and March.
Three ways, in increasing order of effort. The sightseeing boat from Pearl Sea Resort runs a fifty-minute loop through the islets at a fixed public fare — no operator, no booking, no markup. Tenkaiho and Ishidake give the classic elevated views, free. And sea kayaking from the same resort puts you in the channels at water level.
The boat is the one with a timetable, so check the sailing board on arrival and build the day around it.
From about November, kaki-goya open along this shore: rough shelters with charcoal grills where you buy oysters by the bucket and cook them yourself, badly, with gloves and a shucking knife.
It is cheap, filthy and communal, and it is the best meal available in this port in winter. Nobody sells it as an excursion, which is exactly why it is good.
Hilltops become islands; valleys become channels
Which is why they are still empty
The densest cluster in Japan
Buy by the bucket, grill it yourself
Take the public boat, then eat oysters in a hut if it is winter. Neither needs booking and both are cheap.
Two hundred and eight, of which only four are inhabited — the densest island cluster in Japan, in about twenty-five kilometres of water. The name means "ninety-nine islands," which in older Japanese usage simply meant too many to count.
From about November to March, in kaki-goya — rough shore huts with charcoal grills where you buy oysters by the bucket and cook them yourself. The sheltered water between the islets is close to ideal for growing them, and nobody sells it as an excursion, which is part of why it is good.
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