October 15th (Ishigaki and Iriomote)

We had breakfast at our hotel (we booked a lot of hotels that included breakfast). Again, miso soupe, rice, eggs and some toasts. I thought I would have a harder time eating "non-breakfast" food for breakfast but it's really OK and good ;)

We left for Iriomote, another Island that's even farther south of Ishigaki. It's pretty much where Japan ends in the south. Before we left we were getting low on cash and we started worrying a bit because all the ATMs we saw wouldn't take our cards... But on the boat, Nath and I remembered that japanese post offices had ATMs and that they should be good for our cards. We decided to try and check that out when we came back to Ishigaki.

The boat ride took 45 minutes and at the port, a guy helped us get the info on how to get to Urauchi-gawa. From the port, we also had to take a bus for 1h15.

Pictures from the bus

From Trip to Japan

Then, we had to take a boat for 30 minutes up the Urauchi river.

Waiting for the boat

From Trip to Japan

Some kind of amphibian

From Trip to Japan

Pictures from the boat

From Trip to Japan

From Trip to Japan

And finally, we had a trail to hike that would take us to a nice waterfall.

The waterfall was finally not exceptional but the trek to get to it through the jungle. The plants, the animals. Is was so nice. I didn't think I'd see that kind of thing on my trip to Japan!!! It's hard to describe. It's just too bad that it rained just the time that we were there. I didn't take a lot of pictures and would have loved to take more (but we might have missed the boat :P). It took us 2 hours to go to the waterfall and back just in time before the tide was too low for the boat to get back. We almost got stuck twice but the driver knew what he was doing...

Pictures from the trail

From Trip to Japan

Waterfall seen from a resting area

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Kung Fu artist in the wild

From Trip to Japan

From Trip to Japan

Small waterfalls on our way to the big one

From Trip to Japan

Lizard !

From Trip to Japan

From Trip to Japan

Pictures from the boat while making our way back

From Trip to Japan

I don't know what it is but it moved like a humming bird (which is what I thought it was until I saw my pictures :S)

From Trip to Japan

Unrelated but just so you know what it looks like: japanese style toilet

From Trip to Japan

We had 45 minutes to kill before the bus to take us back to the port would get to our stop so we went to a small cafe right next to the bus stop. We drank 6$ coffee :S and talked with the waiter who had good english. He explained that they had built small windmills (we could see them outside) to harvest energy and eventually rent electric cars and bicycles to tourists and locals.

The cafe with it's windmills

From Trip to Japan

Waiting for the bus

From Trip to Japan

Iriomote is also home to a unique breed of wild cat. They estimate the number to 100 cats. There were signs everywhere to be careful not to hit them (while driving). Like the lions in Naha, the cat was everywhere. There was also branded food with it.

It was on our bus to get back

From Trip to Japan

The japanese seem to be proud of small things and each city or major area seems to have their own mascot.

When we got back to Ishigaki, we went straight to the "yubinkyoku" (post-office) and were relieved to see that we were right. We got some money and went to take a shower.

From Trip to Japan

This is to commemorate the day when they changed the sides of the traffic

From Trip to Japan

For supper, we wanted to eat Ishigaki beef and that's what we did. It was good as well as the other plates we ate (in asia, a lot of times people order a lot of small plates instead of one big one).

In the restaurant, the walls were covered with business cards from customers

From Trip to Japan

On our way back, I saw a red motorcycle that really looked like Akira's (well Keneda's). Except less high tech but that was a really cool moment :D We also passed near one of Japan's 3 peace bells and in that park there was always a lot of cats ! I decided to name them "The peace bell cats" and started to wonder if they were really cats and not spirits that were there to protect the bell. I didn't take any chance and said hi to the cats.

Peace bell

From Trip to Japan

Peace bell cat

From Trip to Japan

Another weird thing I noticed (then and it's still true now in Kagoshima) is that there are no public garbage cans or close to none. the only time I found some was in public places like a port or mall or something. And there's no or almost no litter. I don't know if japanese people consume less on the go or/and if they don't mind keeping their garbage on them until they can dispose of it. Anyway, congrats !

Another night's sleep awaited us. The following day we were going to Yakushima :)

Statue in front of our hotel

From Trip to Japan