16Sep 2021 by chihiroiga No Comments

Living on an island costs less?

Not only on the island but also in most local areas are asked this question. I can say YES and NO. YES, the house rent or land rent cost almost nothing compares to a city like Tokyo. Instead of that, we should pay for the fare for the ferry every time we go out. If you live in the city, you don’t need to have a car, because you can go everywhere by train or bus, or there are car-sharing services, but most inhabitants of the island have and maintain at least 2 cars by 1 family because we need one on the island and one on the mainland. I’d say also NO. NO, there are some stores and you can buy food, daily necessities but they are a little…
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25May 2021 by chihiroiga No Comments

Devout people

People are devout on Toshijima. It can be called superstitious sometimes. There are a lot of events about Shintoism and Buddhism during the year, and people put talismans on their houses and boats. The most unique one is “Maruhachi”, a letter Hachi inside a circle. In Toshi and Wagu, every house has this symbol on their wall or door of the entrance and you can find it also on their boats. They draw this symbol every year for praying big haul and the peace of their family. When do they draw it? It’s the day of the Jinsai festival. Both villages have almost the same festival but hold on other days. I explain about Toshi one. It is also the biggest Shintoism festival on the island. This is the festival…
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25May 2021 by chihiroiga No Comments

Suffering from the dialect

In the first days of life on the island, it was quite difficult to communicate with the locals because they have a strong accent. Generally, people speak in different accents between east Japan and west Japan. I was born and raised in Saitama prefecture next to Tokyo which is east Japan, and I hadn't been used to the western accent. Also, people on the island use the vocabulary of their own district. I didn’t have young friends in those days, and I liked spending time with aged people, it was harder to understand what they were talking about because they were using much more dialect. They are my first friends. It reminded me of my first days in Italy. 4 years before I moved to Toshijima Island, I stayed in…
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17Jun 2020 by chihiroiga No Comments

Me and Toshijima

Hi, my name is Chihiro IGARASHI. I'm from Saitama pref. near Tokyo. I moved to a remote island called Toshijima Island in April 2017. Before moving there, I even knew neither how to pronounce the name of the island nor where it is. But now I've been here for over 3 years and I can tell you how fascinating this island is. I hope you'll enjoy my blog and visit Toshijima Island one day. It takes 20 minutes from the mainland by ferry. It places on the borderline of the Pacific Ocean and the Ise-Bay. There are about 2000 inhabitants and more than half of them work for the fishing industry. The area is about 7 square kilometers. There are a Junior-high school, an elementary school, and 2 nursery schools.…
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