Okushiri, Hokkaido

The ferry from Esashi takes just over two hours, and by the time Okushiri Island's coastline comes into focus, the settlements are already visible — low structures pressed close to the shore, mountains rising steeply behind them. The island's Ainu name, *Ikushun-shiri*, predates any of this, and the layers run deep: Okhotsk culture, Satsumon culture, the sand-dune archaeological site at Aonae. What the eye catches now, though, is the present — fishing boats out of Aonae, Matsue, and Akaishi harbors, the catch built around uni, abalone, squid, and hokke.

The 1993 earthquake reshaped Okushiri in ways that are still legible on the landscape. The seawall infrastructure that followed brought the island international attention as a study in tsunami preparedness. Nabeturi-iwa, a natural rock formation that was repaired after the earthquake, stands at the water's edge as a kind of quiet marker of what passed. Nearby, the ferry terminal at Okushiri Port is where the mascot *Unimaru* appears in season — a small, unhurried piece of local identity.

Inland, Kamuiwaki Onsen sits on the island's northwest side, a calcium-sodium chloride spring with a municipal day-bath facility. The Okushiri Winery operates in the same area, producing wine on an island whose mild winters — the warmest in Hokkaido — make such things quietly possible. The Okushiri Moonlight Marathon and the Sainokawara Festival mark the calendar with local rhythm, events that belong to the island rather than to any outside audience.