Cycling Around Suo Oshima
Konichiwa or should I say, “Aloha!”
Yashiro Island, better known as Suo Oshima, is an island located in eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture. Suo Oshima is a large island located in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. Suo Oshima is connected to mainland by a huge green bridge named Oshima Bridge. Somewhat mountainous with gorgeous beaches, Suo Oshima is also famous throughout Japan for their mandarin oranges or “Mikans,” in Japanese.
Aside from the natural beauty and mikans, Oshima is also called the Aloha Island and has a relatively long history with the U.S. state of Hawaii. Suo Oshima is the sister island of Kauai Island in Hawaii, and they share similar climates. In the late 19th century thousands of islanders from Suo Oshima immigrated to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations. To this day, during the warmer summer months, several events are put on to celebrate the islands rich history with Hawaii. You can catch a hula dance or visit the museum to learn more about the immigration to Hawaii.
Cycling Around Oshima Island
Cycling around Suo Oshima Island is very doable and can be done in one day or multiple days. If doing multiple days, there is a campground near the aquarium that has incredible ocean views.
I highly recommend cycling around the island, as there are so many scenic roads and narrow paths that go completely around the island. Most visitors will drive here and stay on the northern side of the island not knowing of the beauty and scenic beaches that surround the whole southern coast.
There is a road that completely loops Suo Oshima. The road is in pretty good shape, and there are not to many steep uphill portions. For the most part, the road hugs the coast.
Most attractions are located on the northern side of the island, there is the Mutsu Memorial Museum (Sunken Battleship), a campground, aquarium, and a small town with a few restaurants and convenience shops.
Once you get passed the campground at the far north-east tip, the southern side of the island is basically all coastal with a few tiny pockets of houses here and there, until you get closer to the main bridge again.
It was an early November morning, my buddy Kimball and myself started at 5 am and rode until 6 pm the same day. In total we cycled 160 Kilometers or 100 miles, the photo above is the exact route taken from my GPS. Take into account, this is from departing Iwakuni which is 27 Km away.
There is an observation deck shortly after crossing Oshima bridge, our goal was to get there by sunrise, we accomplished this. Afterwards our goal was to bike around the island with the obvious stops at attractions and scenic views.
About an hour into our ride, we came across a local farmers market selling all sorts of treats made with their famous mikans. We stopped for a bit and loaded up on calories before heading out.
Shrines are all over Japan to include Suo Oshima Island. There was a decent sized shrine here named Ikadahachimangu right before Mutsu Park. Shortly after the campground the main road, cuts southward and the ride continues along the southern coast.
The southern coast of Suo Oshima consisted of a very nice and scenic road that hugged the cliffs with great views of the ocean. There is not a whole lot of towns, convenience stores, etc.. on this portion. Although, there is a resort area here, it was all closed for the season when we were there. Summer time, might be a completely different experience!
I love biking, but I am not so much a fan of biking just for exercise. I like turning it into a day trip and stopping to see stuff or going to places to eat, you know as a reward! We had no luck finding restaurants or anything really, until we passed a unique log cabin style building, kind of near the end of our journey around Suo Oshima. The restaurant was named Saruware and served freshly made pizza. Kimball and myself almost kept going but decided we had to stop and try it out. We were glad we did as the pizza was fantastic! I had a pizza with bacon and eggs on it and we split a dessert pizza with honey and ice cream, yumm! After riding all day it was the greatest feeling to sit down, wash our hands, and pig out!
After spending about an hour there, we loaded back onto our bikes and made our way across the Oshima bridge, up Hwy 188, and back to Iwakuni. At the end of the day we rode 160.9 Kilometers, roughly 100 miles.
Jill and Myself Rode 60 Miles Around Oshima
On October 25, 2020, Jill and I rode our bikes around Suo Oshima. This time, we drove our car to the island instead of departing directly from Iwakuni by bike. After crossing the Oshima bridge, to the left there is a nice parking lot (Coordinates: 33.954786, 132.188402). We unloaded the bikes from the car, geared up and rode around the entire island. The trip was just about 96 kilometers or 60 miles and took us just under 6 hours to complete, take in to account that we stopped multiple times to take a breather, explore temples, and stop to take in the gorgeous views.
The two times I’ve biked Suo Oshima, I began the bike route going left on the north side of the island. By starting on the north side, the bike route is relatively flat hugging the coast the entire time. There are no real designated bike routes, but the roads and sidewalks are safe, there is not a whole lot of traffic to worry about.
On this trip, Jill and I first stopped at the Ikadahachimangu Shrine, (No idea how to pronounce that). The Ikadahachimangu Shrine is a traditional shrine along the coast that has a small section of red Torii Gates and really impressive wood work. After a brief stop at the shrine, we passed the Mutsu Memorial Park and then veered right making our way to the southern side of Suo Oshima Island. The southern route of the island is a night and day difference when comparing it cycling on the northern side of the island. The northern route was smooth, easy going, and had towns with convenience stores and restaurants. The southern side is very hilly and desolate. Because of the terrain, our pace was much slower but the views on this side are incredible.
No matter where you are in Japan, you can see the affects of landslides (the second photo below). Jill and I stumbled upon this one while riding the southern side. It looked to be recent as there were nothing but a few cones in place. Normally in Japan, they clear it out quickly and start stabilizing the area, either way it was kind of interesting to see.
The southern end of Oshima is pretty exhausting, it feels like it never ends due to the constant hills and switchbacks. I look at it as getting great exercise, Jill on the other hand was not as thrilled about it.
There are some beautiful beaches along the route and after passing the Shonan Beach area, the ride gets smoother and easier passing by small towns. We didn’t really make any stops besides a small grocery store called A-Coop to refill our water bottles. We pedaled through all the way until we got back to the parking lot which was our starting point. At the end both Jill and I were exhausted, but cycling around Suo Oshima is such an incredibly beautiful experience, I would have no issues doing it again and again!
Don't have a bike? no problem!
Although biking is my preferred method to explore Suo Oshima, there are many other ways to get here and explore. Many people come here to relax on the beaches during the summer months.
Obviously, the easiest way to get here is by driving, it is only 40 minutes from Iwakuni. You can also take the Japanese Rail line to the Obatake station and walk from there, not ideal but it can be done.
During the summer months, once the water warms up, swimming and snorkeling are also great options. There are several beaches around the island, some maintained while others are more natural. Most of the beaches are on the southern part of the island, including some “Resort like” beaches that are very well maintained but can get crowded.
Last time I visited Suo Oshima, I went to Shonan Beach and snorkeled the waters. Snorkeling was alright, there are a few areas that support vegetation for fish, so I saw quite a few fish on the smaller side and a jelly fish.
There are a few dive spots around the island as well. For my open water certificate, we dove at one of the coves on the southern side of the island. Visibility was horrible when we went. I don’t know if I would recommend it for diving, but I guess dive spots on mainland are rare, so why not dive here!
In the town of Suooshima there are quite a few restaurant options. On another trip we stopped at a Hawaiian restaurant called Aloha Orange and they had great pancakes! There are quite a few ramen restaurants here and other restaurants, I can’t wait to try again!
There is also a Dog rescue here on the island that has a petting zoo as well. On Google, it is simply listed as “Dog Petting Zoo Store,” so not sure what it is actually called. I stopped here with Kimball and a few other friends, we had a fun time! There was a small entrance fee, but you get to play and pet dogs, what’s not to love about that? Hopefully they all get adopted and live happy lives! There are also other animals (horses, pigs, llamas, rabbits, etc..) across the road that are part of the same rescue. If you want to see these animals they charge another fee, so we just decided to hang out and pet the doggies!
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