[ Dec.2019 ] Our friends whom we meet every time we go back to Japan discovered a discount ticket called “Misaki Maguto Kippu”, so we had an excursion together using this ticket.
Misaki was the town which used to be at the south end of Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa prefecture, but now it is a part of Miura City.
Still there is a port with the name of Misaki and there, many Maguro (tunas) fished all over the world are brought, so it is a tourist attraction to eat Maguro.
We met up at Shinagawa Station in Tokyo and bought this ticket.
It cost 3570 yen ( £28, €30, $32) per person and it included train and bus fare, food coupon called “Maguro Manpuku Ken” and recreation activity coupon called “Miura Misaki Omoide Ken”, so I think it is really a good value.
First, we took Keikyu train from Shinagawa to Misakiguchi, which took about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Then we went to Jogashima by bus.
Jogashima is an island at the tip of the Miura peninsula and it is connected to the mainland with the Jogashima Ohashi bridge.
We were so lucky with the weather.
Although the wind was strong, it was so nice and warm that it did not seem like December.
After getting off the bus on Jogashima island, we headed for a place called “Umanose Domon” where one of our friends’ daughter had visited and recommended.
On the way, we came across a spot with the great view.
According to the sign there, this place is called “Umiu Observation Platform” and the coast down there is called “Akabane Coast”.
The cliff we saw from here was 300 metres wide and 30 metres high and because people cannot go there easily, it is the habitat of flock of cormorants.
Those cormorants come here in winter all the way from Kuril Islands in the north.
And apparently the wild dances of as many as 1000 birds are the charm of winter here.
It was winter when we were there, but we did not see any wild dances, which was good for me because birds are not my favourite.
Now we arrived at Umanose Domon.
While the wind blew strongly, we needed to go down the steep staircase to the shore.
The main attraction here is the huge rock with the gaping hole.
This reminded me of the rock of Dwejra on Gozo Island in Malta which is not existing anymore.
The Umanose Domon is a sea cave with the height of 8 metres the width of 6 metres and the thickness of 2 metres.
The sign there says “this beautiful shape was made by the erosion by the waves, wind and rain taking a long time”.
According to the online information, before Great Kanto Earthquake happened in 1923, people could go through the hole by small boat when the tide was high.
The ground rose as much as 1.4 metres due to the earthquake, so now it is a rugged rocky stretch.
By the way, Miura Peninsula is still rising now by 0.3~1.0 millimetres every year apparently.
The view from here was wonderful with the Mt. Fuji beyond the deep blue rippled sea.
In the shallow water, I could see many small fish.
Not many people were around and it was so nice and refreshing.
One of our friends was saying happily “This is not very far from Tokyo, but we can feel like travelling”.
That was true.
We felt as if we travelled very far from the city.
