Setouchi

瀬戸内

Towards a Sea of Light and Moments That Set Your Heart Free

Enjoying clear skies all year-round, the Seto Inland Sea area, known as Setouchi, is famed for its calm waters and strikingly beautiful island landscapes that have earned it the nickname of “the Aegean of the East.” With its 700 islands, including the picturesque Shodoshima and Naoshima, and the many bridges linking the Seto Inland Sea with the mainland, Setouchi enchants all who visit.

Walk the timeless streets of Kurashiki’s Bikan Historical Quarter, savor artisanal soy sauce and olives on Shodoshima, and expand your mind at the Setouchi Triennale, a contemporary art festival held once every three years.

At Setouchi’s tranquil intersection of nature, cuisine, and art, a treasure trove of Japanese culture awaits those willing to make the journey.

Meeting Locals in Setouchi

A Father and Son’s Quest to Produce World-Class Olive Oil on a Japanese Island

Toyohiro Takao and Kodai Takao, owners of Takao Nouen Olive Hatake (Takao Nouen Olive Farms)

Landscapes in Lacquer: Discover Kagawa Lacquerware Art at Maison de Urushi on Ogijima Island

Shozo Kitaoka, Lacquer Artist and Kagawa Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property Holder / Hayato Otani, Lacquer Artist and Living National Treasure (Holder of the <i>Kinma</i> Technique, an Important Intangible Cultural Property) / Kyoji Furukawa, Senior Advisor at Kagawa Urushi Lacquerware Institute

Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter: A Stay Brimming with History and Luxury

Ritsuko Nakamura, Ryokan Kurashiki Proprietress

Connecting Shodoshima Island to the World: One Brewer’s Dedication to Traditional Barrel-Aged Soy Sauce

Yasuo Yamamoto, 5th-generation head of Yamaroku Soy Sauce

A Father and Son’s Quest to Produce World-Class Olive Oil on a Japanese Island

Japan’s history of olive farming dates back to 1908, with trial cultivations by the former Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. At that time, only olive trees planted on the warm, sunny island of Shodoshima, located in the Seto Inland Sea, grew successfully.

Now, over a century later, Shodoshima has become Japan’s top producer of olives and olive products. As the prefectural flower and tree of Kagawa Prefecture, which Shodoshima is part of, the olive has also become a regional symbol that significantly drives tourism and the local economy.

Established from scratch in 2006 by Toyohiro Takao, who had no prior experience in agriculture, Takao Nouen Olive Hatake (Takao Nouen Olive Farms) on Shodoshima is Japan’s first olive farm to receive Japan Good Agricultural Practice (JGAP) certification, a set of standards for farm management in relation to food safety, sustainability, and environmental considerations such as the use of herbicide-free farming methods. In 2021, it was certified by the even more stringent international-level ASIAGAP.

With their olive oil having won numerous international awards, Takao Nouen has been acclaimed for producing world-class products from a humble Japanese island in the Seto Inland Sea. In this Wabunka Story, Toyohiro Takao and his son Kodai speak of their commitment to olive cultivation as a family and the global potential of Japan-grown olive oil.

Landscapes in Lacquer: Discover Kagawa Lacquerware Art at Maison de Urushi on Ogijima Island

The craft of lacquerware has a distinctly East Asian flair. In particular, the lacquerware tradition of Kagawa – alongside the Wajima lacquerware of Ishikawa and Aizu lacquerware of Fukushima – carries on an especially ornamental style. Kagawa is home to a disproportionately high number of lacquer artists who have been listed as Living National Treasures, as well as to the first lacquerware research institute in Japan – established to train a new generation of lacquer artists. It is also part of a region that has invested heavily in preserving and nurturing traditional crafts.

Kagawa is also renowned as one of Japan’s leading prefectures for art, including some of the most prominent island venues (such as Naoshima) of the famed Setouchi Triennale contemporary art festival. Here, on another such island known as Ogijima, we sat down with some of the most prominent luminaries of the region’s lacquer art traditions at a small house overlooking the sea known as Maison de Urushi – “The House of Lacquer.”

Maison de Urushi functions as a base of operations for efforts to promote and expand the reach of Kagawa lacquerware – a tradition characterized by vibrant colors and ornamental artistry. It is also open to the public as a place to experience these craft traditions firsthand and form a deeper lifestyle connection with lacquerware. In this round table, artisans working tirelessly to carry these traditions into the future open up about their efforts at Maison de Urushi, and the passions that drive them.

Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter: A Stay Brimming with History and Luxury

The area in Okayama Prefecture today known as the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter came under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Edo Period (1603-1868), during which it flourished as a production hub for rice and cotton. During the subsequent Meiji Period, it also developed into a major center for art and culture – thanks largely to the patronage of the Ohara merchant family as well as the architects and artists who spearheaded the Mingei folk art movement.

The quarter draws visitors from all over Japan and beyond with its atmospheric willow-lined streets of white-walled traditional storehouses and machiya townhouses and its historic stone bridges. But there is more than meets the eye here, for Kurashiki is also renowned as a place to experience the beauty of traditional life through closer encounters with folk arts and traditional crafts. And here, enmeshed in the heart of this scenic quarter, sits Ryokan Kurashiki, a traditional-style ryokan inn founded in 1957.

In fact, the Ryokan Kurashiki structure is a charming old rice and sugar storehouse, renovated in 2023-2024. Its second-generation proprietress Ritsuko Nakamura has helmed the inn for the past two decades, focused all the while on maintaining a space where travelers can relax – or as she puts it – “slip out of their shoes into serenity.” Wabunka sat down with Nakamura to talk about the spirit of hospitality she carries on from the days of her predecessor, and the unique charms that only her guests can experience.

Connecting Shodoshima Island to the World: One Brewer’s Dedication to Traditional Barrel-Aged Soy Sauce

In the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea is Shodoshima, an island with a warm climate and light rainfall. As Japan’s maritime transport network developed, Shodoshima’s salt industry flourished, and soon, salt became a popular ingredient for brewing soy sauce. Among the many breweries that can still be found on the island, reflecting over 400 years of soy sauce brewing as a local industry, Yamaroku Soy Sauce is highly acclaimed in Japan and overseas, thanks to the efforts of its fifth-generation head, Yasuo Yamamoto.

While remaining faithful to the traditional method of brewing soy sauce in wooden barrels, Yamamoto revived his family's soy sauce brewery, which was on the verge of shutting down, by directly connecting producers with consumers. Concerned by the steadily decreasing number of craftsmen specializing in kioke, the wooden barrels essential to traditional soy sauce brewing, Yamamoto also launched an initiative called the Kioke Craft Revival Project and began to pass down wooden barrel-making techniques. The project gradually saw an increase in supporters, and their dedication eventually spread beyond Japan.

Follow the path of a straightforward craftsman from a small Japanese island as he conveys the authentic flavor of soy sauce to the world.