Miate Island

miate, originally uploaded by vibromama.

We arrived at the northern part of the island near the "Amakusa Gokyou", the 5 bridges which join Amakusa to the mainland of Kyushu, as the sun was starting to set. In this fairly populated area we searched for an appropriate place to camp. This was not very easy, and finally we settled on an abandoned structure on a tiny island.
The end of March in Japan is the fiscal year end, which means that everyone is busy constructing roads, buildings, tunnels, and bridges - anything to use up the year's budget. By doing this they are ensured an equivalent budget for the following year. On this Sunday evening, unobserved by us during the fading sunlight, on the neighboring island there was a project in the works and jack hammering rattled far into the night. So much for the romantic visions we had about camping on an uninhabited island.