naze

naze, originally uploaded by vibromama.

We were now on the home stretch and in another easy day we reached our final destination: the port city of Naze, from where we would be making our departure.
Naze, with a population of 40,000 is by far the largest city between here and central Okinawa. Being the same size as our base town of Hondo in Amakusa, we could not help drawing comparisons and of course, we decided Naze was much nicer though to the casual eye its mish-mash of nondescript concrete buildings looked thoroughly unremarkable. One of the good points, however, was evident on approach: a sewage treatment plant tucked away by the seaside where the city suddenly ended and wilderness began. As a result, the harbor was the cleanest we’d ever seen; the water was clear and teeming with fish. At the ferry dock, the bottom was so clearly visible that the ship seemed to be sure to scrape it on approach.