A visit to Toba and around Mie Prefecture

In July 2022, we went for few days to Mie Prefecture. We stayed at Toba Hotel International. Toba is a small city located on the northeastern tip of Shima Peninsula, it is facing Ise Bay and the area is famous for oysters and cultured pearls.

On our first day of stay, a friend came to pick us up and showed us around for one day. We went to see the sacred rocks of Meoto Iwa, according to Shinto, they represent the union in marriage of man and woman. They are joined by a Shimenawa (a heavy rope of rice straw).
She also brought us to see the Ama (sea women) Japanese divers (vast majority are women), famous for collecting pearls, though traditionally their main catch is seafood. This tradtion is said to be 2000 years old. She also took us to Ise Jingu, one the most famous Shinto shrine in Japan.

In the following days, we rented a car (Hybrid Toyota Aqua) to move on our own along the coast on the Pearl road. We discovered a beautiful beach, Goza Shirahama, where we had a great swim. The water was clear and clean and the sand as fine as on any other best beaches around the world. Surprinsingly very few people were on the beach.
We also went to Kashikojima in Ago Bay where we took a boat ride to see the islands around and the many farms doing pearls cultivation.

© PHOTOS BY JC DUMONT