On a recent Saturday morning I found myself on a ferry bound for Megijima, a tiny island off the coast of Kagawa Prefecture in Shikoku.

Perhaps the best time to visit Akitsu would be during spring to enjoy some hanami in the town’s biggest and best park, Shoufukujiyama kouen.

Long ago there was a goddess named Ichikishimahime who was looking for a good place to build a shrine in the Seto Inland Sea. She found Osakikamijima, and she liked the size of the island as well as the size of its tallest mountain, Mt. Kannomine. The goddess climbed Mt. Kannomine, but while standing at the summit a bird flew over her head and pooped on her. This put her in a foul mood so she decided to leave the island to continue her search. She then found Miyajima and decided to build her shrine there. That’s why the famous Itsukushima Shrine with its magnificent torii in the water is on Miyajima and not on Osakikamijima.

Mitsugi Greenland is called Greenland for a reason.

Nestled in the heart of our wide prefecture is the region known to many as the “breadbasket” of Hiroshima.