Tahara Travel Guide

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Isewan Ferry is a 55-minute boat cruise between Cape Irago the tip of Atsumi Peninsula extending from Toyohashi, and Toba the gatewey to Ise area. Thanks to this ferry service, visiting both Ise Shrine and Toyokawa Inari can be doable in a single day. When you ride on the cruise, the first thing you will see is Cape Irago, then about a few minutes after passing the cape, You will see a small island. It is Kamishima Island known for the setting for Yukio Mishima novel: The Sound of Waves. After passing the island, you will find a hilly huge island. It is Toshijima Island. On the left side you will find another island with conically shaped mountain. It is Sugashima Island, and its highest peak is Sugashima Ohyama, 237m above sea level. As it is getting closer to Toba, the boat passes close to squarely shaped small island. It is called Mikimoto Pearl Island, one of the most popular attractions in Toba. Inside the Toba Port building there is an aquarium called Toba Aquarium.

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At the ferry terminal at Cape Irago, there is a shopping mall for buying souvenirs. Most of the things sold there is foods and vegetables produced or grown in Aichi Prefecture. Such as Tomatoes, citrus fruits, Haccho Miso, produced in Okazaki. There are some places to eat as well. When I visited there I enjoyed eating baked O-Asari, 400 yen a dish.

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Favorite thing: Baked O-asari is one of the most popular delicacies in Mikawa Bay area. In Irago Ferry terminal building, you can have this delicious clam for 400 yen a dish. What locals call O-asari is not actually a large version of Asari (Japanese littleneck). It's a clam with its biological name Saxidomus Purpuratus.