Shodoshima

Shodoshima is the second-largest island in the Seto Inland Sea, part of Kagawa Prefecture between Honshu and Shikoku. Japan's first successful olive groves took root here a century ago, and the island still wears Mediterranean airs, down to the windmill above its olive park.

Time low tide for Angel Road, a sandbar that appears twice daily to link offshore islets, best crossed hand in hand. The ropeway through Kankakei Gorge hangs over one of Japan's celebrated autumn views, and soy sauce has been brewed in the island's dark wooden warehouses for four hundred years.

Try hand-stretched somen noodles and soy sauce ice cream in the brewery quarter, and drive the coast between fishing ports and beaches. Ferries arrive from Takamatsu and Honshu ports; a car or scooter makes the island manageable. Autumn colors the gorge, and olives ripen in the same season.