During the nice spring weather, I like to explore the Seto Inland Sea by boat. I have been wanting to visit a certain island in the Shiwaku Island chain in Kagawa Prefecture for some time now.
The island, called Shishijima, has less than 40 people living on it. I was interested in meeting the island's oldest resident, who is so old that he is bent over and has to use crutches as his limbs would otherwise drag on the ground.
He is wise, withered and wrinkled but also said to be a bit of a shady character. He is so old, he has been designated a Natural Monument. He is Ookusu, a giant camphor tree who is over 1,200 years old. That makes his birth date somewhere around 800 AD. Or should I say his "germination date?"