After viewing the area’s beautiful ocean waters, you’ll cross Kushimoto-ohashi Bridge onto Kii-Oshima Island. On the way, you’ll stop for a break at Nagi Bread & Cafe and then visit the Turkish Museum at Kashino-zaki on the eastern tip of the island.
The museum introduces the history of friendship between Turkey and the town of Kushimoto and Japan, which was deepened as the result of the sinking of an Ottomon Navy frigate when it struck a reef below Kashino-zaki Lighthouse during the Meiji period.

After viewing the area’s beautiful ocean, you’ll cross Kushimoto-ohashi Bridge onto Kii-Oshima Island. On the way, you’ll stop for a break at Nagi Bread & Cafe and then visit the Turkish Museum at Kashino-zaki on the eastern tip of the island , where you’ll learn about the sinking of an Ottoman Navy frigate during the Meiji period when it struck a reef below Kashino-zaki Lighthouse and the history of friendship between Turkey and the town of Kushimoto and Japan, which was deepened as a result of the town’s response to the disaster.

Next, you’ll continue walking from the Turkish Museum to Kashino-zaki Lighthouse at the end of the point. The area, which offers sweeping views of the Kumano Sea, makes up the Kashino-zakiWhale Lookout, a Japan Heritage site. The Koza whaling superintendent, who was based in Koza Bay (present-day Koza, Kushimoto-cho), kept watch for whales here.

After you leave Kashino-zaki Point, you’ll head toward Umikongo Rock, another scenic spot on the island. You’ll park in the parking lot at the Japan-U.S. Friendship Memorial Museum and enjoy the view from the observation platform at the end of a walking trail lined with Ubame oak trees. With its enormous, pyramid-shaped rocks soaring over the ocean, the place is one of captivating beauty.

The Japan-U.S. Friendship Memorial Museum introduces the visit of an American commercial ship to the island in 1791. The “incident,” which preceded the arrival of Perry’s Black Ships by 62 years, marks the first contact between Japan and the U.S. that is recorded in official government documents.

After learning about this little-known aspect of Japan-U.S. relations, you’ll return by the way you came and head toward Cape Shiono-misaki, the true southernmost tip of Honshu that sticks out into the Pacific Ocean to the south of Kushimoto. If you head down a small path to the left of the entrance to Shiono-misaki-jinja Shrine, which is located just beyond the chalk-white Shiono-misaki Lighthouse, you’ll find Cape Shiono-misaki Lookout, which is a registered Japan Heritage site. Like the lookout at Kashino-zaki Point, the site offers a superb view—just as you would expect of a place that was used by the Koza whaling superintendent to spot whales out at sea. It’s said that if you look toward the horizon, you can see Shikoku on a clear day.