Himeshima Island (姫島) 姫島
In 1984, the first in Japan, it introduced a deposit-return scheme for aluminium cans.
Himeshima is an island municipality off the Kunisaki Peninsula, reachable only by ferry from the port of Imi on the mainland. It measures about 7 km from east to west and 4 from north to south, with an area of 6.99 km² and about 1,430 inhabitants; a municipal bus makes six rounds of the island a day. The local economy is dominated by fishing; in prehistoric times the island was an important centre for the extraction and trade of obsidian, a material found at archaeological sites all over western Japan. Since 1965 kuruma prawns have been farmed in some former salt pans. On 24 September 2013 the island was designated a Japanese Geopark (Oita Himeshima Geopark). In 1984 the village was the first municipality in Japan to introduce a deposit-return system for aluminium cans across its whole territory, a pioneering environmental initiative for a small island community.
Oita
Himeshima Port Ferry Terminal, 姫島港FT
