Cafe Lapin

Beyond the pine branches rose the Shionomisaki Tourist Tower. Cape Shionomisaki is the southernmost point of Honshu, and a stone monument standing against the sea reads "Shionomisaki, Southernmost Point of Honshu."

One thing I had wanted to try in this town was kebab rice: fragrant kebab in yogurt sauce over white rice, topped with threads of red chili. Kushimoto has a deep bond with the Republic of Turkey, and you can glimpse it in the town's restaurants. I ate mine with Turkish cloth on the wall behind me, at a cafe near the Turkish Memorial Museum on Kashinozaki, Kii-Oshima.

Japan saved Turkey, and Turkey saved Japan. In front of the museum, the flags of Turkey and Japan fly side by side. On September 16, 1890, the Ottoman frigate Ertugrul, caught in a typhoon off Kashinozaki, ran aground and sank; 587 men were lost. The villagers of Oshima turned out in force to help, and 69 survivors were saved. Ninety-five years later, in 1985, a Turkish aircraft rescued Japanese nationals stranded in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War. The story of a bond spanning 95 years began here.

Inside the museum are photographs and documents from the time. Outside the window, white waves broke on the rocks. The kebab and the white rice sat together on the plate as if to show the friendship between Japan and Turkey.

Read this scene in the full journey