Shikaura Gorge

The 157-meter Arafuku Bridge spans the Shikaura River where it carved a gorge through Tokunoshima's limestone plateau. The gorge walls rise 100 meters at their highest point, and the 1995 bridge offers a birds-eye view over the forest canopy below. The river begins at Mt. Inutabudake in the island's interior and flows six kilometers to the sea at Shikaura's fishing port. Before this bridge and two others were built nearby, residents had to descend the steep slope on foot to reach neighboring communities, and children walked three hours each way to school. The bridges transformed daily life on this part of the island.