Ainoshima Island — Local services in Shingu

Ainoshima Island is highly recommended if you are in the Fukuoka area and want to visit a cat island. For ¥100 (cash only), there's a shuttle bus from Fukko Daimae station that will take you to the ferry terminal. See my photo of the bus you need to take. Otherwise, a ¥3000 cab ride will suffice. The 20 minutes ferry ride was about ¥500 one way to Ainoshima. Note the weird ferry schedule to the island. 7:50, 9:20, 11:30, 14:30, 16:40, 18:10. If the ferry gets full, you will need to take the next one, which was the case for me. The 11:30 ferry was full and they stop letting people on. They will run another ferry to pick the stragglers around 45 minutes later, not on the schedule. The conductor announced it in Japanese. So, brush up on your Japanese. You don't have to wait for the 14:30 ferry. When you get to the island, you will have to buy your return ticket.

While on the island, note the rules. You can feed the cats. But only cat food, on a paper tray. Be clean and pack your garbage.

The cats on this island are well cared for. They looked healthy and are friendly. There aren't big clowders of cats. But rather, sporadic encounters. Even without food, the cats will let you pet them. I spent about two hours exploring the island and playing with random cats. Only one cat hissed at me when I tried to pet it. The rest were great. There's a restaurant, cafe, grocery store, food stall and gift shop on the island. Free wifi is available at the visitor's center.

For the return ferry ride, there are two lines. People will be given a blue ticket if they missed the previous ferry because it was full.

This was life changing. I've never been to a cat island before. It is so different...

Nice place to spend some time with the island’s cats. Most are just in the port area so you can wander around to pet them. We spent an hour there and decided to head back. Ferry tickets back to the mainland can be bought as soon as you arrive at a building with a green, curved roof near where the ferry docks. If you are energetic, it’s just around 5 km around the island. Bikes are available for rent although limited. We took the JR Kagoshima Line from Hakata to Fukko-daimae station and you can either take a bus to the port (¥100) or a taxi for around ¥1000.

Cats are friendly (some didn’t want to be bothered but hey - cats 😄). Worth the trip for even just the ferry ride and the views. Fun fact - this is also where some Mikimoto pearls are grown. You will see the pearl farms right by the port. Be careful about snacking by the pier. A huge eagle swooped down and stole my Manneken waffle 😅.

Just a note - a lot of the cats have respiratory infections. Something to think about it you live in the area and have cats at home as you don’t want to be infecting...

It was great and the locals were extremely polite, as is the case with most of the Japanese people. I went unsuccessfully on my first attempt but was able to go on the next day. It’s a beautiful island and I walked through it in about 2 hours. The cats are plentiful and very friendly. Bring cat food as I don’t think they sell it on the island. Sadly a few of the cats on the opposite side of the island port are sick and since barely anyone comes through that part, they are uncared for.

When you make your way here, get to the Shingu port at 5-6 AM. Most of the tickets on the first ferry are usually reserved for fishermen. The following ferries will be swept up by large amount of tour groups from a particular country who are all very rude (you can probably guess which one.) Highly recommend coming here and taking...