Perhaps a better reason to visit is some fairly good hiking. Major trails head from the shrine to the summit (height 445m, distance 2.4 km) and around the entire island (~25 km). With some luck you can spot Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), troops of which roam about the island. Pick up a free map and leave plenty of time before you set off though, as the trails are not that well marked; if you get hopelessly lost, head down to the coastal trail.

• Koganeyama Shrine (黄金山神社) is the reason most Japanese make the trip. The shrine originally dates to the 8th century, but the present buildings are much newer and not particularly noteworthy. The shrine is located up the hill 600 meters away from the ferry terminal. Legend has it that those who visit the shrine three years in a row will become rich.

Kinkasan being an island, you'll have to take a ferry at some point, so the main question is choosing the ferry terminal.

By train

If traveling by train from Onagawa. From here, you can take a 35-minute ferry to Kinkasan. Ferries travel every 2 hours or so and cost ¥1600 one way, ¥3040 return.

By bus

Alternatively, you can take a 90-minute bus from Ishinomaki to the whaling town of Ayukawa, from where ferries ply to Kinkasan in 20 minutes (¥900). Services from here are more frequent, as often as every half hour in season with two competing operators.

Excluding a van ferrying guests up from the ferry to the shrine's ryokan, there is no motorized transport on the island and you'll have to walk. Some ferry operators in Ayukawa offers sightseeing boat tours around the island, but there are no other points to disembark.