Nijushi no Hitomi Movie Village

What to know

"Nijushi no Hitomi" (Twenty-Four Eyes) is a 1954 film shot on Shodoshima that tells the story of a schoolteacher and her first class of students growing up on the island as Japanese nationalism rises before WWII. After a color remake in 1987, the movie set was opened to the public as the "Nijushi no Hitomi Eigamura" movie village (二十四の瞳映画村).

The set includes a full reconstructed village with a schoolhouse, over a dozen homes, a shrine, a canal, and fields. Visitors can enter all buildings, some turned into restaurants, shops, and small museums. The village evokes a nostalgic past and is enjoyable even for those unfamiliar with the film.

Among the buildings are a restaurant serving old-fashioned school lunches and an antique movie theater continuously showing the original film. Two small museums offer insights into the story's author and Japanese cinema.

A few hundred meters away, along the road to the movie village, stands the original schoolhouse from the 1954 film. Unlike the replica in the village, this building served as an elementary school from 1902 to 1971. Visitors can enter and tour the three wooden classrooms for a small fee.

Infrequent buses on the Tanoura-Eigamura Line (田ノ浦映画村線) serve the movie village, with the final stop called Eigamura (映画村). The bus runs from Tonosho Port (70 minutes, 500 yen one way) and also stops at Kusakabe Port (30 minutes, 500 yen one way) and Sakate Port (15 minutes, 400 yen one way).

Alternatively, the movie village is accessible by rental car or taxi: about one hour from Tonosho Port (around 10,000 yen by taxi), 45 minutes from Fukuda Port (about 9,000 yen), or 25 minutes from Kusakabe Port (about 4,000 yen).