Features

People of Shimanami: Building a New Life Among Bees and Citrus Groves

It has been eight years since Olivier Belbenoit and his family moved to the small rural island of Omishima in Ehime Prefecture. Originally from the French countryside, Olivier had long been interested in Japan. After moving to the country, he eventually found himself working at a food import company in Tokyo.
 
After a trip to visit friends on Omishima, he began to feel something he couldn’t quite explain, a feeling that the island could become his home one day. Omishima had everything Olivier’s life in the city was missing: gorgeous natural scenery, bright sunshine, and the sea never too far away.

Today, Olivier makes and sells his own honey while running two guesthouses, both renovated from former akiya (vacant houses). He spends much of his time outdoors tending to his bees and working among the island’s plentiful citrus trees, a far cry from his former life behind a desk.

Trading Tokyo for Island Life

Olivier’s disillusionment with corporate life began with a shipment of French fries. He spent his days at the import company placating angry customers over delayed shipments and navigating office hierarchies.

While he understood that the shipments mattered to the companies waiting for them, he was still bewildered by the level of outrage over something as trivial as French fries. Surely there were more serious problems in the world to worry about than potatoes arriving a bit late. After all, once a shipment was on its way, there was little he could do from his desk. Before long, he began to wonder if working with his hands, away from bosses and impossible deadlines, might be more fulfilling.

Omishima is one of the six main islands along the Shimanami Kaido cycling route. Home to just under 5,000 residents, it is the most rural of the six, with citrus groves covering its rolling mountainsides.

During his visits to the island, Olivier felt increasingly drawn to it, and whenever it was time to return to Tokyo, he would feel a pang of sadness. Having grown up in the countryside, he found that life in the city was convenient, but busy and tiring, a sharp contrast to the laid-back atmosphere on the island.

Olivier’s wife, originally from Tokyo, was initially hesitant about the move. However, Olivier made a good case for life on the island, and she decided to give it a try.

Rather than committing to a permanent change, they treated the move as an experiment: if it didn’t work out, they could always return to Tokyo or try somewhere else. Eight years later, Olivier says he intends to remain on Omishima forever.

From Abandoned Akiya to Stylish Guesthouses

Olivier didn’t move to Omishima with plans to become a beekeeper or guesthouse owner. His first guesthouse began as a near-ruin on the same property as his first home. Rather than watch the building continue to deteriorate, he decided to renovate it.
 
The project eventually grew into a pair of guesthouses. Even when he only meets a guest once, Olivier enjoys the variety of conversations that come with running a guesthouse. He is always happy to share his knowledge of Omishima, giving guests a glimpse of everyday island life that they might otherwise miss.
 
Olivier currently runs two guesthouses, Auberge Yugashira and Yugashira Kuu, that sit above Munakata, a quiet, sparsely populated area in the island’s southwest corner.

Local accounts say a hot spring once flowed in the mountains behind Olivier’s property. He isn’t sure of the exact spot, but says it was just a small trickle of lukewarm water that gave the area its name, Yugashira. The narrow, winding road leading to the top of the hill also bears the same name, so Olivier decided to borrow it for his guesthouses.
 
The name of his second guesthouse, Kuu, is a nod to its position at the highest point in Munakata. As Olivier continues to expand his property line, the surrounding area is slowly becoming his own personal kingdom. He jokes that one day he’d like to bring the whole hillside together under his rule. From the hilltop, islands stretch across the horizon, while citrus trees dot the hillside and line the small farm roads.
 
Each morning, guests wake to homemade bread, seasonal jams and honey, and a view of the Seto Inland Sea that Olivier says he still hasn’t grown tired of.

A Sweet Discovery

Honey had never been something Olivier paid much attention to while growing up. That changed when he tasted honey made by a local beekeeper on Omishima. He was blown away by how delicious it was and began buying it every time he visited.
 
The beekeeper welcomed his curiosity and spent a full year teaching him the craft. At first, Olivier even kept his hives on his friend’s land, learning from the man who first introduced him to Omishima’s honey. Rather than viewing younger newcomers as competition, the island’s beekeepers are often eager to share their knowledge and keep the craft alive.
 

Little by little, Olivier began to discover the seasonal rhythm of beekeeping. After that first year, he moved the hives to his own property.
 
Even after years of beekeeping, he still sees each season as a learning experience with new surprises.
 
What he likes most about beekeeping is that it is entirely his own. He produces the honey himself, decides where to sell it, and isn’t tied to anyone else’s deadlines. Olivier’s honey business, Le Miel Doré, meaning “golden honey” in French, produces citrus, cherry blossom, and wildflower honey.

Finding His Place in Munakata

Moving from Tokyo to a small island might seem daunting, but Olivier says he misses very little about city life. Even after eight years, his impression of the island has only improved. These days, rather than worrying about how close the nearest convenience store is, he cares more about the distance to the nearest beach. During Japan’s hot, humid summers, he enjoys walking with his family to one of the island’s many beaches.
 
Before moving, Olivier wondered how easy it would be to find his place in a small rural community. In the end, the neighborhood he chose suits him well: neighbors occasionally bring gifts or ask for help moving something heavy, but otherwise everyone gives each other space.
 
He has also found his own ways to take part in the community, like helping out in the surrounding fields and joining local festivals. While helping carry the mikoshi, a portable shrine, during festivals, Olivier often towers over the other volunteers. The problem, he says, is that lifting and carrying the shrine for several hours isn’t particularly comfortable when you’re much taller than everyone else.

An Island in Transition: Looking Toward Omishima’s Future

However, Olivier is also worried about what will happen to the island as its population ages. Neighbors have told him that the hills around Munakata were once filled with citrus groves. Today, many of those groves have disappeared as younger generations moved away and chose not to continue farming.
 
Olivier has watched as vacant houses deteriorate and fields become overgrown, and worries the area could eventually become a ghost town. He hopes younger generations will take responsibility for the island’s many vacant houses, even if they don’t intend to live in them, by maintaining the properties and making them available to new residents. Olivier is doing his part, too, having renovated multiple houses and given them a new life.
 
Eight years after taking a chance on island life, Olivier has no plans to leave Omishima. Between his bees, his guesthouses, and the fields and festivals of Munakata, he has built a life that looks entirely different from the one he once had in Tokyo. On Omishima, his family can live and work alongside nature while also helping shape the future of their small corner of the island.

Where To Find Olivier

You can buy Le Miel Doré honey by contacting Olivier and Reika directly via Instagram (for customers in Japan), or online and in person at Hakata Plus next to Hakata Beach Park on Hakata Island and at Shima Kobou on Omishima.

Olivier can be found on Instagram @olivier_reika

If you are interested in experiencing Omishima for yourself, why not book a stay at one of Olivier’s two guesthouses Auberge Yugashira and Yugashira Kuu?