Awaji Island Webcam – See Shevron Place’s Hillside Cafes

The Awaji Island Webcam looks across Shevron Place, a small hillside village of cafes, shops and studios in the hills of Awaji City, Hyogo, Japan. The camera sits at the lower end of the grounds and takes in the whole compound at once: a white shipping container with “Rocca” painted on its side and a wooden deck in front, an open-sided shop with a red roof at the left edge, a lawn scattered with garden chairs and a round table, and a gravel car park ringed by dry-stone walls. White cabins with red roofs stand along a narrow concrete lane on the right, and a two-storey timber building with a balcony rises behind the fence. Between the trees, a strip of Osaka Bay shows on the horizon. The scene changes with the visitors, the light and the weather rather than with traffic.

About Shevron Place on Awaji Island

Shevron Place describes itself as a village under development, deep in the hills of the island and built to feel like a settlement abroad. It was developed by a long-established furniture store from Kobe, and the tenants carry that theme: Cafe Rocca, the container cafe in the middle of the frame, is run by Rocca, an online used-furniture shop, and the furniture and goods inside are for sale. A second cafe and select shop, LUV&BLUE, opened in June 2022 at the highest point of the grounds with a terrace over Osaka Bay. A hair salon, variety shops and studios fill the other cabins. Reviewers describe stone-paved paths and white walls that give the place the feel of a European village. The whole site is about 15 minutes by car from the Tsuna-Ichinomiya interchange on the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway.

The operator streams from its own YouTube channel, where this feed has run since September 2021 as “Channel 2”. The channel description lists a second camera, “Channel 1”, looking out to sea from the top of the village, but that stream was not broadcasting when this page was checked.

Awaji City covers the northern third of the island. It was formed on 1 April 2005 when the towns of Awaji, Higashiura, Tsuna, Hokudan and Ichinomiya merged, and it had a population of 42,597 as of June 2022 across 184.32 square kilometers (71.2 square miles). The city’s northern tip is where the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge lands on the island. The bridge has linked Awaji to Kobe since 5 April 1998, and with a central span of 1,991 meters (6,532 feet) it was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 2022. The island sits between Osaka Bay on the east and the Harima Nada on the west, which is why a shop terrace in the hills can look down on the sea.

Weather and Climate on Awaji Island

Awaji City has a humid subtropical climate. On the Japan Meteorological Agency’s 1991 to 2020 normals, January averages 5.6°C (42°F), April 13.6°C (56°F), July 26.2°C (79°F) and October 18.2°C (65°F), with about 1,093 millimeters (43 inches) of rain a year. Winter on the camera is the quiet season: bare branches on the deciduous trees, low sun across the car park, and the lawn chairs mostly empty. Spring brings fresh growth to the hedges and the trees behind the fence, and the deck in front of Cafe Rocca starts filling with people again.

Summer is hot and humid, with the early-summer rainy season bringing long grey days before the heat sets in, which is when the shade frame over the deck earns its keep. Late summer and autumn can bring typhoon rain and wind that empties the grounds for a day or two, but the clearest views of Osaka Bay on the horizon tend to come on crisp autumn and winter days. The feed runs around the clock, so the dusk and night views, with the shop lights on, are part of the watch.

Things to Do Near Shevron Place

Most of the northern island’s sights are a short drive from the camera. Awaji Yumebutai, near the bridge, is a complex of terraces and gardens designed by Tadao Ando, with the Kiseki no Hoshi botanical greenhouse next to it. In the Hokudan Earthquake Memorial Park, the Nojima Fault Preservation Museum keeps a section of the fault that caused the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, with the displaced ground and cut roads left as they were. Izanagi Jingu, the chief shrine of the old Awaji Province, is dedicated to Izanagi and Izanami, the deities said in Japanese myth to have created the islands.

The bridge itself is worth the trip: the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is still the second-longest suspension bridge in the world, and the views from the Awaji side take in the Akashi Strait and the Kobe shore. Within the village, Cafe Rocca and LUV&BLUE are the two places to sit down, and the shops around them sell the furniture and goods on display.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

These cameras cover the places that frame the view from Shevron Place.

• Awaji Monkey Center Webcam
• Kobe Webcam
• Dotonbori Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

What can you see on the Awaji Island Webcam?

The whole of Shevron Place from its lower end: the Rocca container cafe and its deck in the centre, a red-roofed shop at the left edge, a lawn with garden chairs, the gravel car park with its dry-stone walls, white cabins along the lane on the right, and a strip of Osaka Bay between the trees on the horizon. Power lines cross the upper part of the frame.

Where is Shevron Place on Awaji Island?

In the hills of Awaji City, the municipality covering the northern part of Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture, about 15 minutes by car from the Tsuna-Ichinomiya interchange on the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway.

Does the Awaji Island Webcam show the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge or the beaches?

No. The camera is fixed on the Shevron Place grounds and never shows the bridge, a beach or the coast road. The only water in frame is a thin band of Osaka Bay on the horizon, visible on clear days.

What is the weather like on Awaji Island?

Mild winters, hot humid summers and a wet early summer. January averages 5.6°C (42°F) and July 26.2°C (79°F), with roughly 1,093 millimeters (43 inches) of rain a year. Autumn typhoons can bring a day or two of heavy rain and wind.

How do you get to Awaji Island from Osaka or Kobe?

By road over the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, which has carried the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway from Kobe onto the island since 1998. Leave the expressway at the Tsuna-Ichinomiya interchange for Shevron Place.

Is the Awaji Island Webcam live at night?

Yes. The stream runs around the clock. After dark the cabins and the Rocca cafe are lit, and a string of lights and a decorated tree show up on the right side of the grounds, but the lawn and car park are dim until morning.

What is there to do near Shevron Place?

Sit down at Cafe Rocca or LUV&BLUE within the village itself, then drive to Awaji Yumebutai and its Tadao Ando gardens, the Nojima Fault Preservation Museum in Hokudan Earthquake Memorial Park, or Izanagi Jingu.

Source: SHEVRON PLACE