Toshihiro: Welcome to the Millennium Olive Terrace. I am the eldest of the Olive Brothers, Toshihiro Yagyu.

Tadakatsu: And I am the youngest, Tadakatsu Yagyu.

Toshihiro: We hope you can enjoy the Millennium Olive Terrace as if it were the Yagyu Family Garden, or better yet as if it were your own garden.

Tadakatsu: We were actually born and raised here in the Olive Grove and still live here with our families.

Toshihiro: By experiencing this olive grove and learning more about olives, we hope you will become olive fans. But first, we need to start with the basics. Just what kind of plant is an olive? Let's start with that. An olive tree grows over the course of a year under bright sunlight, in warm climates, and requires soil with good drainage.

Tadakatsu: You just described Shodoshima!

Toshihiro: Olives grow quickly, and if you were to plant a cutting, it will grow to 40 centimeters in one year, and twice that in two years. The trees also live for a long time. There’s even a thousand-year-old tree within this grove!

Tadakatsu: In fact, they live so long that they have come to be referred to as the “Tree of Life.” By the way, do you know how many types of olives there are in existence?

Toshihiro: There are Mission, Lucca, and Manzanilla olives, just to name a few, but there are countless others. The list goes on.

Tadakatsu: That's right, there are said to be 1,300 different kinds of olives, and here on Shodoshima we grow 60 varieties. It depends on the type, but most trees start to sprout in April, and the flowers bloom between May and June. They begin to ripen in July and are harvested between September and December.

Toshihiro: September to December feels like a wide range, doesn’t it? This has to do with the ripening of the olives. Olives are actually a bright green in the beginning and then they slowly start to turn yellow. Over time they begin to take on a reddish hue until they eventually turn black. Black olives are actually olives in their prime state and act as the base for Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Tadakatsu: We don’t just make olives for eating here, though. Most of the oil we make is used for cosmetics and skincare products. Natural olive oil is actually ripe with polyphenols and other vitamins that are very useful for beauty and health purposes.

Toshihiro: It doesn't end with fruit either. Olive tree leaves are actually packed with polyphenols and are a treasure trove of other natural ingredients. We make well-being and health products from the extract of the leaves. We hope to introduce you to the vibrant world of olives during your stay here at The Millennium Olive Terrace.

Tadakatsu: We will start with an Olive Aromatic Experience. The fragrant aroma of olives starts out with a subtle floral note before seeming to envelope you.

Toshihiro: This place was actually once a fishing village called “Kiko” (木香), whose characters mean “the smell of trees.” There was no way they would have known one day people would be able to smell olives here, but we feel as though this is fate. We hope you can enjoy this next experience with all five senses.