Kawaura is a small town (pop. ~ 6,800) located on Shimo-jima, which is part of the Amakusa archipelago in the East China Sea.  This string of islands belongs to the prefecture of Kumamoto, which is in turn located in the geographical center of the island of Kyūshū.  You can see a map of Kyūshū here.  (Shimo-jima is not labled on  the map, but it is shown there; it’s the island in the sea southeast of Nagasaki and southwest of Kumamoto.)

According to one of my former Japanese professors, the Amakusa islands were formed by volcanic activity. While this type of formation creates beautiful mountainous landscapes (like Hawaii), the type of soil – not to mention the rugged terrain – is not conducive to growing a lot of crops.  Because of that and the relatively isolated position of Amakusa with respect to the main island,  this region has been pretty much left alone with regards to the enforcement of certain Imperial policies throughout history.  Therefore, when the Christians were persecuted in Japan during the 1500’s and 1600’s, a small pocket of Christianity managed to thrive in the Amakusa area.  Kawaura Town, in fact, is known for its Sakitsu Catholic Church.

By the way: Are you’re wondering what that symbol is in the upper left corner of this Website?  That’s Kumamoto’s prefectural flag, which is supposed to look like both the letter for the sound ‘Ku’ (ク) and the actual geographical location of the prefecture in the inlet of Kyūshū.  Although I looked at other renditions on the net as a guide in making the logo, I created it myself with MS Paint, so please ask for permission if, on the off chance, you want to use it.