Okinawa, Japan · Remote island, Town / small city
A village designated as a preservation district for traditional buildings, with red-tile roofed houses, coral stone walls, and rides in carts pulled by water buffalo.
Ferry — Ferry from Ishigaki Port (remote islands terminal), about 10-15 minutes with Yaeyama Kanko Ferry or Anei Kanko.
Iriomote belongs to the same municipality as Taketomi and has been a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site since 2021. You can take the Urauchi river cruise with a walk to the falls, or kayak to Pinaisara, Okinawa's tallest waterfall. Since April 2023 a cap of around 1,200 visitors a day protects the Iriomote cat, critically endangered with barely a hundred left and rising road deaths: do not drive at night above forty, do not actively seek it out, and never feed it.
The island has just over three hundred residents and receives hundreds of thousands of day visitors from Ishigaki, concentrated between ten and three. A 300-yen entry contribution is collected at the pier. The right way to visit is to sleep on the island or take the first boat: between four in the afternoon and nine in the morning the village is a village again.
Adopted on 31 March 1986, it has five principles: do not sell land or houses to outsiders, do not soil the island, do not disturb the village's appearance, do not destroy the old houses or the landscape, and keep the rites, folk arts and local industry alive. It grew out of the utsugumi spirit of mutual aid, and it is worth knowing before you set foot in the village.
The three hamlets were designated a national Important Preservation District in 1987: red tiled roofs set in mortar, coral walls, white sand lanes and hand-made shisa found nowhere else. These are lived-in houses: do not enter courtyards, do not photograph interiors or residents, and no drones.
White sand lanes between red-tile roofed houses and coral stone walls, designated a preservation district for traditional buildings.
Traditional ride in a wooden cart pulled by a water buffalo through the village streets, with the guide playing sanshin music.
The southernmost inhabited point in Japan, with the Southern Cape monument, Nishihama beach and an observation tower from which people look for the Southern Cross between December and June. Warning: the ferry, a good hour long, is cancelled extremely often - do not put it right before a flight.
Taketomi minsah is the origin of weaving across Yaeyama; here you see the hand loom and the indigo dyeing. Yaeyama minsa and jofu have been Traditional Crafts of Japan since 1989.
A national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property since 1977: nine days of rites between September and October, with more than 50 theatre and dance performances and a night round house by house. It is not a tourist show - accommodation sells out and access to certain acts is restricted.
Island of cane fields and hills in the same municipality, 25 minutes away by ferry: the Shugaru road and the Kohagura-so house are locations from the 2001 drama Chura-san, which carries strong identity in Japan. A point of precision: the star sand beach called Hoshizuna is on Iriomote, not here; on Taketomi the star sand is at Kaiji.
Flat, heart-shaped island where cattle far outnumber people: around 200 inhabitants against thousands of head. It has a sea turtle research centre, and its Cow Festival, on the last Sunday in February, raffles off a whole cow.
Beach famous for its 'hoshizuna' or star-shaped sand, formed from foraminifera shells.
Rite of thanksgiving officiated by the island's priestesses, with dances dedicated to it, between August and September. Entering the utaki, the sacred groves, is forbidden, both during the festival and outside it.
Shallow, white-sand beach, the most popular on the island for swimming.
Nearly light-pollution-free skies make Taketomi one of the best spots in Okinawa to see the Milky Way.
Old pier at the western tip of the island, one of its best spots to watch the sunset.
Practically uninhabited and with no services, and its rites are restricted to descendants. You cannot land freely: the only way in is on an authorised tour.
The island is completely flat and can be fully toured by bicycle in a little over an hour.
In May, on an island of some 60 inhabitants in the same municipality.
Private collection of thousands of traditional Yaeyama artifacts, housed in an old village home.
Small tower in the village centre with elevated views over the sea of red-tiled roofs.
Run on Iriomote in February, with the proceeds going to conservation of the Iriomote cat.
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