Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands. Robert Walker

      The mural on a cemented hillside at Takarajima’s Maégomori-kō Port (前籠漁港).

      The only way to visit Kaminoneshima and Yokoatejima is to sail, swim or paddle a kayak there. These isolated rocks are well off the regular shipping channels.

      FUCHI-NO HANARE (ふちのはなれ; Fuchi-no hanare). To get a little technical, Cape Araki, mentioned above, is not quite the very end of Tarakajima. These rocks are. Just offshore, just off the very end of the cape, lies this little collection of stones. From the Cape Araki Lighthouse you’ll have to scramble over rock about 820 feet (250 meters) to the very end of the island. From there it’s about 165 feet (50 meters) over water, south and a bit west, to this last piece of Treasure Island. It’s not exactly one large rock. Rather, it’s a fused collection of several. They’re so tightly bound together, however, that it almost appears as one. The tiny islet is more or less an oval in shape, approximately 165 feet (50 meters) long and 80 feet (25 meters) wide.

      11 KAMINONESHIMA 上ノ根島

      Once a week the Tokara ferry sets sail from Takarajima and travels south 55 miles (90 kilometers) to Nazé, Amami-Ōshima’s port and main city. The trip takes three hours. About halfway there, if you could change the ship’s course and travel due west about 25 miles (40 kilometers), you would arrive at Kaminoneshima (上ノ根島; Kaminonéshima) and its larger neighbor Yokoatejima. Both are tiny volcanic islands and both are uninhabited. That’s why the ferry doesn’t go there. Since they’re so far away, you won’t, in fact, see them. Kaminone Island is the smaller and more northerly of the two. It’s an oddly shaped rectangle with a number of little protrusions. The islet is about 1,640 feet (500 meters) across from east to west and almost three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) in length from north to south.

      Yokoatejima’s eastern half is a perfectly formed strato volcano, while its other side, connected by an isthmus, is a lava flow. Barely visible at the far right of the photo is Kaminoneshima.

      12 YOKOATEJIMA 横当島

      Only 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) south of Kaminone Island is Yokoatejima (横当島; Yokoaté-jima), the most southerly of the islands in the Tokara chain. This uninhabited rock may also be the most unusually shaped islet in the Tokara-rettō. It resembles a sideways figure eight, with its eastern side about twice as large as its western. Forming two halves of an island, they are connected by a narrow 490-foot (150-meter)-wide isthmus. The larger half of the island is circular and about a mile (1.5 kilometers) in diameter. It is nothing more or less than a perfectly shaped volcano, with a crater dead center at the top. The western side of the island is somewhat of a squished box in shape, perhaps 2,620 feet (800 meters) at its longest in any direction.

      Unless you have paddled out to these remote little isles, you more than likely have safely arrived in Nazé (Amami City) on the Tokara ferry. That’s the starting place for our next group of Ryukyu Islands: the Amamis or the Amami-shotō. It’s a particularly beautiful set of islands and, after coming from the Tokaras, will seem like Robinson Crusoe is indeed rejoining civilization.

      Chapter 3

      THE AMAMI ISLANDS 吐噶喇列島

      Splendid vistas, rugged coasts

      1 Amami-Ōshima 奄美大島

      2 Kakeromajima 加計呂麻島

      3 Kikaijima or Kikaigashima 喜界島

      4 Tokunoshima 徳之島

      5 Iōtorishima 硫黄鳥島

      6 Okinoerabujima 沖之永良部島

      7 Yoronjima 与論島

      Compared to the previous Tokara Islands, most of the Amami Islands (奄美諸島; Amami-shotō) seem almost gigantic, though of course this is only relative. There are eight inhabited islands and several semi-inhabited or uninhabited ones worth mentioning. Starting from the north, the chain begins with Amami-Ōshima, the largest island in the group, located 235 miles (375 kilometers) south of Kagoshima City, which is situated on mainland Japan’s southernmost Kyushu Island. From there, the Amami chain stretches some 125 miles (200 kilometers) south to Yoron-tō, which lies just above the northern tip of Okinawa at Cape Hedo. Although geographically and geologically a part of the Ryukyu Archipelago, politically the Amamis are located in Kagoshima Prefecture, along with the Tokara and Ōsumi groups. Thus, on a map of Okinawa or, more specifically, of Okinawa Prefecture, you won’t find them.

      Gangplank on to an “A” Line ferry.

      Culturally, the islands are quite distinct, being neither tropical Okinawan nor exactly the same as mainland Japan. Gravesites and tombs, for example, are in the style of the mainland and not the “turtleback” style of Okinawa. Yet, the Amami dialect of Japanese language is within the group of Ryukyuan languages, not mutually intelligible with Japanese nor, for that matter, with other Ryukyuan dialects. The “separateness” of the Amamis, as with most of the Ryukyu Islands, goes back hundreds, if not several thousands, of years and includes an eight-year occupation by the United States after World War II. The US returned control of the neighboring Tokara Islands in February of 1952 and the Amamis on December 25, 1953. It held Okinawa and the southern islands until 1972. Upon the Amamis’ return to Japan, they became part of Kagoshima Prefecture.

      The largest island in the Amami-shotō is Amami-Ōshima (奄美大島; Ō-shima literally means “Big Island”), and at approximately 38 miles (60 kilometers) in length is one of the largest islands in the Ryukyus. Its main city, formerly and still sometimes called Nazé (名瀬; Nazé) but now properly known as Amami City (奄美市; Amami-shi), is the transportation hub where most ferries and airline services are found.

      The Amami Islands form a green and mountainous chain.

      Amami-Ōshima’s airport (奄美空港; Amami-kūkō) is located 14 miles (22 kilometers) northeast of Amami City. It takes 30–40 minutes to drive there from downtown. Amami is about a two-hour flight from Tokyo. From Osaka it’s around one and a half hours and from Kagoshima a bit less than an hour. Flights from Okinawa also take less than an hour. By ship from Tokyo it’s approximately 37 hours, from Osaka close to 30 hours and from Kagoshima about 12 hours. From Okinawa it’s around 13 hours sailing time, including the several stops along the way. The Amami chain is especially well served by ferry service. Two shipping companies, the Marix and “A” Lines, serve the route. Alternating daily departures with a fleet of four great ships ensure that each island on the route is visited twice daily (one northbound, one southbound), every day of the year, barring severe inclement weather. Here’s how the service operates (both lines’ scheduled departure/arrival times are within minutes of one another, so give or take 5–10 minutes from all the times stated as follows). Each day a ship departs at 7:00AM from Okinawa’s Naha Port (那覇港; Naha-kō) and heads two hours north along Okinawa’s west coast, 35 miles (56 kilometers) to Motobu Port (本部港; Motobu-kō), near the end of

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