Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands. Robert Walker
Nagasaki (長崎市; Nagasaki-shi) and Kagoshima (鹿児島市; Kagoshima-shi).
Kagoshima City is the capital of Kagoshima Prefecture, which is close to where Kyushu Island terminates. It’s an important place because it is the Japanese mainland’s hub of ferry traffic to all the islands to the south. From here, one takes ferries to the relatively close islands of the Ōsumi and Tokara chains, plus it’s the departure and arrival points of ferries to the more distant Amami Islands and Okinawa. It’s a city of about 600,000 people and famous for its multitude of hot springs resorts.
Starting at Kagoshima, near Kyushu’s southern end, the land cleaves most dramatically into two long pincer arms. The western fork is the Satsuma Peninsula (薩摩半島; Satsuma-hantō). The longer eastern arm is the Ōsumi Peninsula (大隅半島; Ōsumihantō). The Ōsumi Peninsula’s extreme final tip is Cape Sata (佐多岬; Sata-misaki), the southernmost point of mainland Japan. Within the fork is an extraordinary deep water inlet and natural harbor, Kagoshima Bay (鹿児島湾; Kagoshima-wan), which is also widely known as Kinkō Bay (錦江湾; Kinkō-wan), where Kagoshima City is located. The city is known as the “Naples of the East” and is, in fact, a sister city to Naples. Like its Italian counterpart, a gorgeous bay overlooked by volcanic Mt Vesuvius, Kagoshima also enjoys a spectacular vista. Upon the clear, blue waters of its bay floats a great volcano, Sakurajima (桜島; Sakura-jima).
One of the most active volcanoes in Japan, if not the world, Sakurajima has had a number of violent and destructive eruptions in its history. Its 1914 eruption was the most powerful in 20th-century Japan. Its activity commenced again in 1955 and it has more or less been erupting ever since. Thousands of small explosions occur every year and not a day goes by that residents and visitors do not experience a minor earthquake or witness a rising smoke plume, volcanic ash or some other pyroclastic display. In fact, the continual emission of volcanic ash is a real annoyance to the people who live there. Cars must be continually washed, windows cannot be left open and hanging laundry must be rushed into the house. Most people carry an umbrella not for rain but for ash.
Kagoshima Harbor, mainland Japan’s jumping-off point for the Ryukyus.
Forming an island (but now connected by a land bridge) and rising 3,665 feet (1,117 meters) above sea level, Sakurajima is one of Japan’s major tourist attractions. It forms one part of Kirishima-Yaku National Park (霧島 屋久国立公園; Kirishima-Yaku Kokuritsu Kōen), Japan’s first national park. The other sections of this disconnected park are the ancient Sugi forests on the island of Yakushima; the land’s end at Cape Sata, and the 23 volcanic peaks of Kirishima (霧島市; Kirishima-shi) about 19 miles (30 kilometers) and less than an hour to the north. The two tallest peaks in the Kirishima Mountain range, 5,577-feet (1,700-meter) Mt Karakuni (韓国岳; Karakuni-daké) and 5,164-feet (1,574-meter) Mt Takachiho (高千穂岳; Takachiho-daké), are the mythological origin of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu (天照; Amaterasu) and the birthplace of Japan. You may have already seen the Kirishima Mountains. They were filmed as the volcano lair of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the evil head of SPECTRE, in the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice.
Part of Kagoshima-ken is on the mainland and part of it spreads across the Satsunan Islands (薩南藷島; Satsunan-shotō), which constitute the northern half of the Ryukyus. The Satsunans include about 25 inhabited islands and extend southwards across the Ōsumi, Tokara and Amami chains for about 312 miles (500 kilometers), all the way to Okinawa. The southernmost Satsunan Island, and the southernmost island of Kagoshima Prefecture, is Yoron, which lies a mere 14 miles (22 kilometers) above Okinawa’s north-ernmost tip at Cape Hedo.
Where Kagoshima Prefecture ends, Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa begins. Okinawa Island, which is located just about in the middle of the Ryukyu chain, serves as the dividing line between the two prefectures. Okinawa-ken consists of the group of islands collectively called Ryukyu-shotō by the Japanese and includes more than 50 inhabited islands. Starting at the north and heading south, the prefecture begins just below Yoron Island at Okinawa main island (沖縛本島; Okinawa-hontō), the largest island landmass in the Ryukyu Archipelago. Okinawa is, in turn, surrounded by many lesser islands, including one lesser group of islands, the mini-archipelago of the Keramas.
Formerly an island in Kagoshima Bay, Sakurajima volcano attached itself to the mainland of Kyūshū in 1914 by a narrow isthmus when its lava flows connected it to the Ōsumi Peninsula. There’s a causeway on it now.
Cape Sata (Sata-misaki), mainland Japan’s southernmost point.
The southern Ryukyu chain is subdivided into several groups, including the Okinawa, Miyako and Yaeyama Islands. These island groups extend southwest from the main island of Okinawa more than 312 miles (500 kilometers) to the small island of Yonaguni, only 68 miles (110 kilometers) east of northern Taiwan. In addition, Okinawa Prefecture includes the geologically and geographically unrelated small archipelagos of the Daitō Islands, 219 miles (350 kilometers) to the east of Okinawa Island in the Pacific Ocean, and the Senkakus, a disputed, uninhabited group close to mainland China and above Taiwan.
Altogether, the Satsunan Islands of the northern half of the Ryukyus constitute about 966 square miles (2,503 square kilometers). The southern half of the Ryukyus, Okinawa-ken, is 879 square miles (2,276 square kilometers). It’s a bit difficult to make suitable comparisons when they’re this little, but the smallest state in the US is Rhode Island (not an island incidentally). Its total land area is 1,045 square miles (2,706 square kilometers). So we really are talking about a large number of very small islands in a small space.
We’ll first outline the islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago, including all the inhabited ones, from north to south, then discuss them in more depth in the chapters that follow.
THE RYUKYU ARCHIPELAGO
The Ryukyu Archipelago is a 684-mile (1,100-kilometer)-long chain of approximately 150 islands divided in two halves: the Satsunanshotō and the Ryukyu-shotō. The Satsunans are further divided into three lesser chains, the Ōsumi, Tokara and Amami Islands, while the Ryukyus are divided into five minor archipelagos, the Okinawa, Miyako, Yaeyama, Daito and Senkaku Island groups.
Every several minutes, ferries shuttle across Kagoshima Bay to Sakurajima volcano.
Satsunan Shoto
The northern half of the Ryukyus is part of Kagoshima Prefecture. The Satsunans include the three island groups of Ōsumi, Tokara and Amami.
Ryukyu Shoto
The southern half of the Ryukyu Island Archipelago, which constitutes Okinawa Prefecture, is usually divided into the three major north–south groups of Okinawa Shotō, the Miyakos and the Yaeyama Islands, plus the more distant Daitō and Senkaku Island groups.
Getting around
Many of the inhabited Ryukyus have airports, or at least an airstrip. For the northern group, the Satsunans, most air services originate from Kagoshima, although there are also some flights to and from Fukuoka. There is also occasional service to some islands from Osaka and Tokyo, but not much and not often. In the south, in the Ryukyu group, almost all air services start or end at Okinawa. Most local flights in the islands are handled by Japan Transocean Air (JTA) and its subsidiary Ryukyu Air Commuter (RAC), both owned by Japan Air Lines (JAL). All Nippon Airlines (ANA) also has several subsidiary carriers, including Air Next (AN) and Air Nippon (ANK), which offer flights from Naha out to a number of islands.
Other than from the hubs of Kagoshima and Naha, however, there is very limited (or no) air service from one island to another. In other words, if you wish to fly, for example, from Yoron-tō to Amami, you might have to fly first to Naha, then to Amami; or first to Naha, then to Kagoshima and then to Amami,