Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands

Okinawa is Japan's southernmost prefecture, and it was a kingdom of its own long before it was Japanese. Its three island groups, the Okinawa, Sakishima and Daitō islands, spread over a stretch of sea roughly 1,000 km east to west and 400 km north to south: 160 islands, 49 of them inhabited. The Ryukyu Kingdom ruled from Shuri from 1429 to 1879, and after the Battle of Okinawa the islands stayed under US administration until 1972; US military installations still cover about a quarter of Okinawa Island. The climate is subtropical, warm with high rainfall all year, and customs differ from island to island.

Okinawa Island is about 106 km long and 11 km wide on average, and Naha, on its south-west coast, is where almost every trip starts. The capital, home to about 320,000 people, was the Ryukyu Kingdom's commercial centre; today Kokusai-dōri packs 1.6 km of shops, restaurants and bars, and the Okinawa Prefectural Museum covers the art, history and natural history of the islands. The south carries the memory of the Battle of Okinawa, fought from 1 April to 22 June 1945: the Cornerstone of Peace at Itoman lists 149,193 people from Okinawa who died. Outside Naha, a car is simply how the island works.

Shuri Castle, in the Shuri district of Naha, was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1429 to 1879. It is a gusuku, one of the Ryukyuan limestone castles, of which estimates count 300 to 400 sites across the islands. Almost completely destroyed in 1945, its central citadel and walls were rebuilt from 1992 on the original site, and in 2000 it joined the UNESCO listing for the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu. On 31 October 2019 a fire gutted the main courtyard buildings again, and reconstruction was expected to finish in autumn 2026, so check the official Shuri Castle Park site for which halls are open before you go.

The Kerama Islands are the nearest escape from Naha, a subtropical group 32 km south-west of Okinawa Island. Ferries from Naha serve Tokashiki, Aka and Zamami, and the waters and islands have been protected as Kerama Shotō National Park since 5 March 2014; Aka, Fukaji, Geruma and Yakabi are the only natural home of the endangered Kerama deer. Miyako is a separate trip, about 300 km south-west of Okinawa Island: at 158.70 km² it is the fourth largest island in the prefecture, bridges tie it to Irabu, Ikema and Kurima, and every month averages at least 18°C. It passed a million tourists a year in 2018 and 2019.

Ishigaki is the hub of the Yaeyama group, about 411 km south-west of Okinawa Island and roughly 300 km from Taiwan. New Ishigaki Airport is the largest in the Yaeyamas, and the port is the gateway to the smaller islands, so the ferry timetable shapes your days. Much of the island, Mount Omoto and Kabira Bay included, lies inside Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park. On timing: the islands are warm all year, the rainy-season dates you read for Tokyo do not apply here, and Japan's typhoon season, June to December with a peak from July to September, is riskiest in the south according to the UK FCDO and can stop boats and flights, so leave a spare day. Golden Week, Obon and New Year fill the planes and hotels.