Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In many ways, Tokuno is a perfect model of a typical Ryukyu Island. It's small but not too
small. It has beautiful waters, a couple of good beaches, friendly people and several nice ho-
tels and
minshuku
in its small main town. All in all, Tokuno has at least a couple of days of
interesting sightseeing.
First worth seeing are two rather unusual items. Along with Okinawa's main island, Tok-
uno is one of the centers of “Tōgyū,” otherwise known as “Okinawan” or “Ryukyu” Bullfight-
ing. It's a unique form of the sport and has nothing to do with the bullfighting found in Spain
or other places. In Tōgyū, the bulls fight each other, not a matador, and nobody dies.
The second, in this case rare, item is the presence of the prehistoric Amami Black Rabbit
(
奄美の黒兔
; Amami no Kuro-Usagi). Along with Amami-Ōshima, Tokuno is the only other
island, indeed the only other place in the world, where this nocturnal and secretive creature
may be found. Unfortunately, since they truly are an animal of the jungle—and a nighttime
one at that—most casual visitors will not get to see one.
Much easier to find and see because they never move and don't hide themselves at night
are the great rock formations at the island's northwesternmost tip: Mushiroze (
むしろ瀬
;
Mushi-rozé). They are volcanic, thus giving a clue to Tokuno's origins. It's not a coral is-
land. At Tokuno's opposite northern cape, the northeasternmost Promontory Kanami (
金見
崎
; Kanami-zaki), you'll find the Kanami Sotetsu (Sago Palm) Tree Tunnel (
金見ソテツト
ンネル
; Kanami Sotésu), a 400-year-old oceanside collection of these great ancient cycads.
There's one more seaside natural attraction, the “Glasses' Rocks” (
メガネ岩
; Mégama-iwa) of
Innojofuta (
犬門蓋
; Innojo-futa) near Hetono. It's a twin set of natural arches carved by the
sea bearing a resemblance to a pair of eyeglasses.
Another good view, this one from the island's most prominent southwest cape, is from
the Observatory at Inutabu (
犬田布岬
; Inutabu-misaki). The vista from the cliffs here is as
long as the eye can see. It's an impressive great stretch of headlands fronting the East China
Sea. Close by on this same cape is an enigmatic monument for a non-Japanese, for there is
nothing on or around the monument in English to describe it. If there were a plaque in Eng-
lish, its significance would still be virtually unknown except perhaps to naval historians.
The memorial is to the Battleship
Yamato
(
大和
) and the men who perished on her. She
was, at the time of her construction, the largest ship ever built. Commissioned and launched
at the beginning of the 1940s, the Yamato class of warships was intended to counter the
numerical superiority of the United States' fleet. The flagship
Yamato
and her sister ship
Musashi
(
武蔵
) were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed,
displacing over 70,000 tons fully loaded and armed with the largest caliber of naval artillery
