Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PART 2
THE RYUKYUS
琉球列島
The southern half of the Ryukyu Archipelago (
琉球列島
; Ryūkyū-retō), which consitu-
tes today's Okinawa Prefecture (
沖縄県
; Okinawa-ken), may be divided into the three
major north-south groups of Okinawa-shotō, the Miyakos and the Yaeyama Islands,
plus two more, the distant Daitō and Senkaku Island groups. Note, however, that
the Japanese often refer to the prefecture another way. They customarily divide the
Ryūkyū-retō (which for them is only the southern half) into two subdivisions: Okinawa-
shotō, which consists of Okinawa main island and all the near islands, including the
Keramas, surrounding it, and the Sakishima Islands (
先島諸島
; Saki-shima-shotō),
w
hich
consitute all the islands further south. Sakishima means “Further Islands.” For the
Japanese, these are the Miyako and Yaeyama Island groups plus the disputed Senkaku
Islands.
The combined area of all the islands in Okinawa Prefecture is 879 square miles
(2,276 square kilometers), that's about 115 square miles (300 square kilometers) less
than the iny European state of Luxembourg. Half a million people live in Luxembourg.
By contrast, the populaion of Okinawa-ken is approximately 1,385,000 spread out over
more than 50 inhabited islands.
A shīsā lion dog.
