Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Depending on how you count them, there are at least a half dozen minor archipelagos
comprising the main great archipelago of the Ryukyus. Each minor group consists of three to
five or ten or more inhabited islands, plus many more uninhabited isles and islets. The words
jima
,
shima
or
tō
are used to describe one individual island and are appended as a suffix to
the island's name. You'll also see the characters
離島
from time to time. This means isolated
or outlying island and is pronounced
ritō
. There's also
kotō
, which means solitary island. Its
characters are
孤島
. Finally, on occasion, you'll see
岩
at the end of an island's name. This
character is
iwa
and can be translated as “islet” but is more usually “rock.”
AWAMORI
(
泡盛
)
