Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bridge to Nowhere? There's a short span from Yakena to Yabuchijima.
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YABUCHIJIMA
薮地島
There's a small run-down harbor, Yakena, and a little 790-foot (240-meter) bridge from the
Okinawa mainland to Yabuchijima (
薮地島
; Yabuchi-jima). Half the time the bridge is so oc-
cupied by fishermen and their parked cars and gear that you can barely get your car across.
So it's really not much of a bridge for vehicular traffic. It's more of a fishing pier. There's not
much traffic to Yabuchi anyway because it's hardly inhabited. In fact, it's questionable wheth-
er it's inhabited at all. The paved road ends almost as soon as you're on the island. Then it's
a dirt path, partially covered in vegetation. Pushing your way through the jungle you catch
a glimmer here and there of a shack or tarpaulin covered shed, some with cattle inside. And
there's a cultivated field here and there. But residences? None look habitable. So it's hard to
say. If there is a resident year-round population on this island, it can't be more than five or
ten people. Yabuchi may be the least inhabited islet in the Okinawa-shotō. It's an irregularly
shaped piece of land less than a mile (1.3 kilometers) in length and anywhere from 980 to
1,970 feet (300 to 600 meters) in width. It's area is a quarter of a square mile (0.61 square kilo-
meters). However, if you like your beaches quiet, it's got one. There is a rocky beach, maybe
660 feet (200 meters) long, on the island's southern shore. There's usually no one there.
The Bridge to Nowhere goes nowhere. Shortly after crossing onto Yabuchi, the road ends.
