Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
toms in, Tokyo or Naha. Of course, that could also change if flights were to commence from
next-door Taiwan, something that has been discussed.
Good air service is important because there are no longer any ferries from Naha, Miyako,
mainland Japan or Taiwan. The last company offering ferry service abandoned its route and
went out of business in 2007. It seems, for example, that few persons were interested in the
16-hour overnight sail from Okinawa's Naha.
Ferries from Ishigaki Port provide fast, convenient and frequent service to almost all islands in the
Yaeyama group.
The total population of the Yaeyamas is about 53,000, and although most of the islands
have residents the distribution is by no means even. The majority of the islands in the
group have only a very few residents. The greatest number, approximately 48,000, live on
one island—Ishigaki. The other 5,000 are spread out over all the other islands. The Yaeyama
chain includes Japan's southernmost point, on Haterumajma, and its westernmost, on Yon-
agunijima. From Yonaguni Island you can receive your favorite Chinese television programs
from Taiwan, which is only 68 miles (108 kilometers) to the west. The northernmost opposite
extreme point of Japan from Yonaguni is 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) away at Cape Sōya
(
宗谷岬
; Sōya Misaki), near Wakkanai on the island of Hokkaidō.
Although there's no boat transport
to
the Yaeyamas, local transportation
within
the group
is easy. Ishigaki harbor is the hub and there are frequent ferries to most all the surround-
ing islands. Travel time, for example, from Ishigaki to Taketomi Island is 10 minutes; to Iri-
omote 40 minutes; to Kohama around 30. High-speed ferries make the trip to Hateruma in
just about one hour. Yonaguni is the most distant and it's considerably longer to sail there,
about four to five hours. Moreover, the trip can be rough and there is no daily service. For
these reasons, many people prefer to fly. There are daily flights from Ishigaki and it only takes
30 minutes. There also used to be flights to Hateruma, but these were stopped in 2007.
