Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
As mentioned earlier, from the cape at Big Bamboo Point (Ōtakézaki, the island's south-
eastern end) to Cape Kadokura (Kadokuramisaki, the island's southwestern end), it's about 5
miles (8 kilometers). This entire stretch of coast is a fine beach. There's a designated camp-
ground along the shore and it has freshwater showers and toilet facilities.
Kawasoenohanaiwa boasts a fine beach along its southern coast.
2 MAGESHIMA 馬毛島
Magé Island is a tiny, almost uninhabited islet about 7 miles (12 kilometers) due west of
Nishinoomote Port on Tanegashima but there's no ferry service from that port, or any other
port, to Mageshima ( 馬毛島 ; Magéshima; lit. “Horsehair Island”). Although Mageshima has
a port and a good-sized concrete dock for landing watercraft, you'll have to pilot or charter
your own to get there. The island is privately owned and there is no commercial service to it.
A couple of families live on the island and raise some sugarcane, but it's marginal. The island
is no longer productively farmed and most of it is covered in scrub vegetation. Mageshima is
triangularly shaped, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) long from north to south and about a mile
(1.5 kilometers) wide from its east-west base to its middle section. From there, it tapers down
to its pointy northern end.
At one time there was a working airstrip on the island but it was abandoned a long time
ago and is no longer operable. Recent press reports have stated that the Japanese government
is negotiating with the US Forces Japan to convert the island into an airbase in replacement
for the present, widely disputed, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma on the island
of Okinawa. If that were to occur, presumably the airstrip would be reconditioned and up-
graded. The island is completely flat and could easily be converted to a good airbase. Wheth-
er several thousands of young and single Marines would wish to live on this remote, isolated
and almost uninhabited islet is another matter. But, for the moment, the talk of US base re-
location is in a real paralysis. and the former agreement to move the Futenma Air Station to
Okinawa's northern Marine Camp Schwab seems to have been put aside and forgotten.
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