the mats are free.
On all large ferries, you can always bring along your car or bike. That’s one good reason to take the ferry. However, because Japanese ferries are expensive, especially for vehicles, on longer trips it’s worth considering sailing without your vehicle (or flying) and then renting a car, scooter or bicycle once there. On all of Okinawa’s larger islands, you’ll find car rentals and usually bicycle rentals. Scooters are more problematic. Sometimes they’re available, sometimes not. And if available, the dealer may or may not want a motorcycle license from you.
Roads are often small but they’re usually well maintained and safe. Island traffic is always light. Driving in the Ryukyus, except for Okinawa main island, never poses the same challenges as it does in Tokyo. Finally, on larger islands, taxicabs are usually available and can always be hired by the hour or the day. But they’re never cheap. Count on 10,000 Yen (US $125) for a half day. And don’t forget to negotiate your fare before climbing in!
Passengers board an ANA Air Next flight at Ishigaki Airport.
The Ryukyus In Depth
We’ll start again in the north and work our way south, this time taking our time to discuss in more detail each island’s general characteristics, any special or unusual features and how to reach them. As the Ryukyu’s axis is generally north–south, the eastern shores of the islands greet the sun each morning, rising up out of the Pacific Ocean (太平洋; Taiheiyō), while their western shores see the sun set each evening into the East China Sea (東シナ海 or 東支那海; Higashi Shina Kai).
Recall that the Ryukyu Archipelago (琉球列島; Ryūkyū-rettō) or Southwest Islands (南西諸島; Nansei-shotō) is a 684-mile (1,100-kilometer)-long north to southwest arc of roughly 150 islands, approximately 75 of which are inhabited, divided in two halves: the Satsunan group (Satsunan-shotō) and the Ryukyu group (Ryukyu-shotō). Let’s get going!
Island Nomenclature
In English, a chain or cluster of islands is properly called an archipelago. It comes to us from the Greek arkhi (ἄρχι), meaning “chief,” and pélagos (πέλαγος) which means “the sea.” The term describes a group of islands. In Japanese, there are several words with the meaning of archipelago. Quite commonly used is shoto (諸島; shotō), which describes any group of islands. Also widely used is retto (列島; rettō), which again means a group of islands but has the added sense of a line or an arc of islands. Finally, a third term, gunto (群島; guntō), is used to describe a mixed or round cluster of islands.
As a practical matter, all three terms are used more or less interchangeably and, in fact, any discrete group or chain of islands may be collectively referred to as a shoto, retto or gunto. Notice that all three terms incorporate 島 as their second character. This Kanji character means “island” and is pronounced jima, shima or tō depending on usage and context.
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)
Unique to the islands of Okinawa, Awamori is distilled, high-proof liquor similar to vodkas, rums and whiskeys, and is therefore much more powerful than fermented or brewed beverages such as beer, wine or saké. Made with long-grained Indica rice from Thailand, fermented with black koji yeast, then subject to a single-distillation process, Awamori is typically found in the 60–80 proof range (30–40 percent alcohol), although some are distilled as high as 120 (60 percent alcohol). High-quality Awamoris are aged in cool underground caves in clay pots. When aged for at least three years, Awamoris may be called kūsu (古酒; old liquor). Premium Awamoris can run into the hundreds of dollars for one container. Perhaps for this reason, the traditional Awamori drinking vessel is a tiny, thimble-sized cup called a saka-jiki. When properly served, Awamori is accompanied by a carafe of mineral water and some ice. It may be taken neat, on the rocks or diluted with a little water. A special version of Awamori is made by the addition of herbs, spices, honey and . . . a whole poisonous Habu pit viper! Thought to have medicinal, restorative or even some aphrodisiac properties, this version is called Habushu (ハブ酒) after the deadly Habu snake.
USEFUL JAPANESE ISLAND TERMS
north kita 北
south minami 南
east higashi 東
west nishi 西
great/large/big dai, ōkii 大
small ko, shō, chiisai 小
prefecture ken 県
park kōen 公園
garden teien 庭園
hot spring onsen 温泉
archipelago (many islands) shotō 諸島
archipelago (mixed/round) guntō 群島
archipelago (arc/straight line) rettō 列島
island shima, jima, tō 島
rock/islet iwa 岩
isolated (outlying) island ritō 離島
solitary island kotō 孤島
main island hontō 本島
mainland hondo 本土
offshore oki 沖
port/harbor minato, kō 港
cape misaki 岬
promontory/point zaki 崎
lighthouse tōdai 灯台
sea/ocean umi, kai 海
coast/shore kaigan 海岸
bay wan 湾
strait/channel kaikyō 海峡
beach hama 浜
river gawa, kawa 川
lake ko 湖
peninsula hantō 半島
hill oka 丘
mountain yama, zan, san 山
peak daké,
