Photos of Miyako-jima

Miyako Island is the main island of the Miyako Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean about 300 kilometers southwest of Okinawa Main Island, Okinawa Prefecture. The island is composed of raised coral reefs, so the whole island is relatively low. The water is clear and suitable for various marine sports including diving. Here, triathlon competitions are held in early summer each year, and professional baseball camping events in the spring are also quite famous. The most famous attractions on the island are East Heian Nagasaki, West Heian Nagasaki, Sand Mountain Beach, Forehama Beach, Ueno German Culture Village, Miyako Island Sea Treasure Museum, Miyako Traditional Craft Research Center and so on. To visit these attractions, you generally choose to take a taxi or rent a car by yourself. There are seven small islands around the island. Among them, Ikema Island and Raijima Island are connected by a bridge. You can rent a car or bicycle to enjoy sightseeing. Cape Nishi Heian is located at the northern end of the island, where the view is wide and you can look into the distance. At the eastern end of the island, in the area of the famous East Ping'an Cape, strange rocks and rocks stand on the sea surface of coral reefs, and the scenery is refreshing and pleasant. Irabu Island and Shimoji Island: About 10 minutes by high-speed boat or 25 minutes by ferry from Miyakojima Heira Port. There are gray-faced eagles, a migratory bird of the Eagle family, which flies every October, the ferry beach with powdery beaches, and the Sawada seaside, which is famous for its unique scenery of huge rocks scattered in the shallow sea. Ikema Island: It is connected with Miyako Main Island by the 1425-meter-long Ikema Bridge, and it is about 35 minutes' drive from Miyako Airport. Ikejian Island has a radius of 10 kilometers. You can drive around the island for a week to see the old port scenery, ancient houses on the coastline, unknown beaches, and buy "dried bonito", a local specialty. Raima Island: Located 1.5 kilometers southwest of Miyako Island, it is connected to Miyako Island by a 1690-meter-long Raima Bridge. It is about a 20-minute drive from Miyako Airport. The coral reef island has a radius of 9 kilometers. The opposite side is Maehama Beach. On the right is the Ryugu Observatory, a popular attraction overlooking the Raima Bridge. The local Nagama seaside is famous for its beautiful sunset. Tarama Island and Mina Island: About 67 kilometers from the western end of Miyako Island, about 2 hours by Taramayu ferry from Hira Port of Miyako Island. Rent a boat from Tarama Island to Minna Island for about 20 minutes. There is an airport on Tarama Island, and RAC (Ryukyu Air Commuter) has flights from Miyako and Ishigaki to the island. Tarama Island and Mina Island are islands in Okinawa Prefecture with the most preserved corals. There are many sugarcane fields and cattle herding scenery on Tarama Island, and the windbreak forest and blessing forest on the island are quite spectacular. You can see the whole island from the Yaeyama Observatory. Dajin Island: Located about 1 km north of Miyako Island, you can take a ferry from Miyakojimajiri Port to Dajin Fishing Port. There are currently about 50 residents on the island.