Miyako Island and the Miyako Islands:
Highly Transparent Ocean and Stunning Coastal Scenery

Miyako Island and the Miyako group of seven islands in its vicinity are located in theSouth China Sea 290 km to the southwest of the main island of Okinawa. Five of theislands in this cluster are connected by sea bridges, so the flow of traffic among them has
become easy. Irabu Bridge, which opened in 2015, has greatly changed the complexion ofIrabu and Shimoji islands, which it links to Miyako Island. A private airline company
now operates regular flights to and from Shimojishima Airport, which used to be a pilot
training facility, and numerous hotels and other accommodation facilities have openedon the two islands. Apparently even more are under construction or being planned.
Miyako Island itself has seen the number of visitors increase year by year. In the peaksummer season it gets more than 110,000 visitors a month, which is more than threetimes the figures for five years ago. A quay being constructed by Carnival Corporation isscheduled to be completed in 2020, after which 140,000-ton-class cruise ships will be able
to dock there. Miyako has a shortage of hotels, and the hotel construction rush seems tobe pushing up land prices on the island.
One of the reasons for the popularity of Miyako Island is the beautiful ocean. There areIHCSA Café

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no rivers on Miyako, so no impurities flow into the sea. A visit to the island reveals thatthe coast is indeed very beautiful---a rank higher than even the other islands of Okinawa.
Visitors can enjoy scenery that really has been sculpted by nature. You have, for example,
not only white sandy beaches but also a seashore landscape that changes constantly as
the sand is moved en masse every time a typhoon comes and a cape surrounded by rocks
and stones swept up by tsunami.
Here I would like to introduce the beaches and other features of Miyako and the Miyako
Islands.

Miyako Island (Video: https://youtu.be/kH80wvF1fjI)
Sunayama Beach
Sunayama Beach is situated in the northwest of Miyako Island, about seven or eightminutes’ drive from the urban area of Hirara. From the carpark, which also has showers
and toilets, you follow a narrow path and then go down a wide slope covered with sand,which leads to the beach. To the left is a rock arch, which creates a rather uniquespectacle. The beach itself is not so large, but the beautiful shoreline and lapping waves
are enough to make you feel as if you were in another world. The space draws you in andmakes you forget the passage of time.

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Sunayama Beach (Video: https://youtu.be/X8Ln3q9TH_k)
Ikema Bridge
Ikema Island lies to the north of Miyako, and the two islands are connected by the 1,425m-long Ikema Bridge. One early summer morning I flew a drone to try and catch thesunrise. A drone has to be more than 30 m away from any means of transportation, so Iflew mine from a spot some distance away. Gradually it framed the scenery: Ikema
Bridge in the foreground, the beautiful triangular-shaped Ogami Island just beyond, andthe rising sun. It gave me a magnificent view of the Miyako seascape.

Ikema Bridge (Video: https://youtu.be/9U5ShWmByR8)
Sugarcane Fields
Miyako Island grows the most sugarcane in Okinawa. Sugarcane is considered to bevaluable as sugar and livestock fodder. When you drive through the countryside, youfrequently see sugarcane fields that seem to stretch as far as the eye can see. Sugarcane
plants are tall, and the sight of them swaying in the wind somehow puts you in a carefree
mood. I flew a drone from the corner of one sugarcane field. Here and there between theIHCSA Café

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fields I could see houses---maybe farmhouses. The contrast with the threadlike roads
was beautiful. It was a typical Okinawan scene.

Sugarcane Fields (Video: https://youtu.be/gbfGKM3NeKo)Cape Higashi-Hennazaki
Cape Higashi-Hennazaki is a small peninsula jutting out into the sea at the southeastern
tip of Miyako Island. It is 2 km long, 150 m wide, and rises 20 m above sea level. Thepeninsula is surrounded by numerous large rocks that were swept up by tsunami in thepast. It is a nationally designated place of scenic beauty. The cape can be reached inabout 40 minutes by car from central Hirara. It is also a popular spot for viewing thesunrise, and many people visit in the semidarkness of early morning. There were a lot ofsightseers on the day when I visited too, and especially a lot of young women. Maybe
they get a feeling of romance in the southern islands. When the sun rose and shone downon the peninsula, shadows appeared on the rocks in the sea, creating a beautiful contrast.
You can also walk from the carpark to the lighthouse at the end of the cape.

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Cape Higashi-Hennazaki (Video: https://youtu.be/913lKqfNHss)
Ingar Marine Garden ParkThe Ingar Marine Garden seaside park is located in the southern part of Miyako Islandadjacent to the sprawling Shigira Resort, which includes several hotels, hot springs, agolf course, and other facilities. Utilizing a natural inlet, the park has a promenade
enabling visitors to view Miyako’s beautiful sea, fish, and other creatures. If you walk alittle along the promenade in the corner of the park, the open sea comes into view. It was
the most beautifully transparent sea I have ever seen. Probably because of thesurrounding reefs, I felt as if I could see the quiet flow of the current right to the bottomof the ocean.

Ingar Marine Garden Park (Video: https://youtu.be/sD_oBrxCLIU)
Nagamahama Beach
To the southwest of Miyako Island, and connected by Kurima Bridge, Kurima is a small
island with a population of 160 or so people. Just beyond the tiny hamlet, sugarcane
fields spread out, and farm roads twist and turn like a maze. About five minutes’ drivefrom the hamlet, you arrive at the entrance to Nagamahama Beach. The road is not
paved here, and the carpark, just a cutting in the thicket really, only has room for about
five cars. Nagamahama Beach is famous for its changing scenery, which is different every
time you visit. Whenever a typhoon comes, it moves the sand and greatly alters thebeach’s appearance. It changes with the ebb and flow of the tide as well. I have visitedthe beach about five times, and for the first two or three times it was so different, I
thought I had come to the wrong beach. On this day, luck was on my side, asNagamahama Beach appeared even more beautiful than ever.

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International Hospitality and Conference Service Association (IHCSA)Nagamahama Beach (Video: https://youtu.be/7RldJ5te9oo)
Yonaha Maehama Beach
Known to the locals as just “Maehama,” Yonaha Maehama Beach has been chosen as thebest of the top 10 beaches in Japan. It is indeed a beautiful beach representative ofMiyako and Okinawa. The beach has a carpark, showers, toilets, and also a restaurant,
so there is a bit of a resort-like atmosphere to the place. The white sand stretches for 7km, and there are high-class resort hotels nearby. You can also see Kurima Bridge, andthe contrast between the white sand and the cobalt-blue ocean is your typical image of atropical land.

Yonaha Maehama Beach (Video: https://youtu.be/FmNwas9tqoc)
Toguchi Beach
Opened in 2015, Irabu Bridge is the longest toll-free bridge in Japan, with a total lengthof 3,540 m. Toguchi no Hama Beach lies right at the connecting point between Irabu andIHCSA Café

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Shimoji islands, which are linked by land. In contrast to the showy image of Yonaha
Maehama Beach on Miyako Island, this is a quiet, modest beach. It still gets few visitors,
so there is plenty of room on the spacious shore. Since the opening of Irabu Bridge,
however, the rush to construct hotels and other real estate has begun, so perhaps it is
only a matter of time before crowds descend on this area as well.

Toguchi Beach (Video: https://youtu.be/TWCbg2a4goI)
HiraraIn the past Hirara was the central city of Miyako Island, but in 2005 there was a mergerof neighboring municipalities creating the city of Miyakojima. People who have lived on
the island for a long time still seem to call the area “Taira,” the colloquial reading of thecharacters. Today Hirara is simply the name of a district, but the area remains the centerof Miyako Island. The center of Hirara has many hotels and restaurants and is crowdedwith tourists.

Hirara (Video: https://youtu.be/2tvAabrHHbU)IHCSA Café

International Hospitality and Conference Service Association (IHCSA)Miyako Island
These days Miyako Island is facing turbulent times. The number of visitors has increased,
and the number of tourists from overseas in particular has doubled, creating a shortageof hotels and rental cars. Land prices are soaring. To construct hotels, it is necessary toensure accommodation for construction workers, but there is not enough rental housing
on the island even for local residents. Compared with five years ago, when I visited forthe first time, the atmosphere has clearly changed. The leisurely tropical island seems
to be turning into a volatile place. I only hope that the beautiful coastline remains
unchanged.

Photos and text: Arata Matsumoto, Sharata and Adwise, Inc. (http://sharata.info/)(Sharata supplies 4K videos of outstanding scenery in Japan so that as many people aspossible can enjoy it.)IHCSA Café

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