Okinawa · Miyako IslandsNo.863★★Open in map →
Ikema Island
— A wildlife reserve island north of Miyako
An island off the northwest tip of Miyako, reached by road across a long low bridge. The whole of it is a designated wildlife reserve, and the reason is the reed wetland filling its middle rather than the reef water around it.
- FromMiyako Airport (car north to the Ikema Bridge)
- ~35 minRental car over the bridge
- Ikema Island
The sweet spot
Ikema is on every driving route around northern Miyako. The bridge is one of the island group's set-piece views, and there is a car park, a shop and a rest house where it lands. What stays quiet is the interior — most visitors photograph the crossing and turn back, while the wetland that the reserve exists for sits a few minutes further along the ring road.
Where it is
4 more notes in Okinawa · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Ikema Bridgethe crossing from Miyako, with the shallows of the channel open on both sides
- The rest house at the Ikema endcar park, shop and viewing point where the bridge lands on the island
- Unimui, the Ikema wetlandreed beds and open water in the middle of the island, and the bird ground the reserve protects
- Ikema Lighthousea white tower on the northwest shore, above the edge of the reef
- The Yabiji shoals offshorecoral banks north of the island, listed as a national scenic beauty and natural monument
How to actually get there
- Miyako Airport → north across Miyako by rental car or taxi.
- Cross the Ikema Bridge and park at the rest house on the Ikema side.
- Follow the ring road inland to Unimui, the wetland at the island's centre.
- Continue round to the lighthouse on the northwest shore, then back over the bridge.
- By road from Miyako Airport
- The Miyakojima tourism association puts the drive from Miyako Airport to the Ikema Bridge at about 35 minutes on ordinary roads. The route runs north across Miyako to its northwestern tip, then over the bridge. Miyako has no railway, so this is a rental car or a taxi.
- Back to Miyako Airport
- The same road in reverse, plus the time a rental car return needs before check-in. Nothing on Ikema runs on a published schedule, so settle how you are getting back before you cross rather than once you are on the island.
About the place
Ikema lies about 1.5 km off the northwest end of Miyako Island, across a channel the Ikema Bridge crosses in 1,425 m. Okinawa's prefectural tourism site records that the whole island is a designated wildlife reserve and a resting ground for migrating birds. The reason lies inland rather than on the coast: a broad reed wetland called Unimui fills a shallow basin in the middle of the island. It was a sea inlet once, closed off by reclamation and fishing-harbour work. North of the island, out of sight from the road, lie the coral shoals of Yabiji, which the prefecture lists as a national place of scenic beauty and a natural monument.
How to enjoy it
Drive the ring road rather than stopping at the bridge — it is a short loop, and it puts the wetland, the lighthouse and the north shore into one circuit. Late afternoon light does more for the reed beds than midday, when the colour flattens out. For the birds, which are the reserve's own reason for existing, come in the migration months rather than midsummer.
Background & history
The Ikema Bridge opened in 1992 and put the island on the driving route around northern Miyako. The wetland at the centre is younger than it looks: it was an open inlet until reclamation and fishing-harbour works sealed it off, and the reed bed grew up in the standing fresh water left behind. The lighthouse on the northwest shore is older than the bridge, and still marks the reef edge for boats working out toward Yabiji. Through all of it, the prefectural tourism site notes, prayer practice centred on the island's utaki has carried on.
Before you go
- Cash
- The tourism association lists a car park with toilets at the bridge, and a shop and rest house on the Ikema side. Neither the wetland nor the shore has a listed charge. The costs on a visit here are the shop, fuel, and any boat trip out to the Yabiji shoals.
- Before you go
- The whole island is a designated reserve, so the reed beds are ground to look at rather than walk into — view the wetland from the road. Typhoons cross the Miyako group between summer and early autumn, when the crossing and flights to the island can both change at short notice. The tourism association has posted notices about tar balls washing up on east-facing shores in this area.
- Another way
- Reach the reef instead of the island. Dive and snorkel operators based on Ikema run boats out to Yabiji, which cannot be seen from the road at all, and the prefectural tourism site treats it as the island's other draw.
- After you get off
- From Miyako Airport the road runs north to the top of the main island and onto the bridge. Park at the Ikema end, where the shop and the rest house are, then continue on the ring road to reach the wetland in the interior.