Yaeyama Islands · Taketomi TownNo.670★★Open in map →
Kohama Island
— A cane-field island between Ishigaki and Iriomote
A cane-field island between Ishigaki and Iriomote, with cattle pasture, one red-tiled village and a single low hill at its centre. From the top of that hill almost the whole Yaeyama archipelago lines up in one view.
- FromIshigaki Port
- ~30 minHigh-speed boat, several a day
- Get off atKohama Port (Yaeyama Kanko Ferry / Anei Kanko)
- On foot
- Kohama Island
The sweet spot
Kohama is not overlooked — it was the setting of a national morning drama, and the prefecture's guide lists it. But Yaeyama day-trippers usually pick Taketomi, which lies closer to Ishigaki. What that leaves on Kohama is an island still shaped by farming rather than by visitors, on lanes where most of the traffic hauls cane.
Where it is
9 more notes in Okinawa · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Kohama Portthe island's single landing point, where the boats from Ishigaki tie up
- Kohama villagethe one settlement, of red-tiled roofs, a school and a post office
- Mount Ufudakia stepped climb to the observation deck at the island's high point
- Sugar Roadthe straight lane running between cane fields and cattle pasture
- Kubazakithe western spit, facing Iriomote across a narrow channel
How to actually get there
- Ishigaki Port remote-island terminal → Kohama Port (high-speed boat, roughly 25 to 30 minutes; Yaeyama Kanko Ferry or Anei Kanko).
- Kohama Port → the village and the foot of Ufudaki (about 2 km west, on foot or by rental bicycle or scooter).
- Climb to the observation deck on Ufudaki, then ride the Sugar Road west through the cane fields.
- Carry on to Kubazaki for the view across to Iriomote, then return to Kohama Port for the boat.
- High-speed boat from Ishigaki Port
- Boats for Kohama leave from the remote-island terminal at Ishigaki Port, run by Yaeyama Kanko Ferry and Anei Kanko; the crossing takes roughly 25 to 30 minutes. Between them the two companies sail several times a day in each direction. Tickets are bought at the operators' counters inside the terminal, not on board.
- Back from Kohama Port to Ishigaki
- Return by high-speed boat from Kohama Port. Sailings thin out as the afternoon goes on: Anei Kanko's own daily board showed departures from Kohama at 09:55, 11:40, 15:30 and 17:00 on the day this was checked. Confirm your return sailing when you land rather than at the end of the day.
About the place
Kohama covers about eight square kilometres in the middle of the Yaeyama group, which is why islanders call it the tenbusu — the navel — of the archipelago. Sugarcane and cattle pasture take up most of the land, and the houses gather into one village near the centre, many of them still under red tile. Behind the village rises Ufudaki, 99 metres of it, with an observation deck on top from which Taketomi Town's own guide says every Yaeyama island but far-off Yonaguni can be picked out. The western tip, Kubazaki, ends at a narrow channel with Iriomote directly opposite. There is no bridge: everything arrives by boat.
How to enjoy it
Half a day covers the whole island, and the order that works is hill first, flat afterwards: climb Ufudaki while the air is still clear, then let the Sugar Road carry you west to Kubazaki. Bicycles and scooters can be hired on the island, and the lanes are level apart from that climb. Build the last leg so that you are back at the pier well ahead of the final sailing rather than chasing it.
Background & history
Kohama's year is still marked out by ritual: the Bon observances, the Kitsugan thanksgiving and the Tanadui seed-taking rite. Their music and dance are designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the state, a listing Taketomi Town dates to 2007. Weaving has been handed down here as well, and at festival time islanders appear in kimono hand-dyed with indigo. Within Japan the island is better known as the setting of Churasan, the NHK morning serial, which carried the village's name far beyond the Yaeyamas.
Before you go
- Cash
- Tickets and island rentals are handled at small counters where cash is the safe assumption, and Ishigaki Port has the fuller facilities, so settle money there before crossing. Nothing on the walking route — the observation deck, the village lanes, the Kubazaki shore — has a ticket gate.
- Before you go
- The island is fully exposed. High-speed boats are suspended in strong wind and heavy swell, and typhoon season runs from summer into early autumn, so check the operators' sailing board before setting out. The climb to the observation deck is a stepped path with no shade. Farm vehicles use the cane roads, so ride to one side.
- Another way
- You need not come from Ishigaki at all: boats also reach Kohama from Ohara Port on Iriomote and from Taketomi Port, which lets you chain two islands into one day instead of returning to Ishigaki in between.
- After you get off
- Kohama Port is the only landing point on the island. The village and the foot of Ufudaki lie about two kilometres west of the pier — under an hour on foot — but bicycles and scooters are the usual way to cover the island's lanes.