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Okinawa

The Ryukyu islands, also known as the South-West islands are located in the south-west of the archipelago.

Okinawa is the largest and most famous of the Ryukyu islands. It is a popular tourist destination for the Japanese who live on mainland Japan. Many of the island's resort hotels can be found in the northern half of the island. Okinawa is also home to many U.S. military bases; Air Force (Kadena Air Base), Marines (Camp Foster is one of many), Army (Torii Station) and Navy (Camp Shields) can all be found here. Naha City is in the southern end of the island. There you will find the airport, monorail, and other "city-life" amenities.

Miyako island is much smaller. It has beaches with some good diving, and also some remnants of the native Ryukyu culture.

Even further south are the Yaeyama islands, Ishigaki and Iriomote; both great places for diving.

Getting to Okinawa

Okinawa Island can be accessed by air or ferry. The major transportation hub is Naha, the prefectural capital.

By Airplane

Naha Airport (also known as Okinawa Airport), just outside of Naha, is the prefecture's major airport. There are direct flights from Naha into most parts of Japan, to various other islands within the prefecture and a few international destinations such as Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei and Manila.

Among the domestic airports served from Naha are Tokyo's Haneda Airport, Osaka's Itami and Kansai Airport, Sapporo's New Chitose Airport, Nagoya Airport, Fukuoka Airport and several others. Flights are operated by the JAL Group, ANA Group and Skymark Airlines.

The regular one way fare from Tokyo to Naha is around 37,000 Yen in case of JAL and ANA and around 24,000 Yen in case of Skymark, but if you book in advance or make use of other discount offers, such as a Japan Air Pass, the one way fare can be as low as 10,000 Yen.

By Ferry

Ferries connect Naha with various ports on Kyushu and Honshu, including Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Kobe, Osaka and Kagoshima.

The one way trip from Tokyo to Naha takes about 44 hours and costs 22,000 Yen in the cheapest class. There is only one ferry per week.

From Kagoshima on the southern tip of Kyushu, ferries depart for Naha every day, taking about 25 hours and costing around 13,000 Yen for the one way journey in the cheapest class.