Okinawa’s Isle of Miyakojima

Paradise in Southern Japan

On that note, as you can probably already guess, we’ll be taking a look at Okinawa Prefecture in this article. Rather than cover the more well recognized main island though, I’ll instead opt to introduce a lesser known set of isles that are collectively called the Miyakojima Islands. After all, this is a blog about getting off the beaten path and I am a bit of a self-admitted snob when it comes to hidden gems. My personal predilection aside though, Miyakojima is nothing short of a top notch contender when it comes to resort destinations. What’s more, it is easily accessible from any of Japan’s major airports, meaning that you can experience a taste of the mainland’s attractions as well.

Before we go any further, allow me to quickly explain why I haven’t yet covered Okinawa on this blog before. Put simply for readers who lack the historical context, the prefecture actually was not part of Japan until quite recently. In fact, for centuries, present day Okinawa existed as a completely independent country known as the Ryukyu Kingdom. Though it technically served as a tributary state to China, the Ryukyu Kingdom was also secretly two-timing with the Tokugawa shogunate in its later years (albeit at swordpoint). As such, Okinawa’s historical narrative is as complex as they come and really deserves its own stand-alone piece.