After more than 2 weeks in the main islands of Japan (Honshu and Kyushu as far as we are concerned), we decided to make a change of scenery and head for the most southern part of Japan : Okinawa prefecture.
More specificaly, we will spend 5 days in the Yaeyama Islands, the most southern and most western islands of the archipelago.

The Yaeyamas are far closer to Taiwan (125 kilometers) than to Okinawa Island, much less the Japanese mainland. The islands form the southern part of the volcanic Ryukyu Islands.


We thus took a flight from Tokyo Haneda to Ishigaki, which is the only island in the Yaeyamas with an airport. It is a 3h30min flight and we flew with JAL.
Indeed, when you come to Japan with British Airways (which was our case) or any company belonging to One World Group, you can enjoy special fare for domestic flights. It is called Yokoso Japan, and it costs roughly 10000 yens per flight (one flight = one coupon), whatever your domestic destination may be. You can have 5 coupons per person. When you come to Ishigaki, it is definitely a bargain!
For the record, the same kind of offer exists with Star Alliance Group (Lufthansa...).


Our hotel is in Ishigaki city, and we intend to visit the island and its wilder neighbour: Iriomote. Those islands are in pre-tropical regions