■Traditional red roof tile houses in Taketomi

Taketomi has the traditional city of Okinawa as people imagine: the red roof tiles, stone wall of coral reefs, sand road between villages, and Hibiscus and Bougainvillea that bloom all year long.
It is easily accessible from Ishigaki by a boat, which only takes about 10 minutes.

(The city seen on the opposite shore is the center city of Ishigaki)

You can go sightseeing on a water buffalor carriage. You can get on a glass boat and see the coral reefs around the island.

You can also bike the area since the entire island is relatively flat.

From the harbor, you can take the bus to the rental bicycle shop and stop at a village. People switch to their bikes there and go around the island.

■The beautiful ocean surrounding the island

This is the Kaiji beach known for star sands. Star sands are marine protozoa that once lived on the ocean floor. They are called the star sands for their shapes.

Visitors search for the star sands crouching over the sands. Since people walk on the sands and their pointed external spines are destroyed, it is difficult to distinguish them from the normal sands.

Kondoi beach next to the Kaji beach is the only island with a bathing beach. It is the typical southern island beach and people can have a distant view of Iriomote.

A good spot for a spectacular view of sunset is the abandoned Nishisanbashi pier. It is very quiet and you can gaze at the ocean and just relax.

■The remains of the traditional city with much effort by the local people

Lets go back o the village after observing the sea.
The Okinawan lion statue watches many houses as talisman on top of the red roof tiles and stonewalls of coral reefs surround them. The traditional architecture and living style are kept which makes this place very rare in Japan.

The locals enforced number of rules to regulate the sizes of the houses in order to preserve the traditional architecture. Everyone from the island participates in Tanedori festival that is held in the fall and it lasts for 10 days.

Let’s climb on top of the Nagomi tower to take a look at the entire village. Only one person can climb up on this little hill and you can see the red roof tiles covering up the ground.

As we walk through sand road from the village that carries sand from the shore, we came across the water buffalo carriage. It is relaxing to tour around the village while listening to the Okinawan instrument played by the guide.

Taketomi Island makes us think we have time traveled to the Ryuku era. You can enjoy the Okinawan culture, beautiful scenery, and the laidback expansive feel.