Back from Ishigaki (Okinawa)

[kifo]

Just came back this morning on SQ. Damn lousy CAAS service, the whole plane of passengers waited 1hr plus at the belt for their luggages.

This is quite a short trip. Spent 2 days at Ishigaki, 2 days at Iriomote and 1 day at Taketomi. Also had a shopping day at Tokyo at the end. Quite a bit of time spent in transit unavoidably.

Ishigaki, Iriomote and Taketomi belongs to the most southern chain of islands - the Yaeyama Islands in Okinawa. In fact. Ishigaki is closer to Taiwan than Naha (Okinawa's capital) itself.

Will update more images later.

PS. Just a note, the Bmobile reception in the 3 islands are pretty weak. It was quite frustrating using instagram.

 

[evilerniex]

nice!
how do u get to these islands? domestic flight from Naha? how much is are the flights?

 

[kifo]

nice!
how do u get to these islands? domestic flight from Naha? how much is are the flights?

Flight was SQ to Tokyo Haneda. Reached at 6am in the morning. Then I went over to Domestic Terminal 2 to wait for my flight to Ishigaki at 12pm. These are direct flights to the New Ishigaki Airport which takes about 3 hours. I bought the ANA promotional domestic flights for overseas visitors which are 10,000 yen each flight. So definitely I have to fly direct to Ishigaki or else I will need to pay for the extra stopover at Naha.

Taking the domestic flight in Japan is a relatively painless experience as anyone who has done it before can tell you. I checked in 1 hr before coming back from Ishigaki and I even had a baggage to check in. You only need to get into the departure area 15 mins before boarding. Giving yourself another 10 mins for the security scans and I even had time to enjoy my Ishigaki Gelato before going into the waiting lounge.

 

[kifo]

While waiting at Haneda Domestic Terminal 2 on day 1

Having brunch waiting for my Ishigaki flight. Noticed Tokyo is raining. It was quite cold (abt 20 degrees) that morning.

I must say Haneda Domestic Terminal 2 is quite nice with plenty of shopping and stuff to sit around.

My flight to Ishigaki. Notice the old livery on the ANA plane? THis must be an ancient 767.

Here is the view outside my Hotel Room. Hotel Patina. It is not bad and it is near to everything. But I think the newer hotel nearby Hotel East China Sea might be worth considering as it has higher floors and better location.

 

[kifo]

The day I landed was still within the rainy season (Tsuyu) in Japan. So there the sky was very cloudy. This is a pic of the harbor area when I first arrived.

A cute dog I saw near the harbour area.

I had the best Ishigaki beef for dinner. Kobe beef are reared from Ishigaki calves.

Rented a car to drive around as Ishigaki is 1/3 size of Singapore. Here is a nice view from a viewpoint.

 

[kifo]

The place is simply beautiful. These are pictures taken at the north end of the island, you can see where the coral reef ends and the sea begins.

The beautiful white lighthouse at the northmost point.

Many islands in the Yaeyama group has many similar geographic features like Singapore. They also have lost of mangrove areas.

Here is a nice lizard I saw at a mangrove nature reserve.

 

[kifo]

View of the sea from one of the beaches

And this is Kabira Bay, where you can take rides out on glass bottom boats.

Here is another lighthouse on the island - Uganzaki is at the western end of the island.

View from the lighthouse.

 

[kifo]

This is probably not going to sell well in Singapore.

Drove up to the highest spot on the island to see the whole Ishigaki Town.

There are plenty of beaches in Ishigaki. Some of them are truly deserted like this one.

 

[cheefarn]

Great pics bro. Japan is pretty from South all the way to the extreme north of Hokkaido

Hey bro, where are the bikini babes? They have beaches but no bikini SYTs? I find it hard to believe wor

 

[kifo]

Great pics bro. Japan is pretty from South all the way to the extreme north of Hokkaido

Hey bro, where are the bikini babes? They have beaches but no bikini SYTs? I find it hard to believe wor

Summer vacation months for Japanese are July & August. I was too early. There were a few families about but I didn't bother.

 

[kifo]

There were plenty of corals on the beaches.

The weather on the first few days weren't good. And I encountered plenty of passing showers, but noting too major.

There are a few typical Okinawan dishes. Like Debichi and Goya here.

And the most famous Okinawan product.

 

[kifo]

They even have awamori jelly!

Since they share the same climate as Taiwan, they also have a great supply of local fruits.

As they have lots of cow, gelato is also a big favourite dessert there. This one is in salt flavour.

I went to Iriomote after Ishigaki. Iriomote is slightly bigger than Ishigaki but it has only 5% of Ishigaki's population and no airport. The only way to reach it is by ferry.

There is a star sand beach in Iriomote. Star sands are actually tiny organisms that lived among the seaweeds.

 

[kinggerard]

Hi Kifo,

I am planning to go Ishigaki in early Oct for Manta scramble diving. May i Know which car rental did you use and how did you reserve the car? What abt the hotel? Did you use Google Translate (translation to Jap) for your emails, if you emailed them?

I have email-ed Hotel Cucule / ABC car rental in english but I haven't got any response so far.

How easy is it to drive around in Ishigaki and locating / driving to your Places of Interest? Parking wise?

Thanks.

 

[kifo]

Hi Kifo,

I am planning to go Ishigaki in early Oct for Manta scramble diving. May i Know which car rental did you use and how did you reserve the car? What abt the hotel? Did you use Google Translate (translation to Jap) for your emails, if you emailed them?

I have email-ed Hotel Cucule / ABC car rental in english but I haven't got any response so far.

How easy is it to drive around in Ishigaki and locating / driving to your Places of Interest? Parking wise?

Thanks.

Yup Ishigaki is a good place to see Manta Rays. Too bad I don't dive.

I stayed at Hotel Patina. I reserved through Rakuten. As I know a bit of Japanese, I was using the Japanese website. But Rakuten has an English website too so it might be easier for you. I also rented my car thru Rakuten but I was using the Japanese website. I noticed that the English version limits you to only one rental company. The company I rented from was Orix.

Another option is to rent the car directly from the Hotel. I know Hotel Patina has it. It is not necessary cheaper but at least it might be easier for you.

Do you know some Japanese? Perhaps you might want to rent from Toyota, Nissan or Nippon Car Rentals as they have better English support. It will be easier for them and for you when you collecting and returning the car.

There are not many roads on Ishigaki so driving was pretty straightforward. But the max speed on the island is only 40-50km/h. Please observe this speed limit especially near towns and schools. You do not want to get on the wrong side of the law on your holiday.

There are plenty of free parking at most sight-seeing areas and beaches, but some need to pay anywhere from 300-500 yen. In the town centre, I parked at my hotel and walk. But I also saw metered car parks near the markets and shopping area.

 

[Auggie]

Just came back this morning on SQ. Damn lousy CAAS service, the whole plane of passengers waited 1hr plus at the belt for their luggages.

This is quite a short trip. Spent 2 days at Ishigaki, 2 days at Iriomote and 1 day at Taketomi. Also had a shopping day at Tokyo at the end. Quite a bit of time spent in transit unavoidably.

Ishigaki, Iriomote and Taketomi belongs to the most southern chain of islands - the Yaeyama Islands in Okinawa. In fact. Ishigaki is closer to Taiwan than Naha (Okinawa's capital) itself.

Will update more images later.

PS. Just a note, the Bmobile reception in the 3 islands are pretty weak. It was quite frustrating using instagram.

nice pics Kifo!

Did u take a direct flight from SG to Ishigaki? How much did it cost ya?

Seems Ishigaki is not dat ulu after all.

Planning to visit the islands along the way someday startin from Ishigaki all the way till mainland Japan.

 

[kifo]

Hi Auggie,

There is no direct flight from Singapore to Ishigaki. Like described in my photos. I flew to Haneda and then took a domestic flight to Ishigaki.

If you are considering a south to north approach, the only suggestion I have for you is to fly to Taiwan, and then take a international flight from Hualian or Taizhong to Ishigaki. As far as I know, this flight is limited to the summer months and there are about 2 flights per week. You will need to do more research about this. And this will probably be the more expensive way to do it as there are no promotional discounts from JAL/ANA for domestic flights here.

 

[kifo]

First meal in Iriomote was in this tiny restaurant off the main road. Had to rent a car for a few hours just to get around as I was staying at this minshuku that was quite far away from the port.

I had this weird looking squid ink soba which wasn't all that bad.

Went swimming at one of the beaches for the afternoon. The wave is quite strong here.

Dinner at the minshuku was great. The chef is really good.