Project “Islands” #1 - Osumi Archipelago

Hello everyone!

Today I am starting the “Islands” project: throughout this year I will publish a new post about a new Ryukyu island every day on this site. To blog about Ryukyu, I will use materials from the book by American Robert Walker, “Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands: The first comprehensive guide to the entire Ryukyu Island chain”.

Robert Walker has been researching Okinawa for over 25 years and has visited all the Ryukyu islands, including the small and uninhabited ones. The book is written in English, and there is currently no Ukrainian translation, so I have taken on a full manual translation of the book into Ukrainian. In fact, each post will be a new translated chapter with my own comments. I hope it will be interesting, and I will try to translate the book as accurately, as quickly and as well as possible.

So, where does the “Islands” project begin?

The Ryukyu archipelago has more than 140 islands, and the entire chain is divided into separate groups. I will talk about each group and its islands, starting from the northernmost (closest to Central Japan) to the southernmost (farthest from Japan).

The very first group of islands is located very close to the island of Kyushu, and is called Satsunan. This group includes the subgroups of Osumi, Tokara, and Amami (I have listed again from the northernmost to the southernmost). So we will start with the Osumi Islands, the closest Ryukyu Islands to Kagoshima City; the Osumi Islands have 9 islands, 2 of which are quite large, and 2 more are quite small. But let's talk about everything in order.

What does R. Walker say about the Osumi Islands in his book:

"Chapter One

The Osumi Islands

The northernmost group of the Satsunan Archipelago, the Osumi Islands, lie 60 km south of the southern tip of Kyushu. The Osumi Islands are volcanic in origin, and in total have an area of ​​1035 sq. km. In total, the Osumi Islands have 7 inhabited islands and many tiny wild islets. As for the population, the total number of inhabitants of the Osumi Islands reaches 52 thousand people, 18 thousand of whom live in the city of Nishinoomote on the island of Tanegashima.

The Osumi Islands have 2 airports, both on the largest islands - Tanegashima and Yakushima, as well as a runway and an unnamed control tower on the island of Iojima. The latter is kept in working order and is used for domestic flights. Almost all islands (and this applies to all of the Ryukyus) have a helipad, but helicopters are generally used only for emergency medical evacuations or for government needs.

Both islands (Tanegashima and Yakushima) are serviced by regular ferry services from Kagoshima City. Ferries carry passengers, vehicles, and various cargo; the entire route takes about 4 hours. High-speed passenger hydrofoils cover the same route in 2 hours. Regular cargo ferries also operate from Kagoshima three times a week. In addition, ferry schedules change from time to time. The most important thing before traveling is to remember to check the current schedule of your ferry.”

(amateur manual translation)

Next time I will write about Tanegashima Island, the island with the largest population in the Osumi Archipelago. Write in the comments what you would like to know, and in the meantime I will go translate a new chapter! You will see a new post with the translation tomorrow, but I may have a delay, so I can only publish part of the chapter.

Please share the link to this site with your friends and acquaintances, as well as register and join the joint work. Together it will only be more fun, and no personal data is required for registration, except for your email address.

See you!