Higashi Village

The whole village built a flower garden.

Sonmin-no-mori Azalea Park

Photo by Kugel (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Gesashi Bay Mangroves

Along the banks of the Gesashi River mouth,a mangrove forest of about 10 hectares.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as the most representative mangrove forest on Okinawa's main island, formed along the banks at the mouth of the Gesashi River, with Obahirugi, Ohirugi and Mehirugi among the species growing there. The village says that stands of hirugi trees, which grow in brackish water, are called mangroves.

About 10 hectares
1972: national Natural Monument
Ohirugi, Mehirugi and other hirugi species

02 ／ Yanbaru Boats and Tamunza

In prewar Kawata, timber and firewoodcut in the hills went out by Yanbaru boat.

In Kawata district before the war, timber and firewood cut in the mountains behind were the main source of cash income. They were shipped to the central and southern parts of the main island by Yanbaru boat. An exhibit at the village museum of mountain and water life explains Tamunza as a collection point for firewood and building timber.

Timber and firewood: main prewar cash income
Shipped to central and southern main island
Tamunza: collection point for firewood and timber

03 ／ Sakishima-suonoki

From just over a meter above the ground,15 plank roots, large and small, take a streamlined form.

This tree stands about 800 meters upstream from the mouth of the Fukuji River, 18 meters tall. The village designated it a Natural Monument in 1984, and the village says it is the largest of its kind on Okinawa's main island. Spring water flows from the rock wall behind it, which the museum describes as a place of worship.

18 m tall, about 2.9 m in girth
15 plank roots, large and small
1984: village Natural Monument

Living here

About 40 minutes by car from Nago, a long thin village on the east coast.

about 2,000 people
Rural district town

Higashi has no railway. Its gateway is Higashi Village Office in Taira. The village gives the distance by car as 91 km from Naha (about 100 minutes) and 26 km from Nago (about 40 minutes). It lies on the east coast of northern Okinawa Island, 4 to 8 km from east to west and 26 km from north to south.

People living here: 1,598people
Area: 81.75km²
Households: 725households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 1 clinic

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —1 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Higashi Village in Japan26.633°N 128.157°E

Territory of Higashi Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

13.2km

大宜味村, 国頭村, 名護市

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Higashi Village isthis kind of town.

01Sonmin-no-mori Azalea Park was built by the whole village by hand over six years, from 1976 to 1982; about 3.4 hectares hold some 50,000 azaleas of 7 kinds, including Keramatsutsuji, the village flower, and the village says it is open to the public only during the azalea festival
02Higashi became a village in its own right on April 1, 1923, separating from the old Kushi Village; the village says the biodiversity of Higashi, Kunigami and Ogimi was recognized as the World Natural Heritage Site Amami-Oshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, Northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island
03The village flower is the azalea, the village bird is the Okinawa woodpecker, and the village tree is the mangrove; the village says the woodpecker, a national Special Natural Monument, lives only in Kunigami, Ogimi and Higashi

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Higashi Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗