Minamidaito Village

Shore trees gather by an inland pond.

Ohirugi grove at Oike pond

Photo by yujisan (CC BY 3.0)

01 ／ Edo Sumo and Okinawan Sumo

Two different rings are kept forEdo sumo and Okinawan sumo.

南大東島の相撲大会.jpg — Photo by 東京都特許許可局 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

On 23 January 1900, a party of 23 settlers from Hachijo Island landed at Nishi Port. The village holds both Edo-style sumo from Hachijo culture and Okinawan sumo from Okinawan culture, and keeps two different kinds of rings. The harvest festival is held on 22 and 23 September each year.

23 January 1900: 23 settlers land at Nishi Port
Two kinds of sumo rings: Edo and Okinawan
Harvest festival on 22 and 23 September each year

02 ／ Kaigunbo

Because the navy put up a pole there,settlers came to call the coast Kaigunbo.

In 1892 the warship Kaimon surveyed the island and set up a marker inscribed with the words that the Imperial Japanese warship Kaimon set it up on 6 August, Meiji 25. According to the village's survey booklet, settlers came to call the whole stretch of coast Kaigunbo, the Navy Pole, because it was where the navy had put up a pole.

1892: the warship Kaimon surveys the island
A marker dated 6 August, Meiji 25
The coast came to be called Kaigunbo

03 ／ Former Boiler House, Nishi Port

A stone building of the island's coral limestonestands overlooking Nishi Port.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as the power room of a facility for hauling ships onto land at the time of typhoons. Built in stone around 1924, with walls of the island's coral limestone laid in random courses, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 December 2000.

Stone, around 1924, 115 sq m building area
Walls of island coral limestone in random courses
Registered on 4 December 2000

Living here

An island village, about 1 hour by air from Naha.

about 1,000 people
Rural district town

Minamidaito is a village covering Minamidaito Island alone, with no railway. Its gateway is Minamidaito Airport. The village's guide gives about 1 hour by air from Naha Airport. A ferry also serves the island, and its sailing days can be checked on the operator's official site.

People living here: 1,285people
Area: 30.52km²
Households: 680households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 1 clinic

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

Children waiting for childcare: —0 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 0 municipalities.

Minamidaito Village in Japan25.829°N 131.232°E

Territory of Minamidaito Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

6.6km

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

Minamidaito Village isthis kind of town.

01The Ohirugi grove at Oike pond, which the village introduces as a national Natural Monument, lies in the wetland around the northern end of the pond in the island's north; the village says that Ohirugi, a mangrove tree that normally grows on muddy coasts, growing inland is thought to show how the island's coral reef grew and its ground shifted, and that it is of high academic value as an inland-enclosed Ohirugi
02At Nishi Port, because the whole island is ringed by sheer cliffs and large ships cannot berth directly at the quay, the village describes landing by crane as a sight that is very rare even nationwide; it is also where the settlers landed in 1900
03The village says the island's central part holds some fifty lakes of karst origin, and the Japan Meteorological Agency says Minamidaito Island Local Meteorological Observatory traces back to a private weather station run on the island by a sugar company in 1917

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Minamidaito Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗