Miyakojima City

A 1727 record lists the bridge's size.

Ikeda-bashi, prefectural site

Photo by Paipateroma (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Tooriike Ponds

Two ponds linked to the sea:their depth shifts with the tide.

Two ponds on Shimoji Island are joined by a natural bridge. The northeastern one is about 55 m across and the southwestern about 75 m, and an undersea cave about 10 m wide links them to the sea, so their depth changes with the tide. They are thought to have formed when two points in a limestone cave collapsed.

Northeastern pond: about 55 m across, about 25 m deep
Southwestern pond: about 75 m across, about 40 m deep on the sea side
Linked to the sea by a cave about 10 m wide
2006: national Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument

02 ／ Bora Travertine Terraces

Spring water leaves lime on the cliff,stacking dish-shaped pools.

Below a cliff on Miyako Island's south coast, the terraces spread about 70 m along the shore and up to about 30 m wide. Calcium carbonate in the spring water forms travertine that rims small pools, and over 300 large and small dish-shaped forms overlap. Formation is said to have begun about 3,600 years ago and continues.

About 70 m long, up to about 30 m wide
Over 300 dish-shaped forms
Said to have begun forming about 3,600 years ago
2016: national Natural Monument (geology)

03 ／ Pantu of Miyakojima

In Shimajiri, visiting gods covered in vines and mudwalk through the village.

In Shimajiri, three masked visiting gods appear at the start of the ninth lunar month. Wrapped in shiinokikazura vine and smeared with mud, they pray to five women who play goddesses at a sacred site, then go out to drive away evil spirits. In Nohara it is held on the last ox day of the twelfth lunar month. The photo shows a museum display.

Two settlements: Shimajiri and Nohara
1993: national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property
2018: inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list
Photo: a display at Miyakojima City Museum

Living here

About 45 minutes by air from Naha, a city of six islands.

about 50,000 people

Miyakojima is a city made up of six islands: Miyako, Ikema, Kurima, Irabu, Shimoji and Ogami. It has no railway. Its gateway is Miyako Airport. The tourism association gives about 45 minutes from Naha, about 30 minutes from Ishigaki and about 25 minutes from Tarama.

People living here: 52,931people
Area: 203.9km²
Households: 24,235households
Rent (average for rentals): 46,413yen
Healthcare: 4 hospitals ／ 40 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —26 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.

Miyakojima City in Japan24.790°N 125.295°E

Territory of Miyakojima City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

37.2km

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

Miyakojima City isthis kind of town.

01Ikeda-bashi Bridge, a prefectural historic site near the mouth of the Sakita River in Shimoji, is an arch of piled Ryukyu limestone, and the Yoseikyuki of 1727 records it as 20 ken long north to south, 3 ken across and 9 shaku 5 sun high
02Yamato-ga, a national historic site thought to have been dug around 1720 judging from the Yoseikyuki, has large and small cut stones piled in a circle around the well, and the fish weir at Sawada beach, said to have been built around 1850, is a city-designated tangible folk cultural property
03Choma-ito teumi, the hand-twisting of the ramie thread that is the main material of Miyako jofu and other textiles, is a nationally selected preservation technique in which weft thread is joined without knots, and the Miyako pony, a prefectural Natural Monument, is kept at a city paddock

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Miyakojima City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗