Kerama Islands Travel Guide

Lying some 30km offshore, the Kerama Islands are the closest group to Naha. A knot of three large, inhabited islands and numerous pinpricks of sand and coral, the Keramas offer some of the most beautiful and unspoilt beaches in Okinawa and superb diving among the offshore reefs. Tokashiki-jima , the largest island and the closest to Naha, attracts the greatest number of tourists, but all the islands are surprisingly quiet outside the summer peak (July & Aug). This might not last much longer. Already Zamami-jima , the most interesting of the group, and nearby Aka-jima are busy upgrading their ports, hotels and roads. Much of this has been spurred by the recent boom in whale-watching during the winter months.

Historically, whaling was an important part of the local economy, but in the 1960s the whales simply disappeared and the industry died. Then, about ten years ago, the humpbacks started coming back to their winter breeding grounds - which the locals have been quick to exploit, though this time for tourism rather than hunting. Several decades earlier, the islanders were faced with less welcome arrivals, when the US Navy chose these deep, sheltered waters as a base for attacking Okinawa Island. Here, as on Okinawa, there were several mass suicides, including Zamami-jima's whole town council. However, most young Japanese associate the Keramas not with the war but with a cutesy 1970s film called I Want to See Marilyn . Based on a true story, it tells of a romance between two dogs on neighbouring islands: Shiro on Aka-jima, and Marilyn some 3km away on Zamami. They met when Shiro travelled to Zamami in his owner's boat, but the passion was such that he started swimming over every day to rendezvous with Marilyn on Zamami's Ama beach - or so the story goes.

Fortunately, there are other ways of getting to the islands . They're served by Kerama airport , on southerly Fukazi-jima, with daily flights from Naha by Ryukyu Air Commuter (3 daily; 15min; ¥7140/¥12,860 return); boats wait to shuttle passengers from the airport to the islands (¥620-¥820). The alternative is a ferry from Naha's Tomari Port. The high-speed Queen Zamami departs twice daily for Zamami, calling at Aka-jima either on the outward or return journey (55min-1hr 15min; ¥2750/¥5232 return; tel 098/868-4567). Or there's the slower, cheaper Zamami-maru (daily; 2hr 15min; ¥1860/¥3540 return; same phone number). For Tokashiki-jima, there's just one daily ferry from Tomari Port (1hr 10min; ¥1360/¥2590 return; tel 098/868-7541).