Japan’s tropical Okinawa Islands
Known in Japan as Okinawa Shotō, Okinawa consists of no less than two dozen islands scattered around the main island, referred to as Okinawa Honto. Located far south of Honshu, Japan’s main island, Okinawa together with the more southern Miyako and Yaeyama Islands form the Prefecture of Okinawa. Okinawa is part of a chain of Japanese islands that stretches north all the way from Kyushu, the third largest island of Japan, to Taiwan to the south. Known as the Ryukyu Islands, of which Okinawa is the largest and most populous, they were ruled by the independent Ryukyu Kingdom from the 15th [MORE...]