Iriomote
Encyclopedia
Yaeyama Islands
The Yaeyama Islands are a group of islands in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.The isles are the remotest part of Japan from the main islands and contains Japan's most southern and most western inhabited islands.The islands form the southern part of the volcanic Nansei Islands...
and the second largest in Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawa Prefecture
is one of Japan's southern prefectures. It consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island...
after Okinawa Island
Okinawa Island
Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, and is home to Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture. The island has an area of...
itself.
The island has an area of 289 km². The total population is less than 2,000, and infrastructure is limited to a single coastal road connecting the hamlets on the northern and eastern shores. The island does not have an airstrip, and most visitors—over 150,000 in 2003—arrive from Ishigaki
Ishigaki
*Ishigaki Island*Ishigaki, Okinawa*Ishigaki Airport*Japanese escort Ishigaki*Ai Ishigaki , guitarist for The Mad Capsule Markets*Ishigaki Rin...
by ferry. Administratively the island belongs to Taketomi Town
Taketomi, Okinawa
is a town located in Yaeyama District, Okinawa, Japan. The town includes all of the islands in the Yaeyama District excluding Ishigaki, Yonaguni, and the Senkaku Islands. This includes the islands of Iriomote, Taketomi, Kohama, Kuroshima, Hateruma, and Hatoma...
, Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawa Prefecture
is one of Japan's southern prefectures. It consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Geography and climate
Iriomote belongs to tropical rainforest climateTropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate, also known as an equatorial climate, is a tropical climate usually found along the equator...
(Af). The average yearly temperature is 23.4°C (74.1°F), and the average monthly temperature ranges from 18.5°C (65.3°F) in January to 28.4°C (83.1°F) in July. The average annual rainfall of Iriomote is around 2,500mm. Iriomote has a typhoon season that, on average, runs from June to September.
90% of the island is covered by dense jungle and mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
swamps. 80% of the island is protected state land, and 34.3% of the island forms the Iriomote National Park
Iriomote National Park
Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park is a national park of Japan, situated on the Yaeyama Islands of the East China Sea....
.
The highest point on the island is Mt. Komi (古見岳 Komidake) at 470 meters. Around 21 km northwest (24.558°N 124.00°E) of Iriomote is an active undersea volcano which last erupted in 1924; the summit is 200 m below sea level.
Wildlife
The island is famed for the Iriomote CatIriomote cat
The Iriomote cat , is a wild cat about the size of a domestic cat that lives exclusively on the Japanese island of Iriomote. It is considered a "living fossil" by many biologists because it has not changed much from its primitive form...
(Prionailurus iriomotensis; Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
: 西表山猫 Iriomote-yamaneko), an endangered nocturnal wildcat found only on Iriomote and considered by some to be its own species. There are estimated to be only about 100 Iriomote cats left in the wild.
The island has a venomous snake—Trimeresurus elegans
Trimeresurus elegans
Trimeresurus elegans is a venomous pitviper species found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. No subspecies are currently recognized. The species is aggressive with large fangs...
, known locally as the habu, is a species of pitviper whose bite has a fatality rate of 3% and a permanent disability rate of 6–8%.
History
Until the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Iriomote was largely uninhabited due to its infestation by malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. It was used primarily as agricultural land to grow rice. Additionally, during the war some residents of Ishigaki
Ishigaki
*Ishigaki Island*Ishigaki, Okinawa*Ishigaki Airport*Japanese escort Ishigaki*Ai Ishigaki , guitarist for The Mad Capsule Markets*Ishigaki Rin...
were forcibly made to take refuge in Iriomote, many of whom contracted malaria.
After the war, the US Forces in Japan
United States Forces Japan
The refers to the various divisions of the United States Armed Forces that are stationed in Japan. Under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, the United States is obliged to defend Japan in close cooperation with the Japan Self-Defense Forces for...
eradicated malaria from the island, and the island has been malaria-free since.
The island, together with the rest of Okinawa Prefecture, remained a US-controlled territory until 1972. Iriomote was returned to Japan on 17 June 1972.
Economy
Apart from tourism, the island economy is sustained by agricultural production, primarily of pineapplePineapple
Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
, sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
, mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
, and fishing.