Yonaguni



Yonaguni (与那国) in the Yaeyama Islands is the westernmost point of Japan.

Understand


Also known as Dunan (どぅなん) in the local language, Yonaguni is a small island (28 km2) from Taiwan and  from Ishigaki. The main population centers are Sonai (祖内) on the north coast, the smaller port town of Kubura (久部良) on the west coast, and tiny Hikawa (比川) in the south. The total population is about 1700.

Although it lacks the resorts of the larger Yaeyama islands and its few visitors are mostly divers coming to witness the island's mysterious sunken "ruins" and hammerhead sharks, the island has beautiful (yet uncrowded) beaches, cultural attractions, and various mysteries of history.

Tourist Information Site
The local tourist association has a Japanese-only guide site with integrated Google Translate.

Talk
Yonaguni is famous for its local language, brewed in isolation for centuries, which even those from mainland Okinawa find utterly incomprehensible. Pronunciation can be a bit easier than that of the neighboring Miyako islands, though, as the central vowels and word-final consonants are absent here. Language buffs can pick up Nae Ikema's Japanese-Yonaguni dictionary Yonaguni-go Jiten (与那国語辞典) at the airport shop.

The only words the casual visitor is likely to run into though are waːriː (ワーリー) and fugarassa (フガラッサ), Yonaguni for "welcome" and "thank you", respectively, as standard Japanese is spoken by practically everybody (the locals are bilingual), and Chinese is understood by some as Taiwanese TV and radio can be picked up on the island.

Get in
Yonaguni is among the remotest inhabited spots of Japan and getting there is inconvenient and expensive. Flights and ferries may be cancelled at short notice if the weather is bad, particularly around the fall typhoon season, so allow some buffer in your plans.

(Oddly, despite the island's close proximity to Taiwan, as of 2024 there are no flights or even cruises between the two. There are plans to start fast-boat service between Hualien and Yonaguni, though.)

Get around
There are 9 buses per day between Sonai and Kubura, 3 of which continue on to make a full circuit of the island of the west half of the island, but there is no public transport on the eastern side. Somewhat incredibly, all buses are free.

2 taxis are also available, and a circuit of the island by car takes about an hour. There are at least 4 or 5 different rent-a-car places, including SSK right in front of the airport (from ¥5000 for a full day), and motorbikes and bicycles are also readily available.

More or less all diving shops and lodgings offer free transfers to and from the airport or ferry pier if you book ahead.

Capes, cliffs and beaches




Rock formations


The following rock formations are best viewed by boat.



Culture

 * Bullfights (闘牛)
 * Bullfights (闘牛)
 * Bullfights (闘牛)

Fauna
The island's unique fauna are also of interest.


 * Yonaguni horse (ヨナグニウマ yonaguni-uma). Bred in isolation on Yonaguni over hundreds of years, the Yonaguni horse is a very small breed, only about 10 hands high (100 cm/3.5 feet). Nowadays, most are wild, in two free-ranging herds (about 108 horses total). They're generally very tame and gentle, thanks in large part to the kind treatment they receive from the islanders. You'll probably see at least one if you're on the island for very long.
 * Atlas moth (ヨナグニサン yonaguni-san). The largest known species of moth in the world. Although it can be found in other parts of Asia (mostly in Taiwan, India, and Malaysia), the first specimen was collected in Yonaguni and they are abundant.

Do
Scuba diving is without a doubt the main draw for most visitors to Yonaguni. However, the island's location in the middle of the open sea without protective reefs means that waves can be high and currents can be strong, so most diving here is drift diving and many of the more interesting dive sites are only accessible to experienced divers.



Snorkeling is possible in from some beaches, and can be quite good, though there may not be any spot ideal for beginners. The sheltered channel on the east side of the bridge at Sonai harbor is a relatively safe place to swim around and see some tropical fish, best accessed from a tiny beach near Urano Cemetery. There can be a significant current here during the changing tides, but there's nowhere for you to get pulled out to - you'll either end up at the boat ramp or back at the beach. The outer lagoon on the other side of the concrete reinforcements is even better, but you should be very careful of currents and high surf. Never swim in the ocean without first learning what to do if you get caught in a rip current.

Yonaguni Monument


Yonaguni's unique attraction is the mysterious. A single platform 100 by wide and up to tall, seeming carved out of solid rock at perfectly right angles and dated by some to be 8000 years old, the technology required to build them here doesn't seem to match any known timeline of human history. Some maintain that they are the product of the lost Continent of Mu or even alien artifacts, though the majority of scientists think they were created by natural geological processes. But the (apparent) hallways and staircases, as well as what appear to be regular rows of holes dug for moving rock and even what some take to be a form of writing on the walls, keep visitors intrigued.

Seeing the ruins, however, takes some time, effort and skill: the area is notorious for its currents and not suitable for beginning divers, although several diving shops run one-day crash courses that culminate in a guided tour of the ruins. For those with the requisite skills (PADI AOWD or more), a day's diving starts at ¥12000. The ruins, some 20 minutes by boat from Kubura, are usually only accessible when they are on the leeward side of a north wind and the currents are not too strong, so you'll also need some luck just to get here.

Wind conditions permitting, SOUWES diving service (ソーウェス) can also arrange glass-bottomed boats to make the trip for ¥5000/head if there are five or more passengers (or you can charter the whole boat yourself). Don't expect to see very much when the weather is bad, as the ruins are at a depth of 5 to 20 meter.

The names of individual features are mostly made up by their original discoverers and researchers. They might not be scientifically correct, but no better names are available for reliable orientation.



These objects are not part of the monument, but are relatively close to it:



Sharks
In addition to the ruins, Yonaguni is also famous among Japanese divers for its hammerhead sharks, which congregate around the island and can be spotted on most dives in the cooler winter season (December–February). Yonaguni is also pretty much the only spot in Japan where it is possible to spot the giant whale shark, the largest of them all, although sightings are quite rare.

Caverns
Much of the southern coastline is dotted with caverns, caves and underwater rock formations, which make for spectacular but, again, slightly challenging diving. Daiyati and the Temple of Light are particularly well-known spots that bear more than slight resemblance to Swiss cheese.

Other
Other events of note on Yonaguni include:



Buy
The most popular Yonagunian souvenir by far is hanazake (花酒) liquor, see Drink for details.



Eat
Most visitors opt to eat breakfast and dinner at their lodgings and lunch at their diving service, but there are a few small restaurants in Sonai and Kubura, as well as a small "supermarket" in Sonai.


 * chōmei-sō (長命草) is a local grass reputed to extend longevity. May be topped on a bowl of noodles.

Drink
Yonaguni is best known for hanazake (花酒), literally "flower sake", a drink nowhere near as dainty as you might expect from the name: it's the local 60° awamori and tradition demands drinking it straight, without even an ice cube to ease the pain. The best known brand is Donan (どなん) and the other labels brewed on the island are Yonaguni (与那国) and Maifuna (舞富名, ateji) meaning 'clever person' in the local dialect). You can visit the breweries of all three in Sonai, sample a little, and learn about brewing methods. It's fairly steeply priced though, as a bottle of the stuff will set you back over ¥2000; and you need to add a few hundred yen if you want the traditional protective straw coat for your bottle. Cheaper and marginally less lethal 43° and 30° versions are also available.

Stay safe
Okinawa's favorite bogeyman, the habu snake, is absent from Yonaguni. The main danger here is the ferocious currents, particularly on the north coast, so check conditions before swimming. Other than that, the usual warnings apply not to touch any seas creatures (including beautiful cone shells), some of which have stings that can occasionally be fatal.

Cope
There are no banks on Yonaguni, but you can withdraw money from the ATMs at the post offices in Sonai and Kubura. There are no convenience stores either. The supermarket in Sonai stays open until 20:00, and for dinner there is at least one izakaya in Sonai that stays open until 21:00 or 22:00.

There are no public WiFi hotspots on Yonaguni yet, but your accommodation should have fast WiFi for guests.

Go next
You're at the end of Japan now &mdash; unless you can score a seat to Taiwan on a private boat, the only way out is back where you came from.