Ishigaki Island

Understand

Ishigaki has 45,000 of Yaeyama's 50,000 people and is thus the political, economic and transport hub of the islands. Most of these live in central Ishigaki, known for lack of a better name in Japanese as shigaichi (市街地 "city streets"), chūshin (中心 "center") or just machi (町 "town"). The town's focal point is the rather sad 730 Monument (730交差点), where main roads Sanbashi-dōri (桟橋通り), running eastwards from the ferry terminal, and Shiyakusho-dōri (市役所通り), running north-south, meet. Other population centers on Ishigaki are Kabira (川平), by the bay of the same name on the northwest coast, and Shiraho (白保), at the southeast corner. Much of the island, particularly the central mountains and the scenic northeastern peninsula, is quite sparsely settled.

Tourist information sites OoriToori is the city's partly multilingual official guide site. The local tourist association has a Japanese-only guide site with integrated machine translation.

Getting there

By plane 1 New Ishigaki Airport (ISG IATA 新石垣空港 Shin-Ishigaki Kūkō) (15 km from the center of Shiraho), ☏ +81 980-87-0032. The largest airport in the Yaeyama Islands. There are frequent connections to Naha and Miyako, some direct services to major Japanese cities like Tokyo, and daily flights to Yonaguni. The low-cost airline Peach offers flights from Osaka, and there are also low-cost flights from Naha on the main island of Okinawa. China Airlines has seasonal scheduled flights to Taipei, which is only 40 minutes away.Azuma Bus lines #4 and #10 serve the airport every 20 minutes or so. The lines take different routes, but both take around 45 minutes, end up at the bus terminal and cost ¥520. You can also use the Free Passes for this (see Get around). A taxi to central Ishigaki costs around ¥2,500 and take 30 minutes.

By boat

Ishigaki Port (石垣港) is in the center of the city near the bus terminal. There are two parts: the central Ritō-sanbashi (離島さんばし), for services to nearby islands, and a second unnamed pier at the southeast corner of the port for long-distance services to Yonaguni and slow boats to Hateruma. The port information office is next to Ritō-sanbashi pier 1. There are no scheduled services to mainland Japan or islands outside the Yaeyama group. There are extensive services (daytime only) to the other islands in the Yaeyama group:

Taketomi (¥690, 15 min), departures every 30 minutes or so Iriomote Ōhara Port (¥1,800, 35 min) and Uehara Port (¥2,000, 40 min; summer months only), departures roughly hourly Hatoma island north of Iriomote (¥2,360, 40 min), 3 departures daily, one stopping at Uehara first and therefore taking longer Kohama (¥1,220, 25 min), departures roughly hourly Kuroshima (Kuro) (¥1,320, 25 min), 5 departures daily, 6 in summer months Hateruma (¥3,550, 70 min), 2-5 departures daily Prices and times above are one-ways on fast ferries. Return fares are usually slightly cheaper. The schedules seem to now be unified, so that you can

Getting around

By bus Azuma Bus operates services throughout the island radiating from the bus terminal on Sanbashi-dōri, just across the street from the port. The most useful services connect to the airport (¥520) and Kabira (¥700). The best deal for transport on the island is the Michikusa Free Pass (みちくさフリーパス). It's not quite free, but ¥2,000 gets you unlimited trips around the island for 5 days. This isn't great if you're only getting a bus between the airport and the port (and are planning on spending your time visiting other islands or the beach), but given that a single trip from the airport to Kabira and back would cost you ¥2,440, if you're exploring Ishigaki (or are staying outside the city) this pays off pretty much instantly. There is also a "One-Day Free Pass" (1日フリーパス), which is just that, for ¥1,000. While service between the city center and the airport are quite frequent, the same is not true for the Kabira Resort Line. There are a few buses in the morning, none at midday and a couple more in the late afternoon, with the last departing Ishigaki at about 18:00. This means that you should only stay outside Ishigaki city if these time constraints work for you, or better yet if you have a car.

By taxi Taxis are the only other form of transport and it's common to see them slowly cruising the streets waiting for passengers. Flag fall is ¥390 and the meter ticks at alarming speed after 2 km.

By car There are many car rental companies in the island and many hotels offer car rental for ¥2,000–4,000 per day. A drive between the city and the farthest point of the island is about an hour and a half.

By bicycle Yaeyama Visitors Bureau publishes a free small guide about Yaeyama Islands cycling routes, including Ishigaki, with distances and gradients. If you start from downtown (southwest of the island), visiting the different parts of the island will mean some long rides, especially if you return to your accommodation every evening.

The route from downtown Ishigaki

See

Ishigaki is a little low on must-see attractions and somewhat tamer in terms of scenery than Iriomote. Most visitors hit the beaches of the northern coast and stay there.

1 730 Monument (730記念碑 Nana-san-maru kinenhi). This black rock mounted on a concrete plinth is not much to look at, but given its central location in downtown Ishigaki next to the port and the beginning of Route 390, the mysterious number warrants an explanation: it commemorates July 30, 1978, the day when Okinawa switched from driving on the right (like the US) to the left (like the rest of Japan). The 730COURT shopping mall is also nearby. (updated Sep 2021) 2 Yoko Gushiken Bronze Statue (具志堅用高モニュメント). A statue of Ishigaki-born boxer, Yoko Gushiken, at Ishigaki Port. It's a popular photo op and something to see while waiting for your ferry. Free. (updated Oct 2023) 3 Ishigaki Hoshinoumi Planetarium (いしがき島 星ノ海プラネタリウム). ¥1200. (updated Oct 2023) 4 Ishigaki City Yaeyama Museum (石垣市立八重山博物館). Closed Mon and holidays however, unlike everywhere else, if Monday is a holiday, it closes on both Monday and Tuesday. ¥200. (updated Oct 2023) 5 Ohana Nobumoto Memorial Museum (大濱信泉記念館). A museum for former Waseda University president, Professor Nobumoto Ohama. Free. (updated Oct 2023) 6 Yaeyama Peace Memorial Museum (八重山平和祈念館). A small museum outlining life on Ishigaki during World War II with special attention given to the prevalance of malaria on the island at the time, how the war pushed the disease to epidemic levels when the locals were evacuated into the mountains and aid was cut off, and the eradication of malaria from Ishigaki and the Yaeyama Islands by Americans after winning the war. ¥100. (updated Oct 2023) 7 Yōkō Gushiken Memorial Hall (具志堅用高記念館). A World Champion boxer during the 1970s-1980s who held the WBA light-flyweight title for 6 years from 1976 to 1981. He retired after losing the title and is most known today as a guest on variety shows. The museum focuses solely on his boxing career, wi

Do

The transparent waters around the island are full