Christian's Travel Blog

05h30 ... the alarm clock signals time to get up and walk from the nearby Nest hotel to Naha port, boarding the daily A"LINE ferry. These days most people fly in or out, as airfares mostly are cheaper and of course flights save time. But still the ferries are the backbone to connect the scattered Ryukyu islands with "mainland" Japan, that itself consists of the four major islands - Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. When it comes to 'islandhopping' my choice was clear from the conception of this journey - it has to be by ferry! As any roadtrip, the goal is not to go from A to B, but rather the encounters along the way. As it turned out, I started my Ryukyu islands adventure not as thought from Kagoshima downward island by island, but due to seasonal considerations with a flight to the most southern Yaeyama islands and then hopping back towards Kagoshima. One month into my journey - visiting so far six islands - I decided ...

Tripadvisor has a list (by ranking) of 26 campgrounds on Okinawa and surrounding islands. By now, my island hopping introduced me to six islands of the Ryukyu archipelago, or in other terms, 4 weeks by camping on three of them. So what about Ama Beach Campground on Zamami-jima? Interestingly it is not mentioned at all by TripAdvisor ... Today it's already a week that I arrived from Naha by ferry - on the cheaper cargo ferry a two-hour crossing with a short stop at Aka-jima. And I'm still not departing this pearl in the Keremashoto National Park. Ama Beach Campground.So close to the touristic hub Naha (Okinawa), a hidden secret in terms of camping right at an incredible turquoise beach - and still it escaped the mighty virtual eyes of TripAdvisor. Let it be like that. I won't put it on TripAdvisor's ranking on top. It's just right as it is. One of those few places - like the one at Maupiti in French Polynesia, or 'U...

What distinguishes camping from most other ways of traveling is living with the elements - the direct impact of nature and close environment. The idea of island hopping becomes a different experience surrounded by the sounds of sea, wind and rain. And after a rainy and stormy night in the tent, the early morning birds surprise again and again. There's no doubt about the beauty as well as power of changing weather that the pearl necklace-like lined up Ryukyu islands are exposed. Today the morning sun invited me on a trail for one of the whale-spotting lookouts, but till i climbed up the condition had changed - a dark wall was approaching from north. No escape, but wide screen cinema in dolby sound. And an hour later the rainbow gave the signal for a great, sunny day out in the sea - turtels, i'm coming. I asked at the reception to organise a wetsuit (for tall alien ; ) and 15 minutes later I entered already that unimaginable colour...

Camping for two weeks at Yaeyama islands passed quickly. Whereas I was weatherwise somewhat lucky on Iriomote-jima, the Inoda Campground on Ishigaki-jima confirmed to be on the wet eastcoast - 5 days and a grey rainy sky did not allow for one morning sunrise shot. Yesterday I had my one-hour flight to Naha, Okinawa, up north. There are no more ferries these days connecting the Yaeyamas with Okinawa. And my plan was to walk straight to Tomari port to catch the last ferry to Zamami-jima, my next remote camping destination. Rushing in rain from Miebashi monorail station to Tomari port, the ticket office was closed ... and the last ferry departed 20 minutes ago. A late plane and wrong departure information upfront, and you find yourself on a rainy day in search for a cheap place to stay. I have to add here, that I do not have a local sim-card to access internet ... hence walking out there into a grey, wet late afternoon. Yep, moral was low. Finally I deci...

On my last visit to Japan a visit to Iriomote-jima was on my radar - however, the Covid pandemic affected not only my travel plans. The thought wasn't lost, especially when a few months ago an episode by 3Sat documentary program 'Universum' provided an impressive inside to the subtropical jungle island and its unique hidden gems. And one of them definitely is 80-years old textile designer Akiko Ishigaki, known and widely acclaimed for her traditional weaving techniques. Unfortunately I had no appointment and started this morning by chance a trip to Kuuru Koubou, a hidden place settled between the sea, mangroves along river Urauchi and dense vegetation. 'Yes, this must be her workshop', I thought immediately when approaching a house under a big shaddy tree and lots of small artifacts. 'If I might meet her and not bother her in showing up with not much more than my admiration and respect?' I found myself alone in a place of ...

Iriomote-jima is almost fully covered by dense subtropical jungle. And one of the highlights to come that far south is the Iriomote Crossing Jungle Trail. The trail literally crosses the island from northwest to southeast, and its a full day hike in subtropical jungle conditions. Starting point usually is up north at the Urauchi river, catching the first tourboat up 4km along mangroves to the picturesque waterfalls. And here also ends the sightseeing trip, as from here the trail up along the wild riverbed will wind through dense jungle for about 13km and an additional 7.5km gravelroad to the opposite side of Iriomote-jima. Eventually you have to register and apply for a permit to enter and cross the National Park and Conservation Area. However, I was lucky to meet two young Japanese backpackers - Taketo and Yoshiyuki - that already organised their entrance permit and were ready to start early next morning. Kindly they accepted to join them ... and of...

2020 - when Covid19 crossed my travel plans and suddenly flights between Europe and Japan got cancelled - I thought it is a surprise invitation to discover some of the remote islands stretching from Kyushu down south close to Taiwan. Wishful thinking - the 'New Normal' asked people to limit movement within their own prefecture. Eventually, the remote islanders themselves asked not to visit. Probably the frightening images from Europe made them aware of their own situation - a mostly elderly small population on remote islands with limited healthcare facilities, hospitals not to mention. Well, the pandemic waves passed and the health system could handle the situation, as no tourists from the main islands were to show up for two years. However, small remote islands - green dots surrounded coral reefs in deep blue sea - these days mainly receive their income from tourism. So far, so bad, as on my visit now in 2023, a soft landing for local tourism by a natio...

Okinawa - by some compared as Japan's Hawaii - is known to most travelers to Asia and Japan in particular. It is also the favourite destination for Japanese tourists in the Ryukyus. They get what they look for - a well developed and convenient sub-tropical holiday paradise. But maybe it's only due to lack of time, as the entire island chain of some 150 islands streches over more than 1.000 km from the southern end of Kyushu to Taiwan. The Ryukyus itself are locally better known by its regional archipelagos, like the Osumi Islands, Amami Islands, Okinawa Islands, and down South the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands. So maybe it is good to have a rough guide of the journey in your mind, and it is obvious that you need time. Especially when the starting point is solotravel, backpacking and camping, whereever possible. A rough guide is not that difficult, as 'island hopping' in the Ryukyus is nowadays as simple as reliable - mostly by ferry, and larger dist...