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is the largest of the
Yaeyama Islands The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa P ...
of
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
, and the second largest in
Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest cit ...
after
Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately long, an average wide, and has an ...
itself. The island has an area of and a 2005 population of 2,347. The island does not have an airstrip, and most visitors — over 390,000 in 2006 — arrive from Ishigaki by ferry, a ride to on Iriomote's northeast coast or on the southeast coast. Administratively the island belongs to Taketomi Town,
Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest cit ...
. Infrastructure is limited to a single coastal road connecting the hamlets on the northern and eastern shores.


Wildlife

The island is famed for the Iriomote cat, a '' Critically Endangered'' wild
cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
found only on Iriomote. the population size is estimated to be 100–109 individuals. The island has a venomous snake—'' Trimeresurus elegans'', known locally as the ''habu'', a species of
pitviper The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers,Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . crotaline snakes (from grc, κρόταλον ''krotalon'' castanet), or pit adders, are a subf ...
whose bite has a fatality rate of 3% and a permanent disability rate of 6–8%.U.S. Navy (1991). ''Poisonous Snakes of the World''. New York: Dover Publications Inc. . '' Satakentia liukiuensis'', the only species in the genus '' Satakentia'', is a palm tree that is
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to the two islands of Ishigaki and Iriomote in the
Yaeyama Islands The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa P ...
.


Culture

The Iriomote dialect of the
Yaeyama language The Yaeyama language (, ''Yaimamuni'') is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken in the Yaeyama Islands, the southernmost inhabited island group in Japan, with a combined population of about 53,000. The Yaeyama Islands are situated in the Southern ...
is spoken by some people on the island.


History

The island had few settlements of fishermen and rice growers on the coastal areas, but it never had a large population until the Iriomote Coal Mine operated between 1889 and 1959. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
some residents of Ishigaki were forcibly made to take refuge in Iriomote, many of whom contracted malaria. After the war, the US Forces in Japan eradicated malaria from the island, and the island has been malaria-free since then. The island, together with the rest of Okinawa Prefecture, remained a US-controlled territory until 1972. Iriomote was returned to Japan on June 17, 1972. The possibility exists that a World War II-era U.S. submarine lies in about of water off the coast of Iriomote Island. During operations with an Okinawan company using a U.S. made "SCORPIO" ROV in 1995, a group of divers encountered a sonar contact with what appeared to be a metal structure, about in girth and about in length (exposed) at an angle of roughly 20-30 degrees. The SONAR image of a large unexpected obstruction to the operations prompted the divers to command evasive maneuvers and avoid the area for the safety of the ROV. The divers, thinking they would have another opportunity to work in the area at a later date, left the area and never returned to that site. Their ROV was lost in 1997 off Yonaguni Island, the last island belonging to Okinawa off the east coast of Taiwan. They were fairly certain that the object was a submarine, and quite possibly the  USS ''Snook''. No further dives in the area have yet been attempted. One of the largest volcanic eruption took place at a
submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ri ...
north of the island in 1924. It had an estimated Volcanic explosivity index of 5. The island's coast was covered in large quantities of pumice and it was also found as far as Hokkaido.


Economy

Apart from tourism, the island economy is sustained by agricultural production, primarily of
pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...
,
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
,
mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...
, culture pearl growing and fishing.


Geography and climate

90% of the island is covered by dense jungle and
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...
swamps. 80% of the island is protected state land, and 34.3% of the island forms the Iriomote National Park. The highest point on the island is Mt. Komi (古見岳 ''Komidake'') at . Around northwest () of Iriomote is an active undersea volcano which last erupted in 1924; the summit is below sea level.
Yubu Island ''Yubu'', translated as Pace(s) of Yu or Step(s) of Yu, is the basic mystic dance step of religious Daoism. This ancient walking or dancing technique typically involves dragging one foot after another, and is explained in reference to the leg ...
lies about 0.5 km east of Iriomote Island. The island's Urauchi River is the largest river in Okinawa Prefecture, and the smaller Nakama and Nakara rivers also flow within the island. Iriomote is also home to Pinaisara Falls, the largest waterfall in Okinawa Prefecture. Iriomote has a
tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southe ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Af''). The average yearly temperature is , and the average monthly temperature ranges from in January to in July. Iriomote has a typhoon season that, on average, runs from June to September.


Education

Schools on Iriomote Island are operated by Taketomi Town. Combined elementary and junior high schools include: * Funauki Elementary and Junior High School (竹富町立船浮小中学校) * Iriomote Elementary and Junior High School(竹富町立西表小中学校) Junior high schools include: * Funaura Junior High School (竹富町立船浦中学校) - * Ōhara Junior High School (竹富町立大原中学校) - Elementary schools include: * Komi Elementary School (竹富町立古見小学校) - * Ohara Elementary School (竹富町立大原小学校) - Haemi * Shirama Elementary School (竹富町立白浜小学校) - Shirahama (白浜) * Uehara Elementary School (竹富町立上原小学校) - Uehara For public senior high school students may attend schools of the
Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education The Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education (沖縄県教育委員会) is the prefectural education agency of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. The board oversees municipal school districts in Okinawa and directly operates many high schools. Schools dir ...
.


Gallery

File:Tudumari-no-hama Iriomote Island Japan10bs4500.jpg, Tsuzumari-no-hama (Tsukigahama Beach) File:Urauchi River Iriomote 2007-04-05.jpg, Urauchi-gawa: the longest river in Okinawa. File:Mariyudo iriomote 2007-04-05.jpg, Mariyudō-no-taki: Waterfall on the Urauchi River. File:Kampire iriomote 2007-04-05.jpg, Kampire-no-taki: A section of the Kampire waterfall on the Urauchi River. File:Pinaisara iriomote 2007-04-05.jpg, Pinaisara-no-taki: Waterfall on the north of the island. File:Iriomote mangrove 2007-04-04.jpg, Mangrove on the Nakama River File:Heritiera littoralis - Sakishimasuo - Iriomote island Japan2.jpg, Sakishimasuou tree: Said to be the biggest and oldest mangrove tree in Japan. File:Hoshizuna-no-hama 2007-04-04.jpg, Hoshizuna-no-hama (Star Sand Beach): Beachcombers looking for star-shaped sand grains. File:Star sand Iriomote.jpg, Star sand from Hoshizuna-no-hama: Abraded calcium-carbonate tests of foraminifers from nearby reefs.Hohenegger, J.
Larger foraminifera as important calcium-carbonate producers in coral reef environments and constituting the main components of carbonate beach sands; examples from the Ryukyu archipelago.
Institut für Paläontologie, Universität Wien.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iriomote Islands of Okinawa Prefecture Yaeyama Islands