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, 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 a ...
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
The Iriomote cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis iriomotensis'') is a subspecies of the leopard cat that lives exclusively on the Japanese island of Iriomote. It has been listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2008, as the onl ...
, 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 whose bite has a fatality rate of 3%