Amami Islands Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

The Amami Islands (奄美諸島 Amami-shotō) are a small archipelago south of Kyushu, Japan.

• Amami Oshima — the largest island in both area and population
• Kikai
• Kakeroma
• Yoro
• Ukeshima
• Tokunoshima
• Okinoerabujima
• Yoron

In addition, the Tokara Islands just to the north of Amami are sometimes lumped in with the Amami Islands.

The Amami Islands are geographically, linguistically and culturally a part of the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa), but in the early 1600s they were conquered by Satsuma (today's Kagoshima) and have been formally a part of Japan ever since. They escaped World War II largely unscathed, being briefly occupied by the US afterwards but handed back to Japan in 1953, almost two decades earlier than Okinawa.

In 2021, Amami Oshima and Tokunoshima became a UNESCO World Heritage site in recognition of their biodiversity.

Flights to and around the Amami Islands are carried out by Skymark and Japan Airways (JAL) and its affiliates JTA and RAC. Amami Oshima is the main hub for flights, with direct flights to Tokyo-Haneda, Osaka-Itami, Kagoshima and Naha. Kikai, Okinoerabujima, Tokunoshima and Yoron have small airports with service to Amami and Kagoshima only.

The Amami Islands are served the cozy duopoly of A-Line Ferry, aka Maru-A (マルエー) and Marix Line, both of which run between Kagoshima (Kyushu) and Naha (Okinawa) via the islands on alternating days. Fares on both are identical, with a one-way Kagoshima-Amami Oshima trip (11 hours) costing ¥9,220 in 2nd class (二等), or ¥9,750 from Naha (13 hours). The exact schedules are complicated and change from day to day, but the main ports served, from north to south, are:

• Naze (名瀬) on Amami Oshima, served by all ferries
• Kitoku (亀徳) on Tokunoshima, served by some ferries
• Wadomari (和泊) on Okinoerabujima, served by some ferries
• Yoron (与論), served by almost all ferries

In addition, A-Line runs a service from Kagoshima via Naze that serves one extra island and some additional ports:

• Kikai (喜界)
• Koniya (古仁屋) on Amami Oshima
• Hetono (平土野) on Tokunoshima
• China (知名) on Okinoerabujima

If you're planning an island-hopping return journey through Amami to Okinawa and back tp Kagoshima, the Yui Passport that gives 14 days of unlimited travel on both Marix and A-Line may be worth considering. At ¥30,000, it's not cheap, but still offers a discount on the ¥33,120 you'd usually pay for the return journey.

Finally, there's also a once-a-week service on Ferry Toshima from Kagoshima to Naze via the Tokara Islands, but this is both slower (16 hours) and more expensive (¥11,620) than the direct option.

Brown sugar shōchū (黒糖焼酎 kokutō shōchū), distilled from cane sugar using the rice koji, is a speciality of the Amamis. Essentially the same as white rum, the distillation process converts the sugar into alcohol so it's not sweet, and the taste is quite mild compared to the sweet potato shochu popular in the rest of Kagoshima.

• Tokara Islands, if Amami feels too overcrowded and frantic