Taketomi island is 9.2km around, where you can cycle the entire island.
The population of the the island is only 300 people.
It is famous for its red roof tiles of traditional houses and each house carries ceaser which is a dog like sculpture on the roof or on its entrance pole. It keeps old and good time atmosphere. It is an ideal place to visit when you want to get away form city hustles and busy life.
From Ishigaki Island, it takes about 15min to get to the island by ferry. There are 2 ferry companies, and they provide frequent services (like every 10 or 15 minutes) until the evening. See the Transportation page for details.
After arriving in Ishigaki island from Osaka, we went and stayed one night in Taketomi. I definitely recommend an overnight stay if you have time. In the day time, while we were cycling around, I saw many tour buses rushing into the Kaiji beach for the search of star-shaped sands. Though the island is really laid back, and you enjoy its country-side atmosphere, it is also true that the island attracts tourists. After bunch of tourists groups headed back to Ishigaki island, the island regained its own face. It was tranquil, quiet and relaxing.
In the evening, we went for a walk to a near-by beach, and pretty much every travellers in the island were there to see the sun set. Everyone sits near the sea and watched the sun set.
After dark, We walked around the center area a bit. There was no sound except sometimes you could here people singing Okinawa's traditional songs along the Sanshin or Okinawa's guitar like instrument in one of the guest houses. The village is only lit up by a few street lights. When I looked up, wonderful starry sky was there.
Kondoi BeachIt is the best beach in Taketomi. It takes about 20 min on foot or 10 min bicycle ride from center of the island. The color of the sea is just beautiful. (You can say that in anywhere in Yaeyama islands.) It is a white sand beach, and good for swimming but probably not so for snorkeling. (as I didn't see corals or fish.) The beach has clean shower and toilet facilities. We went for a quick dip in the evening, and my friend and I had the beautiful beach just for ourselfves!
Just 10 Min walk from Kondoi beach. This is known as "star sands beach". It used to have star-shaped sands but nowdays, there aren't many. The fame still attracts tourists, and people come to look for the sands for souvenir and rushing back for another tourist spots. We went there at around 3 o'clock, and there were tourists coming in and out of the beach. As the beach itself is not too big, it didn't feel relaxing enough to swim. I think the impression would have been different if I had gone in a different time of the day. The beach have some nice shades under trees. But the sea seems shallow & a bit rocky, so it is not the best beach for swimming. (I didn't try, but I heard even if you go 1 km off the shore, it is still very shallow. You many enjoy snorkeling, though.) It is brown sand beach.
The highest tower in the island, stood in a little hill. If you go up, you can look over the entire village (very tiny!). Originally I imagined a big tower, but it turned out to be as high as a 2-storey building. It isn't high, yet is the highest establishment in this island.
This is one of the Taketomi's famous attraction. You can ride on a Buffalo-lead
carriage. It costs 1,000 yen for 30-40 min ride. We didn't try it (of course). It is nice to see people riding it.
(Nitta Kanko)
1 hour - 300 yen
Every 30 min after the first hour is extra 150yen. (it's got little more discount
if you rent longer) (Nitta-kanko
)
*The island size is small enough to go around by bicycle, but there are a lot of unpaved streets (sand streets). I found it quite tiring and difficult to ride a mama-chari (non-mountain bike) on such streets.
We stayed at Nitta-so. It has basic small rooms with 2 meals for approx.5,000/person. Just inside its gate, there is a deck-like area where you can realx after supper (or of course, anytime!). Wild cats (?) are playing around us while we are relaxing there, and I liked it a lot. This accommodation is probably a standard level of accommodation in the island. But to be honest, next door accommodation looked better ( I think it is: Nohara-so). I may try it next time. (At night, owners & guests are singing Okinawa song together...)
This sounded good from a guidebook, too: Kohama-so