Best Islands and Beaches in Japan

1. Kerama Islands. The Kerama Islands, 40 km west of Naha, have the best beaches in Japan within an hour of a major airport. High-speed boats from Naha’s Tomari Port reach Zamami and Tokashiki in 35 to 70 minutes, with slower car ferries taking about two hours. Zamami’s Furuzamami Beach is the classic: a sweep of white sand with coral and turtles a short swim out. Aka, connected by bridge to Geruma, has Nishihama Beach and a single small village, and Tokashiki’s Aharen Beach is the liveliest. The islands became a national park in 2014 and are among Japan’s top dive areas. Humpback whales calve here from January to March, with whale-watching trips from Zamami. Stay at least one night: day trips spend half the time on the boat, and summer weekend boats sell out, so book a week or two ahead.

2. Okinawa Island. The main island of Okinawa is the easiest base, with direct flights from most Japanese cities and many Asian ones. Naha’s own beaches are city strips; the better sand is up the west coast. Onna Village has the resort hotels and Cape Manzamo’s elephant-trunk cliff, and the Motobu Peninsula, two hours north, has the Churaumi Aquarium, Emerald Beach and the bridge to Kouri Island, whose clear shallows are the most photographed on the island. You need a car: buses exist but are slow, and the expressway runs most of the way north.

3. Miyako Islands. Miyakojima, a 50-minute flight from Naha with direct flights from Tokyo and Osaka, has some of the softest sand in the country and almost no rivers, so the sea stays clear after rain. Yonaha Maehama is a 7 km beach on the southwest coast, regularly voted Japan’s best, and Sunayama Beach is reached through a sandstone arch above the dunes. Three long bridges link the main island to Ikema, Kurima and Irabu, whose 3.5 km Irabu Bridge is the longest toll-free bridge in Japan. Irabu and the neighbouring Shimoji island have the cliff-jump lagoons and the airport runway beach called 17END. Rent a car or a scooter; taxis are scarce and buses infrequent. The Miyako Islands are flat and sunny, so bring a rash guard and reef shoes.

4. Ishigaki. Ishigaki is the hub of the Yaeyama Islands, a three-hour flight from Tokyo and about an hour from Naha. Kabira Bay, on the north coast, is the postcard view of turquoise water and green islets; swimming is banned there because of boat traffic and currents, so you see it from glass-bottom boats. Swim instead at Sukuji Beach next door or at Yonehara, where coral starts in knee-deep water. The Kabira Ishizaki channel, known as Manta Scramble, is one of the most reliable places in Japan to dive or snorkel with manta rays, best from spring to autumn.

5. Taketomi. Ten to fifteen minutes by ferry from Ishigaki’s island terminal, Taketomi is a single village of red-tiled houses, coral-stone walls and sand lanes, toured by water-buffalo cart or rental bicycle. Kondoi Beach has shallow, calm water for children; Kaiji Beach is known for star sand, tiny star-shaped shells. Day-trippers leave by 5pm, so a night in a minshuku shows the island quiet.

6. Iriomote. Iriomote, 40 to 50 minutes by fast boat from Ishigaki, is 90% jungle and mangrove, the home of the rare Iriomote wildcat, and part of a World Heritage site since 2021. Kayak up the mangrove rivers to Pinaisara Falls, take the boat up the Urauchi River to the Mariudo and Kanbire falls, and snorkel at Hoshizuna Beach. Ferries cancel in rough seas more often than on other Yaeyama routes, so do not plan Iriomote on the day before a flight.

7. Hateruma and Yonaguni. Hateruma, Japan’s southernmost inhabited island, has Nishihama Beach and a night sky that shows the Southern Cross from winter to early summer. Yonaguni, westernmost and closer to Taiwan than to Naha, draws divers for hammerhead sharks from December to March and for the stepped underwater rock formation known as the Yonaguni Monument. Both are reached from Ishigaki, Hateruma by boat in about an hour, Yonaguni by plane or a four-hour ferry.

8. Yakushima. Yakushima is a round, mountainous island covered in ancient cedar forest, one of Japan’s first World Heritage sites in 1993. Jetfoils from Kagoshima take two to three hours and the slow ferry about four; there are also flights. The big day is the 10-hour round-trip hike to the Jomon Sugi, a cedar thought to be several thousand years old, starting before dawn by shuttle bus from Anbo in the main hiking season. Shiratani Unsuikan, the moss forest that inspired the setting of Princess Mononoke, is a shorter half-day walk with a forest conservation fee. Loggerhead turtles nest on Nagata Inaka-hama beach from May to July. It rains on most days of the year, and up to 10 m a year in the mountains, so bring proper waterproofs.

9. Amami Oshima. Amami Oshima, between Kagoshima and Okinawa, is the quieter, greener alternative to the Okinawan islands, with low-cost flights from Tokyo and Osaka. It shares the 2021 World Heritage listing with Iriomote for its subtropical forest and endemic Amami rabbit, seen on night drives with a guide. Kayak through the Kuroshio no Mori mangroves, swim at Ohama Beach near Amami town, and continue south by ferry through the Amami Islands to Tokunoshima and Yoron, whose offshore sandbar of Yurigahama appears at low tide.

10. Miyajima. Miyajima (officially Itsukushima) is one of Japan’s three classic views: the vermilion torii of Itsukushima Shrine standing in the sea, which you can walk out to at low tide. The JR ferry from Miyajimaguchi takes 10 minutes and is covered by the JR Pass; trams and trains reach Miyajimaguchi from Hiroshima in under an hour. Everyone leaving the island pays a 100-yen visitor tax, collected with the ferry fare. Climb or take the ropeway up Mount Misen, and stay overnight to see the torii lit up after the day crowds have gone. Check the tide tables before you go: the torii looks best at high tide and is only walkable at low.

11. Naoshima, Teshima and Inujima. Naoshima, 20 minutes by ferry from Uno port south of Okayama (about 300 yen, around $2) or 50 minutes from Takamatsu, is Japan’s art island: the underground Chichu Art Museum with its Monet water lilies, the Benesse House museum and hotel, and Yayoi Kusama’s yellow pumpkin on the pier. Teshima has the Teshima Art Museum, a single concrete shell where water beads across the floor, and Inujima a museum in a former copper refinery. Many museums close on Mondays and the Chichu takes timed online reservations, so plan around both. The Setouchi Triennale art festival fills the islands every three years.

12. Shodoshima and the rest. Shodoshima, an hour from Takamatsu by ferry, is Japan’s olive island, with the Kankakei Gorge ropeway and the Angel Road sandbar that appears at low tide. Okunoshima, 15 minutes by ferry from Tadanoumi, is overrun by hundreds of tame rabbits and holds the ruins of a wartime poison gas plant. Cyclists cross six islands between Onomichi and Imabari on the Shimanami Kaido cycle route, and Awaji Island links Kobe to Shikoku by bridge.

13. Ogasawara Islands. Chichijima, the main island of the Ogasawara Islands, is 1,000 km south of Tokyo and has no airport. The Ogasawara Maru ferry leaves Tokyo’s Takeshiba Pier roughly once a week and takes about 24 hours, so a visit is a minimum of six days for three nights on the island. The reward is the bluest water in Japan, dolphins and humpback whales, endemic birds and snails that earned World Heritage status in 2011, and day trips to Hahajima and the uninhabited Minamijima. Book the ferry and a guesthouse together, early in summer and over New Year.

14. Izu Islands. The Izu Islands are Tokyo’s own volcanic chain. Jetfoils from Takeshiba reach Izu Oshima in under two hours and Niijima in under three, with overnight ferries for the further islands. Niijima has Habushiura, a 6 km white-sand surf beach, and free outdoor hot springs; Shikinejima has seaside rock pools where hot spring water mixes with the sea; Hachijojima, 55 minutes by plane from Haneda, has lush hikes and diving. They are busiest in July and August.

15. Enoshima, Kamakura and the mainland coast. Enoshima, a tidal island an hour from Tokyo on the Odakyu line, has a shrine, caves and a lighthouse observation deck, with the Shonan beaches either side. In Kamakura, Yuigahama is the city beach, crowded with beach huts in July and August. Further out, Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula (about 2 hours 45 minutes from Tokyo by Odoriko limited express) has the best mainland sand near the capital, and Shirahama on the Wakayama coast combines a white beach with hot springs, about 2.5 hours from Osaka. Off Niigata, Sado, about an hour by jetfoil, has the Sado gold mines World Heritage site and tub-boat rides.

In Hokkaido, Rishiri and Rebun sit off Wakkanai, about 1 hour 40 minutes by ferry. Rishiri is a single volcanic cone you can climb in a long day; Rebun is called the island of flowers for the alpine blooms that cover its coast from June to August. Both are summer destinations, with many inns closed from October.

In Tohoku, Matsushima bay, 40 minutes from Sendai by train, is scattered with more than 200 pine-covered islets, best seen from a sightseeing cruise. Tashirojima, reached by ferry from Ishinomaki, is a cat island with more cats than residents. In Kyushu, the Goto Islands west of Nagasaki have empty beaches and the hidden Christian churches of a World Heritage listing, and Amakusa has dolphin-watching boats.

Okinawa’s sea is warm enough to swim from April to late October; winter brings 18 to 22°C (64 to 72°F) days, grey skies and whale season, and the rainy season runs from about early May to late June. Mainland beaches officially open (umibiraki) in early July and close at the end of August, with lifeguards only in that window. After the Obon holiday in mid-August, jellyfish make many mainland beaches unpleasant. Our best time to visit Japan page covers the seasons in detail.

In Okinawa, swim at beaches with nets and lifeguards from June to September, when the dangerous habu box jellyfish is around; many beaches keep vinegar at the lifeguard station for stings. Rip currents form at reef gaps, especially at low tide, so ask locally before snorkelling off unmarked beaches. Do not stand on or touch coral, and take nothing home: shells, coral and star sand removal is discouraged or banned on many islands.