About This Guide
What this site is
Islands of Japan is a free English guide to Japan's inhabited remote islands — the islands beyond the four main islands, reached by ferry and local plane. Each island has its own page: population, area, location, a photograph, and the full text of its encyclopedia article, so that everything you need to start planning is in one place.
How the guide is built
The islands were selected from Japan's inhabited islands (about 418 in the transport ministry's count), taking the largest by population together with the islands of established visitor interest — art islands, cat islands, volcano islands, island-hopping chains. Population, area, coordinates and location facts are drawn from Wikidata (CC0) and cross-checked against the articles themselves. Article texts are reproduced in full from English Wikipedia where an English article exists; where one does not, the full text of the Japanese Wikipedia article was translated into English for this guide. Reference lists, external-link lists and similar appendix material are omitted; every page carries a small credit line naming its source article. Texts and facts are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 unless stated otherwise.
Photographs
Each island's photograph comes from Wikimedia Commons under a free licence (public domain, CC0 or CC BY / CC BY-SA), is hosted on this site, and is credited to its author on the island's page, with a link to the original file.
Ferries, flights and seasons
Ferry and flight timetables change with the season, the weather and the operator, and island services can be suspended without much notice. This guide describes each island and its usual access routes in the article text, but it does not publish timetables: always confirm the current schedule, fares and sailing status with the operator or the island's municipality before you travel. Population figures are census figures reported by Wikidata and may be a few years old; the year is shown where it is known.
The guide family
Islands of Japan is one of a family of free English guides to Japan — mountains, waterfalls, hot springs, castles, gardens, festivals and more. See All English Guides to Japan for the full list.