Island life
Making, learning and local materials.
A craft workshop offers a way to understand an island through its materials and the people who work with them. This story returns to a DiscoverYaima visit to Yachimunkan near Shiraho.
Island stories
Category: <span>Culture</span>
Food & everyday life
Inside Ikehara Distillery.
A hands-on visit to an Ishigaki distillery, where making awamori brings rice, black koji and three generations of family knowledge together.
Culture & community
Kabira: village, culture and the bay.
Spend time with Kabira beyond the bay viewpoint: its village, food, craft and the landscape around it.
Culture & community
Kitsugansai on Kohama.
An account of visiting Kitsugansai on Kohama, where performance, prayer and harvest traditions come together in village life.
Culture & community
Obon on Ishigaki.
This archive story follows the remembrance and family traditions we encountered on Ishigaki during Obon in 2017.
The Yonaguni pony. One of the eight pony breeds native to Japan
Meet Sanpin-chan on Kohama island. He’s one of the endangered Yonaguni Japanese breed ponies. It’s one of the eight pony breeds native to Japan. Yonaguni horses have a very gentle and thoughtful character. If you have the opportunity to travel to Yonaguni island, you’ll meet them free almost everywhere around the island. Such a […]
Hounensai harvest festival Ishigaki
Don’t miss the traditional Hounensai harvest festival if you’re visiting Ishigaki, Iriomote, or one of the other Yaeyama Islands. The festival is held to thank the gods for the year’s harvest and to pray for abundance in the coming season. Each village organizes its own festivities. Many events are open to visitors, while some ceremonies […]
Juroku-nichi-sai
Juroku-nichi-sai is New Year’s Day for the ancestors. It’s the 16th day of the new year, the day after the first full moon in the moon calendar or lunar calendar. According to this calendar, New Year’s Day in 2017 was on the 28th of January. In the Yaeyama islands the moon calendar is still used […]