Yonaguni Island

Yonaguni is as far west as Japan goes. Irizaki, the cape at the island's western tip, has the monument to Japan's westernmost point, a lighthouse and a lookout where the country's last sunset is watched. Strictly, the record moved in 2019 to Tuishi, a rock just offshore. Taiwan is 111 km away, and in good conditions its outline can show on the horizon; the tourism association only says this happens sometimes, so do not plan a trip around it. At the eastern end, Agarizaki rises about 100 m from the sea, and the pasture around it belongs to Yonaguni horses, a small native breed. They graze by the road and walk across it. Off the south coast near Arakawabana is the underwater formation divers call Iseki Point, found by a local diver in 1986: huge stepped terraces of rock. The diver who found it and a University of the Ryukyus geologist argue that people shaped it; most geologists and archaeologists read it as natural fracturing, and Okinawa Prefecture has not recognized it as an archaeological site. You see it on a boat dive or from the Jack's Dolphin semi-submersible out of Kubura port (7,000 yen for adults, at least 5 adults to sail, cash only). Practical warnings: the island has about 1,700 people, no convenience store and one clinic, and supplies stall when bad weather stops the boats. Bring cash from Ishigaki; the ferry, the semi-submersible and the dive shop all want it. Rooms are limited to a few hotels, inns and guesthouses, so book a bed before anything else.