Taketomi

Taketomi is about nine kilometres around and almost flat, and its village is a preservation district of single-storey houses with red pantile roofs set behind low walls of stacked coral, with shisa lion figures on the ridges - the traditional Ryukyuan form, kept because the community adopted a charter in the 1980s refusing to sell land to outside developers after a buy-up attempt. The streets are white sand and are swept and raked by residents in the early morning, which is why they look as they do; visitors who arrive on the first ferry see it happen. Water buffalo carts carry visitors at walking pace while the driver plays sanshin. Kondoi beach on the west side has shallow clear water, and Kaiji beach is known for star sand, the star-shaped shells of foraminifera. Bicycles are the way round. Most visitors come for a few hours from Ishigaki.

What you actually see

• Coral walls and red tiles - single-storey Ryukyuan houses with shisa on the ridges.
• Raked sand streets - swept by residents in the early morning, before the ferries.
• Buffalo carts - walking-pace rides with sanshin played by the driver.
• Star sand - foraminifera shells found on Kaiji beach.

When to go

March to November; the first ferry to see the streets being raked. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Day trippers fill the village from mid-morning - staying overnight is a different island entirely. It is a lived-in village; houses and gardens are private. Rental cars are not permitted. Typhoons stop the ferries.

Nearby

Ishigaki is ten minutes by ferry; Iriomote is further west.