Kerama Islands

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Kerama Islands
topographic map 1: 250,000
topographic map 1: 250,000
Waters East China Sea
archipelago Okinawa Islands
Geographical location 26 ° 12 ′  N , 127 ° 21 ′  E Coordinates: 26 ° 12 ′  N , 127 ° 21 ′  E
Kerama Islands (Okinawa Prefecture)
Kerama Islands
Number of islands 33 (≥ 1 ha)
Main island Tokashiki-jima
Total land area 35 km²
Residents 1643 (October 1, 2019)

The Kerama Islands ( Japanese 慶 良 間 諸島 , Kerama-shotō or 慶 良 間 列島 , Kerama-rettō ; Okinawaisch : Kirama ) are a group of islands in the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa in the East China Sea .

geography

The archipelago is located 20 km west of the main island of the Ryūkyū Islands , Okinawa Hontō . The next neighboring group of islands are the Keise Islands 8 km to the east, or since these are also partly included in the Kerama Islands, the island of Tonaki-jima 20 km to the northwest.

The eastern half of the archipelago is administered by the Tokashiki municipality , the western half by the Zamami municipality. However, only four islands are inhabited: Tokashiki-jima , Zamami-jima , Aka-jima and Geruma-jima. Kerama Airport is also located on Fukaji-jima .

Islands

The archipelago consists of the following islands ( -jima / -shima ) and rocks (other suffixes, unnamed entries) with an area of ​​at least 0.01 km²:  Map with all coordinates of the Islands section : OSM
f1Georeferencing

Surname Japanese Area [km²] Height [m] local community Coordinates
Tokashiki-jima 渡 嘉 敷 島 15.31 227.3 Tokashiki 26 ° 11 ′ 12 "N, 127 ° 21 ′ 20" E
Zamami-jima 座 間 味 島 6.66 160.7 Zamami 26 ° 14 ′ 4 "N, 127 ° 18 ′ 27" E
Aka-jima 阿嘉 島 3.82 165.0 Zamami 26 ° 11 ′ 56 "N, 127 ° 16 ′ 41" E
Maeshima 前 島 1.60 132.8 Tokashiki 26 ° 12 '44 "N, 127 ° 26' 50" E
Cuba shima 久 場 島 1.55 270.1 Zamami 26 ° 10 ′ 17 "N, 127 ° 14 ′ 16" E
Yakabi-jima 屋 嘉 比 島 1.26 214.4 Zamami 26 ° 12 '59 "N, 127 ° 14' 40" E
Geruma-jima 慶 留 間 島 1.15 157.3 Zamami 26 ° 10 ′ 54 "N, 127 ° 17 ′ 21" E
Fukaji-shima 外地 島 0.83 76, 0 Zamami 26 ° 10 ′ 6 "N, 127 ° 17 ′ 34" E
Amuro-jima 安室 島 0.73 98.8 Zamami 26 ° 12 ′ 26 "N, 127 ° 18 ′ 40" E
Gishippu-jima 儀 志 布 島 0.49 113.6 Tokashiki 26 ° 13 '49 "N, 127 ° 22' 10" E
Kuroshima 黒 島 0.27 126.1 Tokashiki 26 ° 15 ′ 6 "N, 127 ° 24 ′ 15" E
Un-jima ウ ン 島 0.26 87, 0 Tokashiki 26 ° 8 ′ 34 "N, 127 ° 20 ′ 35" E
Nakajima 中 島 0.18 94, 0 Tokashiki 26 ° 13 ′ 52 "N, 127 ° 27 ′ 2" E
Hate-jima ハ テ 島 0.14 - Tokashiki 26 ° 14 '24 "N, 127 ° 27' 26" E
Gahi-jima 嘉 比 島 0.13 51, 0 Zamami 26 ° 13 ′ 6 ″ N, 127 ° 17 ′ 10 ″ E
Gusukushima 城 島 0.11 105.9 Tokashiki 26 ° 11 ′ 55 "N, 127 ° 22 ′ 40" E
Hanari-jima 離島 0.10 59.2 Tokashiki 26 ° 9 ′ 42 "N, 127 ° 20 ′ 18" E
Agenashiku-jima 安慶 名 敷 島 0.10 41.6 Zamami 26 ° 12 ′ 55 "N, 127 ° 17 ′ 42" E
Sunashiru-jima 砂 白 島 0.05 28, 0 Zamami 26 ° 11 ′ 3 ″ N, 127 ° 16 ′ 29 ″ E
unnamed 0.05 56, 0 Tokashiki 26 ° 14 '7 "N, 127 ° 27' 13" E
Ou-jima (Ubu-iwa) 奥 武 島 (う ぶ 岩) 0.05 45.6 Zamami 26 ° 9 ′ 24 ″ N, 127 ° 16 ′ 24 ″ E
Achirāne-iwa ア チ ラ ー ネ 岩 0.05 - Zamami Coordinates are missing! Help.
Mokaraku-jima モ カ ラ ク 島 0.04 25th, 0 Zamami 26 ° 9 '22 "N, 127 ° 17' 23" E
Tsumishiro-shima 積 城 島 0.02 - Zamami 26 ° 10 ′ 52 "N, 127 ° 16 ′ 25" E
Ijakaja-jima 伊 釈 迦 釈 島 0.02 56, 0 Zamami 26 ° 12 '56 "N, 127 ° 16'6" E
Jinojitsuru-jima 地 自 津 留 島 0.01 54, 0 Tokashiki 26 ° 14 ′ 16 "N, 127 ° 22 ′ 7" E
Sakuhara no Hana 佐 久 原 の 鼻 0.01 - Zamami 26 ° 10 ′ 42 "N, 127 ° 16 ′ 27" E
Fukakane-se ふ か か ね 瀬 0.01 47, 0 Zamami 26 ° 10 ′ 33 "N, 127 ° 13 ′ 45" E
unnamed 0.01 - Zamami 26 ° 11 ′ 0 ″ N, 127 ° 16 ′ 21 ″ E
unnamed 0.01 - Zamami 26 ° 9 ′ 34 "N, 127 ° 17 ′ 31" E
Cuba-iwa く ば 岩 0.01 14th, 0 Zamami 26 ° 9 ′ 33 "N, 127 ° 16 ′ 23" E
Yubu-iwa ゆ ぶ 岩 0.01 34, 0 Zamami 26 ° 8 ′ 50 "N, 127 ° 16 ′ 11" E
Naka-iwa な か 岩 0.01 17th, 0 Zamami 26 ° 9 ′ 1 ″ N, 127 ° 16 ′ 6 ″ E

Note: Alternatively, instead -jima also -shima used.

  • Amuro-jima

  • Fukaji-shima

  • Geruma-jima

  • Gishippu-jima

  • Cuba shima

  • Kuroshima

  • Maeshima, Nakajima, unnamed island, Hatejima (bottom to top)

  • Naka-iwa (left), Yubu-iwa (bottom left), Ou-jima (center right) and Kuba-iwa (top right)

  • Yakabi-jima

Coral reefs

The archipelago has several extensive coral reefs . Two of them were placed under environmental protection as Ramsar areas in November 2005 : an area of ​​120 hectares along the west coast of Tokashiki-jima and around Hanari-jima, and a 233 hectare area around Ijakaja-jima, Gahi-jima and Agenashiku-jima , d. H. between Aka-jima and Zamami-jima. There are 248 different types of coral in these reefs, especially the Acropora genus . On March 5, 2014, the waters were placed under protection as the Keramashoto National Park .

Flora and fauna

The islands of Aka, Fukaji, Geruma and Yakabi form the only natural habitat of the critically endangered Kerama deer ( Cervus nippon keramae ), which was believed to be a population of the Japanese sika deer introduced in the early 17th century that has since adapted to its island environment.

history

During World War II , the Kerama Islands were the first Allied landing point on the Ryūkyū Islands. Units of the 77th Infantry Division of the US Army landed on Aka-jima on March 26, 1945, and on March 29, the entire archipelago was captured, which from then on served as a bridgehead in the subsequent Battle of Okinawa . After that, the archipelago was like the rest of the Ryūkyū Islands under US military administration before they were returned to Japan in 1972.

Web links

Commons : Kerama Islands  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ キ ラ マ . In: 語彙 詳細 - 首 里 ・ 那覇 方言 . Retrieved December 2, 2012 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ 沖 縄 県 島 し ょ 別 面積 一 覧 . Okinawa Prefecture, accessed November 13, 2013 (Japanese).
  3. ↑ 指定 離島 ・ 指定 離島 一 覧 . (PDF) In: 離島 関係 資料 (平 成 28 年 1 月) . 沖 縄 県 企 画 部 地域 ・ 離島 課 (“Land and Islands Unit, Planning Department, Okinawa Prefecture”), January 2016, p. 1 , accessed on 3. August 2016 (Japanese).
  4. ↑ presumed assignment: Listed in the source as シ マ (前 島 北) 'island (north of Maeshima)'. On the official map there is an unnamed island with the specified area at these coordinates.
  5. ↑ presumed assignment: Listed in the source as シ マ (砂 白 島 北) 'island (north of Sunashiru-jima)'. On the official maps there is an unnamed island with the specified area at these coordinates.
  6. ↑ presumed assignment: Listed in the source as シ マ (モ カ ラ ク 島 北) 'island (north of Mokaraku-jima)'. On the official maps there is an unnamed island with the specified area at these coordinates.
  7. ↑ Kerama-shoto Coral Reef. (PDF; 523 kB) In: Conservation and Wise Use of Rich and Diverse Wetlands: Ramsar Sites in Japan. Environment Ministry , 2008, p. 41 , accessed on November 29, 2012 (English).
  8. ↑ Cervus nippon keramae. National Institute for Environmental Studies, accessed June 11, 2014 .
  9. ^ Roy E. Appleman, James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugeler, John Stevens: Okinawa: The Last Battle . United States Government Printing Office , 2000, ISBN 0-16-061318-3 , pp. 52–56 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - first published in 1948).