kyushukagoshima
Amami Oshima
Amami Oshima is a subtropical island in the Amami archipelago, about 380 kilometres south of Kagoshima city, belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture and so to the Kyushu region, inscribed as part of a World Natural Heritage Site in 2021.
- Prefecture
- Kagoshima
- Region
- Kyushu
- Journeys
- The Custom Tour of Japan
overview
A green island in a warm sea, with a culture of its own between Kyushu and Okinawa.
Amami Oshima lies halfway between Kyushu and Okinawa, and it belongs fully to neither. The island is long and mountainous, about 712 square kilometres, its ridges covered in subtropical forest of tree ferns and evergreen oaks, its coasts cut into deep inlets and fringed with coral. In 2021 its forests were inscribed, with those of Tokunoshima, northern Okinawa and Iriomote, as a World Natural Heritage Site for the rare creatures that live nowhere else, the Amami black rabbit and Lidth's jay among them.
Its history is its own. Amami shared in the culture of the Ryukyu Kingdom until 1609, when Satsuma took the islands and made them a source of sugar. After the war they were governed by the United States until 1953, when they were returned to Japan; Okinawa followed in 1972. The island's songs, the shima-uta, sung in a high, aching voice to the sanshin, its kokuto shochu, distilled from brown sugar and made legally nowhere else in Japan, and its silk, Oshima tsumugi, all come from that long separate life.
Amami is a quiet island of beaches and forest, without the crowds of better-known islands further south: a place for slow days by blue water, drives through the green interior, and evenings of island cooking.
see and do
What to see on Amami Oshima
Kinsakubaru Primeval Forest
A protected forest in the hills west of Naze, of giant tree ferns, evergreen oaks and figs, entered on a forest road with a guide; one of the best places on the island to sense its World Heritage wildlife.
The Mangrove Primeval Forest of Sumiyo
The second largest mangrove forest in Japan, where the Sumiyo and Yakugachi rivers meet the sea, seen from the observation tower of the mangrove park above it.
Oshima tsumugi
The silk pongee of Amami, its threads dyed dozens of times in a dye of techichi bark and then in iron-rich mud, so that the cloth turns a deep lustrous brown. A single bolt can take many months to weave, and the workshops of Oshima Tsumugi Village show each stage.
Tanaka Isson Memorial Museum of Art
A museum in Amami Park devoted to the painter Tanaka Isson, who left the mainland to live on Amami and painted its plants, birds and sea in rich, close detail until his death in 1977.
Tomori Beach
A beach on the east coast of the Kasari Peninsula whose shallow water over white coral sand gives the particular pale blue known on the island as Tomori blue.
Ayamaru Misaki
A cape in the north-east of the island, a lawn on the rocks above a reef, looking out over the open Pacific.
Ohama Seaside Park
A long beach of white sand on the west coast near Naze, where the island gathers to watch the sun set over the East China Sea.
Saigo Takamori's house at Tatsugo
The house where Saigo Takamori lived in exile between 1859 and 1862, marrying an island woman and raising a family before he returned to Satsuma and to history.
Kakeroma Island
A small island across the narrow Oshima Strait from Koniya in the south, with quiet villages and coral shallows, reached by a short ferry.
experiences
The best of Amami Oshima
The weavers of Oshima tsumugi
A visit to a tsumugi workshop, to see the mud dyeing and the slow work of the loom, and the chance to choose a length of the cloth for a kimono or a scarf.
The forest at night
A drive through the forest roads after dark with a naturalist, to see the Amami black rabbit and the island's other night creatures from the car.
Shima-uta and kokuto shochu
An evening of island songs at a small music bar in Naze, with kokuto shochu poured over ice and keihan, the island's chicken and rice in clear broth.
A boat on the strait
A boat steered by an island captain through the Oshima Strait and the inlets of the south coast, with the green hills running down to the water and humpback whales offshore when they come to these waters to calve.
plan your visit
Amami Oshima on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- Two or three nights on the island, often joined to Kagoshima or to the islands of Okinawa.
- Getting there
- By air from Tokyo Haneda in about two and a half hours, from Osaka in about an hour and three quarters, and from Kagoshima in about an hour. Amami Airport is in the north of the island, about an hour by car from Naze.
- Pairs well with
- Amami Oshima is reached most easily through Kagoshima, so it pairs with the city and the onsen of Kirishima and Ibusuki, and it makes a natural stepping stone between Kyushu and Okinawa.KagoshimaYakushimaOkinawa IslandIbusukiKirishima
journeys
Amami Oshima on a private journey
We bring guests to Amami Oshima on the Custom Tour of Japan, created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director.
questions
Amami Oshima: questions answered
Is Amami Oshima part of Okinawa?
No. Amami Oshima belongs to Kagoshima Prefecture and the Kyushu region, though it lies between Kyushu and Okinawa and shares much of its culture with the old Ryukyu Kingdom.
How do you get to Amami Oshima?
By air: about two and a half hours from Tokyo Haneda, about an hour and three quarters from Osaka, and about an hour from Kagoshima.
Why is Amami Oshima a World Heritage Site?
Its subtropical forests, inscribed in 2021 with Tokunoshima, northern Okinawa and Iriomote, are home to rare creatures found nowhere else, such as the Amami black rabbit and Lidth's jay.
How many days do you need on Amami Oshima?
Two or three nights, which allows a day in the forests and the mangroves, a day on the beaches of the north-east, and time for the tsumugi workshops.
What is there to do on Amami Oshima?
Drives through the subtropical forest of Kinsakubaru, the mangroves of Sumiyo seen from above, the coral beaches of the north-east, the tsumugi workshops, and evenings of shima-uta and kokuto shochu in Naze.
What is Oshima tsumugi?
A hand-woven silk of Amami, dyed in techichi bark and iron-rich mud to a deep brown, and counted among the most prized kimono cloths in Japan.
Can Amami Oshima be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director, and it can go anywhere in the country, Amami Oshima included. If you would rather travel independently, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Amami Oshima, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Amami Oshima, and we will answer with a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone, or, if you would rather travel independently, an Expert Japan Itinerary that plans every day for you.