Minamidaito Attractions & Activities - The Best Holiday Destinations for 2020
Minamidaitō is an island village in Okinawa, located about 400km east of the Okinawan mainland. The island is known as Minamidaitō-jima (南大東島) and the village is Minamidaitō-son (南大東村). The name is also sometimes written as Minami Daito, or Minamidaitou. With 1400 inhabitants, it has about twice the population of nearby Kitadaito.
Minamidaito was first discovered in 1820 by a Russian Borodino-class marine vessel and named South Borodino Island. The sharp cliffs surrounding the whole island made it inaccessible to humans until in 1900 a Japanese pioneering team from Hachijō Island became the first inhabitants of the island, using the land to grow sugarcane. Minamidaito continues to produce sugarcane as its main source of revenue; it also runs factories for refining the sugar and producing a unique brand of rum called Cor Cor.
As a tourist destination, Minamidaito is one for the adventurous - flight tickets are not cheap and ferries are few, but the fascinating ethnic nature, culture and hospitality of the place can easily make it worth the cost, even just for a weekend visit. Everything about Minamidaito is unique, from the unique cultural blend between Okinawa and its ancestral Hachijo to the unique plant, fish and animal species. It's home to Japan's largest weather station and Japan's shortest airline flight.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Minamidaito
