Yonaguni 与那国町 Dunan
Town
Sonai village Yonaguni Town Hall Agarizaki Lighthouse Monument to thewesternmost point of Japan Scuba diving near theYonaguni Monument
Flag Seal
Location of Yonaguni inOkinawa Prefecture
Yonaguni Location in Japan
Coordinates:24°28′5″N123°0′17″E / 24.46806°N 123.00472°E /24.46806; 123.00472
Country	Japan
Region	Kyushu
Prefecture	Okinawa Prefecture
District	Yaeyama
Government
• Mayor	Shukichi Hokama
Area
• Total	28.95 km2 (11.18 sq mi)
Population  (October 1, 2016)
• Total	2,048
• Density	58.2/km2 (151/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+09:00 (JST)
City hall address	129 Aza-Yonaguni, Yonaguni-chō, Yaeyama-gun, Okinawa-ken 907–1801
Climate	Af
Website	www.town.yonaguni.okinawa.jp
Symbols
Bird	Japanese white-eye(Zosterops japonicus)
Butterfly	Atlas moth(Attacus atlas)
Flower	Lily(Lilium)
Tree	Chinese fan palm(Livistona chinensis)

Yonaguni (与那国町,Yonaguni-chō,Yonaguni: ドゥナン,Dunan, older ジュニ,Juni;^[1]Yaeyama: ユノーン,Yunōn;Okinawan: ユナグニ,Yunaguni) is atown located entirely onYonaguni Island inYaeyama District,Okinawa Prefecture,Japan. It is thewesternmost municipality in Japan, and is known forbillfish fishing and as adiving spot. In 1987, divers discovered theYonaguni Monument, a rock formation that some believe may be man-made.

It is also home to twoRyūkyūan writing systems, pictographic "kaida-di" (also used on Ishigaki and Taketomi islands where it is called "kaida-ji") and the symbols used to indicate family names, "dāhan" (also used on Ishigaki Island where they are called "yāban").

Presently, the oldest confirmed ruins are the ruins in Tuguru Beach. Due to the southern style stone tools found, it is thought that a culture influenced bySoutheast Asia existed here at one time.

After this point, the history of the island of Yonaguni is unclear, but in the Gusuku Era, settlements were formed on the top of the plateau. The Shima Nakamura Ruins are one example, and it is known for being the birth village of the famous woman chief, San’ai Isoba.

From the time of theRyūkyū Kingdom, Yonaguni prospered as a commerce center with Taiwan. Due toWorld War II, until it was placed under control of theUnited States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, the number of people involved in smuggling surged in the area. The population in 1947 had reached 12,000, but although Yonaguni became incorporated as a town, a crackdown on smuggling led to a sharp decrease in the population.^[2]

Ishigaki and the surrounding towns and cities are discussing a merger, with the exception of Yonaguni which abstained, cutting the members of parliament from 12 in half, down to 6.

• 1522: Yonaguni was Invaded by the Ryūkyū army and became a territory of the Ryūkyū Kingdom.
• 1872: The Ryūkyū Kingdom is abolished; in its place, the Ryūkyū Domain is established and the island becomes a territory of the Ryūkyū Domain.
• 1879: The Ryūkyū Domain is abolished and becomesOkinawa-ken.
• 1908: Theisland municipal system abolishes themagiri system, and the Ishigaki-magiri, Ōhama-magiri, and Miyara-magiri join the island of Yonaguni to become Yaeyama-son.
• 1914: Through a division of Yaeyama-son, the village of Yonaguni-son is formed.
• 1948: Yonaguni-chō is incorporated as a town.

• Yonaguni is thewesternmost part of Japan and is a midpoint between the island ofIshigaki andTaiwan. AtCape Irizaki (Yonagunian language:Irinzati) on the western edge of the island, there is a monument inscribed with the words: "The westernmost point in Japan."
• The western third of the island is not part of Japan'sair defense identification zone orflight information region; instead, it sits in Taiwan's air defense identification zone and flight information region. (Please refer to the article onYonaguni Airport for more details.)
• The distance between the shoreline ofCape Irizaki on Yonaguni and that ofWushihbi Coastal Nature Reserve inSu'ao Township,Yilan County, Taiwan is 108 km (67 mi) and therefore closer than Ishigaki, which is 118 km (73 mi) away. For further comparison, Yonaguni is much closer toTaipei (the capital of Taiwan) at approximately 160 km (99 mi) than its own capital (Tokyo), which is about 2,000 km (1,243 mi) away. Due to this, it is attempting to establish closer relations with Taiwan, including attempting to set up easier access to and from cities in Taiwan, with irregular service to Hualien already established. Further cooperation has been opposed by the central government, thus the lack of further progress.^{[citation needed]}

• Tahara River (Okinawa)

Comparison of Population Distribution between Yonaguni and Japanese National Average	Population Distribution by Age and Sex in Yonaguni
■Yonaguni ■Japan (average)	■Male ■Female
1970 2,913 1975 2,155 1980 2,119 1985 2,054 1990 1,833 1995 1,801 2000 1,852 2005 1,796 2010 1,657
2015 Census,Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications - Statistics Department

• MayorKenichi Itokazu

Yonaguni Airport

• Japan Transocean Air (JTA) –JAL group
  • Ishigaki Airport 30 min., one round trip flight daily (Boeing 737–400)
• Ryūkyū Air Commuter (RAC) – JAL and JTA groups
  • Naha Airport 80 min., four round trip flights per week (Bombardier Dash 8 DHC-8-100)
  • Ishigaki Airport 30 min., four round trip flights per week (Bombardier Dash 8 DHC-8-100)

Kubura Harbour

• Fukuyama Maritime "Ferry Yonakuni"
  • Ishigaki Harbour 4 hr. 30 min. (only two round trips per week)
  • Naha Harbour (irregular schedule)

Sonai Harbour

• Okinawa Prefectural Road 216 – Yonaguni Island Route
• Okinawa Prefectural Road 217 – Yonaguni Harbor Route

(Rental cars are available)

• Yonaguni Transit

• Hikawa Elementary School
• Kubura Elementary School
• Kubura Junior High School – Japan's westernmost school
• Yonaguni Elementary School
• Yonaguni Junior High School

Because there are no high schools on the island, students entering high school must attend on the Okinawa mainland or on the island of Ishigaki, and 100% of junior-high schoolers continue on to high school.^[5]

• Agarizaki (Eastern Cape)
• Irizaki (Western Cape)
• Tachigami-iwa (Standing God Rock)
• Gunkan-iwa (Battleship Rock)
• The open set of the TV drama series,Dr. Cotō’s Clinic
• Tōyama-jinja (Ten Mountain Shrine) – Japan's westernmost Shinto shrine

Yonaguni Town hosts eighteen designated or registered tangible cultural properties and monuments, at the national, prefectural or municipal level.^[6][7]

• Name (Japanese) (Type of registration)

• Irifukuhama Family Residence (main house) (入福浜家住宅 主屋) (National)
• Kubura Family Residence (main house, stone wall) (久部良家住宅 主屋、石垣) (National)
• Tōgei Family Residence (main house, stone wall, well, stone water tank, water tank) (東迎家住宅 主屋、石垣、井戸、イチタライ、水タンク) (National)

• Kubura-bari and Kubura-furishi Sceneries (久部良バリ及び久部良フリシ) (National)
• Kubura-barii area (久部良バリ一帯) (Prefectural)
• Sanninudai Scenery (サンニヌ台) (National) (Prefectural)
• Tindabana Scenery (ティンダバナ) (National)

• Atlas moth habitat in Mount Urabu on Yonaguni Island (Attacus atlas ryukyuensis) (与那国島宇良部岳ヨナグニサン生息地) (Prefectural)
• Large deigo tree of Irimaka (西真嘉大デイゴ) (Municipal)
• Mitto Wetland of Kubura (久部良ミット湿地帯) (Municipal)
• Mount Kubura Natural Protected Area on Yonaguni Island (与那国島久部良岳天然保護区域) (Prefectural)

• 
  Irizaki
• 
  Tachigami-iwa
• 
  Gunkan-iwa
• 
  The open set of the TV drama series,Dr. Coto's Clinic

• Atlas moth – Calledayami habiru locally, this is the world's largest moth. In Japan, it is found only in Yonaguni.
• Yonaguni horse – One of eighttraditional Japanese horses, the smallest horse in Japan. Unable to be seen anywhere other than the island of Yonaguni.

Television broadcasts consist of translator stations in Yonaguni and Uchimichi and radio broadcasts are established from the Yonaguni televisiontranslator station. It is also the only place in Japan where all threeNHK Radio stations are on the FM band. In addition, Yonaguni receives Taiwanese television broadcasts (Taiwan Television (TTV),China Television (CTV), andChinese Television System (CTS) by using the EuropeanDVB-T system), along with Taiwanese radio broadcasts.

Through the cell towers on the east side of Taiwan that are geographically close to Yonaguni, it is possible depending on the weather to receive GSM phone service on Taiwanese phones from Irizaki (and it is possible that GSM phones from international carriers could use the service while roaming).

Wikivoyage has a travel guide forYonaguni.

• Yonaguni Homepage(in Japanese)

• Vovin, Alexander (2010).Korea-Japonica: A Re-Evaluation of a Common Genetic Origin. University of Hawaii Press.ISBN 978-0-8248-3278-0.JSTOR j.ctt6wqz03.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toYonaguni, Okinawa.

• Yonaguni, Okinawa
• Towns in Okinawa Prefecture

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from December 2019
• Commons category link from Wikidata