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Iriomote Ishigaki NP, Okinawa
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A former Yubu resident recalled the school sports day’s octopus-catching race: he ran to the shore, caught an octopus and made it back in 46 seconds. Island track day had a very local seafood twist.
Before buffalo carts became Yubu’s signature visitor crossing, they did real transport work: at low tide, boats anchored offshore, so carts shuttled people and cargo between ship and island.
Farmers from Taketomi and Kuroshima used Yubu as an overnight base while working rice fields on Iriomote. Local histories say they stayed on Yubu to avoid malaria-carrying mosquitoes found on the larger island.
Water buffalo came to Yaeyama from Taiwan with settlers around 1932. By about 1955, Yubu households kept one for farming; the animals were so valuable that 2 were said to cost as much as building a house.
Typhoon Elsie flooded every household on Yubu in 1969. Most residents moved across the water to Mihara on Iriomote in 1971, leaving the island’s former village life behind.
After the typhoon, Mr. and Mrs. Iriomote stayed and used a buffalo to haul soil and compost, planting palms and flowers. The garden opened in 1981 with 2 buffalo and 2 carts; today, Yubu has over 40,000 palms.
Yubu’s Butterfly Garden is home to the ogomadara, a butterfly among Japan’s largest, with wings about 7 cm across. Its chrysalis looks as if it has been dipped in gold; the species is Okinawa’s prefectural butterfly.
Yubu’s Manta Beach takes its name from the channel between Yubu and nearby Kohama Island, identified by the garden as a route used by manta rays.
Yubu formed from sand carried out of Iriomote’s Yonara River and deposited by currents. The local word “yubu” means “sandbar”—a wonderfully literal name for a sandy island.
Yubu rises only about 1.5 m above sea level, yet digging into its sandy ground can reach fresh water within 1.5 m. Dig deeper, and salt water wells up instead.
Yubu’s greenhouses keep over 30 kinds of bougainvillea in bloom throughout the year, beyond the outdoor flowers’ usual peak from late autumn into spring.
The buffalo crossing can come with a little live music: guides sing Okinawan songs to the sound of the sanshin, a traditional 3-stringed instrument, as the carts wade through the shallows.
