Kikai Island, or Kikaijima (喜界島), is a small island located in the Amami Islands, just to the east of Amami Oshima. While it is a part of Kagoshima, due to a long and varied history of being conquered, culturally Kikai is a blend of Okinawan, Amami, and Kagoshima traditions.

Understand

The whole island forms a municipality, Kikai Town (喜界町).

Tourist information sites

• The town government's official site has a section on tourism and relocation.

• Kikai Island Navi is an information site by the local sightseeing association.

Both are Japanese-only, but with many nice photos.

Get in

Kikai only has two direct connections to the outside world, Kagoshima and Amami Oshima. Going to Kikai from anywhere will require you to go through one of those two places.

By plane

Kikai Airport

• 1 Kikai Airport (KKX  ^IATA). A small airport in the main town on the island which has two daily flights to and from Kagoshima airport and three daily flights to and from Amami Oshima airport. All routes in and out of the island are owned by JAC, an affiliate of JAL.  

A one-way ticket from Kagoshima will cost you approximately ¥24300. A round-trip ticket is approximately ¥44200 total, or about ¥22100 each way, making it slightly cheaper, but still pretty expensive. Purchases made far in advance on the Japanese JAL website may allow you to obtain a ticket for as little as ¥16400 each way. The journey takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Bouncing out of Amami is possible, though no cheaper. A normal flight from Amami Oshima will cost ¥9500 for a one-way ticket and as little as ¥6400 if purchased far enough in advance. It's still fairly expensive if you consider that flight is only 10 minutes.

By ship

A LINE Ferry

Kikai only has one ferry route which is operated by A"LINE Ferry. This ferry runs from Kagoshima to Kikai, Amami Oshima (Naze and Koniya), Tokunoshima (Hetono), and sometimes Okinoerabujima (China) and does not continue to Okinawa unlike the other ferries from Kagoshima. The journey from Kagoshima takes about 12 hours and runs overnight. A one-way ticket from Kagoshima costs ¥9800. There is no ferry service on Sundays and Mondays.

Get around

Make no mistakes, Kikai is small. The coastal road surrounding the island can be walked in 6 to 8 hours depending on your pace, meaning that getting to any specific point on the island will probably take no more than 2 or 3 hours on foot. This of course assumes that you have a specific point that you are trying to get to. Most of Kikai outside of the main town is endless sugar cane fields.

By bus

If you need to get somewhere specific and don't feel like walking for hours (especially in the summer heat), there is a bus service (air-conditioned) operated by Amami Air.

The fare is ¥300 to anywhere on the island.

There are 2 bus routes on the island: 北中央線 (north line) and 南中央線 (south line) follow the coast road clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively. It takes 90 to 120 minutes for a round.

The bus is populated mostly by 70- to 90-year-old women in varying states of decay either going to, or returning from, the hospital. If you're looking for a place to hear some of the island's endangered language, the bus is a great place to do it.

Do

You can run through sugarcane field on bicycle and enjoy diving.

• Scuba dive with Yonemori Diving Service, the only dive shop on the island. Kikai is an island made of coral and the water is exceptionally clear.
• Snorkel
• Bicycle around the island, takes between 3 and 5 hours depending on your speed

Buy

• Shochu
• Black sugar
• Sesame products
• Andagi
• Refined agricultural products
• Crafts made from yakougai (夜光貝, noctilucent shells)

Eat

• Goat sashimi
• Yagijiru - Goat stew
• Sakuna - vegetable which is said to extend your life by one day per one plant consumed
• Abura sōmen - very fine wheat noodles, stir-fried with pork and vegetables