Kerama Islands

The Kerama Islands (Japanese庆 良 间 诸岛, Kerama shotō or庆 良 间 列岛, Kerama RETTO; Okinawaisch: Kirama ) are a group of islands in Okinawa Prefecture Japan in the East China Sea.

Geography

The archipelago is located 20 km west of the main island of the Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa Honto. The next adjacent group of islands are the Keise Islands 8 km east, or as they are also partly considered one of the Kerama Islands, the Isle Tonaki -jima 20 km northwest.

The eastern half of the island group is managed by the community Tokashiki, the western half of the municipality Zamami. Occupied but are only four islands: Tokashiki -jima, Zamami- jima, Aka -jima and Geruma -jima. On Fukaji -jima is also located the Kerama Airport.

Islands

The archipelago consists of the following islands ( -jima/-shima ) and rocks ( other suffixes unnamed entries ) with a surface area of at least 0.01 km ²:

Note: Alternatively, instead of well -jima -shima used.

Coral reefs

The archipelago has more extensive coral reefs. Two of them were asked in November 2005 as a Ramsar site under environmental protection: a 120 -hectare area along the west coast of Tokashiki -jima and to Hanari -jima, and a 233 -hectare area around Ijakaja -jima, Gahi -jima and Agenashiku -jima, ie between Aka -jima and Zamami- jima. These reefs are 248 different coral species, especially of the genus Acropora.

History

During World War II were the Kerama Islands, the first landing point of the Allies on the Ryukyu Islands and thus Japanese territory. Units of the 77th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army landed on March 26, 1945 Aka -jima on 29 March, the entire archipelago was taken, who served from then on as a bridgehead in the following Battle of Okinawa. After that, the archipelago was like the rest of the Ryukyu Islands under U.S. military administration before they were returned to Japan in 1972.