Kikai-2

From Amami Airport, passengers board a small propeller plane and head out over the sea. The route has a relaxed atmosphere typical of inter-island flights—many travelers treat it almost like a short bus ride. Wrapped in this familiar mood of the island airways, one’s anticipation builds quickly for the journey ahead. The Amami–Kikai route is currently known as the shortest flight in Japan, with an estimated flight time of only seven minutes. No sooner does the aircraft lift off than the announcement for landing begins, leaving little time to gaze at the blue sea below. The experience immediately sets a gentle, unhurried tone.

Kikaijima, a coral island with a circumference of approximately 48.6 kilometers and a total area of 56.82 square kilometers, is located in the northeastern part of the Amami archipelago between the city of Kagoshima and Okinawa’s main island. During the Taishō period, the island consisted of two villages: Kikai and Soumachi. The two were merged in 1956—at the time as Kikai Town and Soumachi Village—creating the current administrative structure of a single-town island. The present year marks the seventieth anniversary of Kikai Town.
The island’s landforms, created by coral reefs that continue to rise at one of the fastest rates in the world, are known as coral reef terraces. The highest terrace, Hyakunodai, contains sediments that were once part of the seafloor roughly 100,000 years ago. Each lower step represents another twenty thousand years—80,000 years, 60,000 years, and so on—creating a staircase-like sequence of ancient marine landscapes.
By sharing the island’s geological significance and rarity more widely, the town hopes not only to inform outside visitors but also to encourage its roughly 6,000 residents to re-engage with the natural heritage around them. With this aim, the town established the Kikaijima Geopark Promotion Council in 2023, chaired by Mayor Etsuo Kumazaki. The council applied for designation as a Japan Geopark in 2025 and was officially certified only recently.
Kikaijima joined the Most Beautiful Villages in Japan association earlier, in 2009. The island’s uplifted coral landscapes, agricultural scenery, and the coral stone walls of the Aden settlement are registered as key local assets. Our publication also visited the island in 2015, introducing efforts by Asahi Distillery and others working toward the vision of an “Organic Island.”
Ten years have passed since then. This visit offered a chance to experience the island’s renewed energy—now even stronger than before—and to once again feel the warmth of its people.

Interviewed in October, 2025