The economy of Okinawa : performance, problems and prospects

Abstract

The Japanese prefecture of0kinawa1 lies between the Japanese mainland and Southeast Asia (see Figure 1) and is made up of 160 islands' of which 50 are inhabited, with Okinawa main island being by far the largest one. The islands can be divided into three major groups, namely (a) the Okinawa Island Group' b) the Miyako Island Group and (c) the Yaeyama Island Group. They lie scattered across a vast sea area of 1000 kilometres in the East-West direction and 400 kilometres in the North-South direction. The total land area of the prefecture is 2264 square kilometres, of which around 80% is taken by four islands (see map below), namely Okinawa Island (1193 square kilometres), Iriomote Island (284 square kilometres), Ishigaki Island (221 square kilometres) and Miyako Island (159 square kilometres).