This Japanese Island Is A Tropical Paradise And I Had No Idea It Existed
Japan really is doing the most.
Right now it’s important to stay home and practice social distancing. We hope you’ll find our content entertaining, inspiring, or useful for a future trip.
If I showed you a photo of this beautiful island, where would you guess it is? Hawaii? The Caribbean? Maybe Australia?

Surely this is some tropical oasis like Bora Bora or an African island, right?

That's what I thought. But nope, this is IN JAPAN??????

But it turns out that it's also home to beautiful tropical paradises like this?!
View this photo on Instagram
Also now that I'm thinking about it... Japan's islands sit on the Pacific Rim. Of COURSE it has incredible beaches. Idk why I thought it was all frozen.
This is Ishigaki, a little island way south of the Japanese mainland, right near Taiwan.

I had literally never heard of it, until I saw that it'd been voted number one Destination On The Rise by Trip Advisor users.
And, uh, it's pretty damn easy to see why.
View this photo on Instagram
It's surrounded by coral reefs, so you can either go swimming and snorkelling, or admire the tropical fish from a glass-bottomed boat.
Or just hang out on the beach, because look how incredibly white that sand is?!!!!!!

Deserted tropical beach with clear water of a coral reef lagoon, Ishigaki Island National Park of the Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa, Japan
And listen to this: The average high in summer is 31ºC and in winter it's 21ºC. Not too hot, not too cold – Goldilocks would love it.

When: 27/Oct/2012
I know I live in Australia and I have a ton of these beaches near me... but I think I need to go to Ishigaki right now.
See ya!
