This Japanese Island Is A Tropical Paradise And I Had No Idea It Existed
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If I showed you a photo of this beautiful island, where would you guess it is? Hawaii? The Caribbean? Maybe Australia?
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Surely this is some tropical oasis like Bora Bora or an African island, right?
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That's what I thought. But nope, this is IN JAPAN??????
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Please excuse my ignorance, because I truly thought Japan was just all big cities, snowy mountains, and the occasional cherry blossom.
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But it turns out that it's also home to beautiful tropical paradises like this?!
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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.
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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.
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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?!!!!!!
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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.
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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!
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