It just takes a 15' ferry ride to jump from Ishigaki into the very traditional Taketomi Island「竹富島」 where one can explore the most traditional side of Okinawa by foot or rental bikes. In Taketomi, only about 300 people are residents but a lot of tourists come every day from the neighboring island.
As said at the beginning, the Ferry Terminal is located in central Ishigaki. No need to book in advance or plan too much, as the ferries go every 30' throughout the day. You can find a map below, but simply ask from the bus terminal, it's a 2' walk.
View Ishigaki island 「石垣島」 in a larger map
The entrance of the island looks anything but modern.
Kawaii in the old-fashioned way, is still kawaii.
The main characteristic of the island are the red roofs on low houses. The base is square and the roof rather flat, probably to make it more resilient to wind.
Shiisas are all over the place, confirming the practice of protecting houses with these dragons.
Hibiscus, the flower of the Pacific.
It was school day, so we sneaked in the playground.
...again, more shisha at the entrance of this school, too.
Huge bees & pretty flowers.
More shiisa :)
After a stroll around, we came by a very famous soba spot called 竹の子 "take no ko" [WEB].
Actually, recommended by the owner of Olive hotel as the "most delicious somen of the island". It was closed, so we stared at the cat for a while and continued our way to other interesting spots.
Taketomi is packed with charm, as the map below shows, Takenoko plays a significant role in it :P
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