is the western tip of

Yonaguni Island , one of the Yaeyama Islands, is the westernmost inhabited island of Japan, lying from the east coast of Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean proper. The island is administered as the town of Yonaguni, Yaeyama Gun, Okinawa ...

and the westernmost point in Japan. The cape is within the town of Yonaguni, Okinawa. There is a lighthouse, an observation platform, and a monument titled on the cape. Tourists gather at the cape daily to see the final sunset in Japan.

Geography

Cape Irizaki is wide, long, and juts into the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...

northwest from Yonaguni Island. The cape reaches a height of , and is surrounded by

sea cliff Seacliff or Sea Cliff or Sea Cliffe may refer to: ;Places ''Australia'' *Seacliff, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide *Seacliff Park, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide *Sea Cliff Bridge, in Illawarra, New South Wales ''New Zealand'' *Seacli ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, which is about to the west, is visible on a clear day. Kubara hill [] and its homonymous fishing port and settlement are visible to the east of the cape. The Kuroshio Current, Black Current flows west of Cape Irizaki to the north, and is a rich fishing ground for [

arlin The name Arlin may refer to: * Arlin Godwin, American electronic musician and filmmaker * Arlin Horton, founder of Pensacola Christian College * Arlin Adams (1921–2015), American judge * Arlín Ayoví (born 1979), Ecuadorian football player * B ...

and

skipjack tuna The skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'') is a medium-sized perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae. It is otherwise known as the balaya (Sri Lanka), bakulan/kayu (North Borneo), tongkol/aya (Malay Peninsula/Indonesia), aku (Hawaii), cakal ...

. Cape Irizaki, like much of the

Yaeyama Islands The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa ...

, is composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...

. The cape is devoid of trees due to constant strong winds. Unlike other areas of the Yaeyama Islands, Cape Irizaki is surrounded by very little

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

History

Cape Irizaki is first mentioned in ''Shōhō Kuniezu'', a kuniezu, or series of Japanese

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

land maps created during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

(1603 – 1868). The ''Shōhō Kuniezu'', which was compiled beginning in 1644, lists the cape as "Ire no Zaki". The cape became the westernmost point of Japan in 1879, when Japan annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Transportation

Cape Irizaki is open to the public, and is easily accessible on foot from the settlement of Kubaradake. The cape is approximately one hour by car from Yonaguni Airport.

Geography

History

Transportation

References

See also