Hatoma (鳩間島, ''Hatoma-jima''; Yaeyama: ''Patuma''; Okinawan: ''Hatuma'') is a small island 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 ...

, barely 1 kilometer in diameter. It is under the administration of Taketomi District,

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city o ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In local language, the island's name is pronounced ''Patuma''.

Geography

Hatoma is located just north of

Iriomote is the largest of the Yaeyama Islands of Japan, and the second largest in Okinawa Prefecture after Okinawa Island itself. The island has an area of and a 2005 population of 2,347. The island does not have an airstrip, and most visitors — ov ...

. It is a tiny island, with an area of just , a circumference of , and a population of about 48.

History

Hatoma has been continuously inhabited for at least several centuries, if not longer. Excavations on the island have shown that until recent times, Hatoma residents subsisted largely on shellfish gathered in the surrounding shallow waters, and vegetables. Unlike nearby

, Hatoma was not infested by

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

; hence its long-term settlement. In the early 1900s, Hatoma flourished as a

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 ...

fishing port. At that time, the population of the island numbered in the hundreds. In 1968, because of the declining economic viability of skipjack tuna fishing (partly due to decreased consumption of

katsuobushi is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'', sometimes referred to as bonito). It is also known as bonito flakes. ''Katsuobushi'' or similarly prepared fish is also known as . Shaved ''katsuobushi'' and dried ke ...

due to the use of

MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium Salt (chemistry), salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a fl ...

in its stead),

(dried and smoked skipjack tuna) processing facilities on the island were shut down, but the demographic decline started well before this. With the decline of its only industry, the population of Hatoma rapidly shrank. When the population of its only school fell to just a handful, the Taketomi authorities attempted to shut it down. The island residents, however, fought to keep the school open, and succeeded by using an innovative program: households take in the children from mainland Japan who, for reasons of stress or mental difficulties, could not attend a local school, and send them to the school on Hatoma. This program, called ''Kaihin Ryūgaku'' (海浜留学) (foster homes), still survives to this day, and the school's doors remain open. Being a small, outlying island, infrastructure was slow to come to Hatoma; the island did not receive electricity until the 1960s.

Education

The

Taketomi is an island in the town of Taketomi, within Yaeyama District of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Taketomi is one of the Yaeyama Islands. The population of Taketomi Island was 323 as of January 2012. Geography Taketomi Island is located south of Is ...

town authorities maintain a single combined elementary and junior high school on the island: Hatoma Elementary and Junior High School (竹富町立鳩間小中学校). For public senior high school students may attend schools of the

Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education The Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education (沖縄県教育委員会) is the prefectural education agency of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. The board oversees municipal school districts in Okinawa and directly operates many high schools. Schools di ...

Cultural references

Featured in the 2005

Japanese television drama , also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thriller ...

Ruri no Shima is a Japanese television series which was broadcast on Nippon Television from 16 April to 18 June 2005. Synopsis On Hatomi (a fictional name derived from Hatoma, the actual island where the drama was filmed), a small island in Okinawa state par ...

'' (Ruri's Island), by

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

References

External links

Google map
Yaeyama Islands Islands of Okinawa Prefecture {{Okinawa-geo-stub