The , also known as the Kerama Gap, is a waterway which lies between

Miyako Island is the largest and the most populous island among the Miyako Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Miyako Island is administered as part of the City of Miyakojima, which includes not only Miyako Island, but also five other populated islands ...

and

Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately long, an average wide, and has a ...

consisting of a 250km-wide passageway with

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

and airspace. It is the widest strait in the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...

Political significance

The Miyako Strait is of global geopolitical significance, as it is one of the few international waterways for China's People's Liberation Army Navy to access the Pacific Ocean from the East China Sea. The PLA Navy used the strait on a large scale for the first time in April 2010,China's Navy Gets Its Act Together, and Gets Aggressive , Danger Room , Wired.com
/ref> an act which has since become a commonplace practice for them to conduct military exercises in the Pacific.

Cultural significance

The Miyako Strait represents a cultural and linguistic split between the Southern and Northern

Ryukyuan languages The , also Lewchewan or Luchuan (), are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language, they make up the Japonic language family. ...

, with the north being more influenced by Japanese culture. The Northern Ryukyu Islands have historically been more advanced (socially, technologically, and infrastructurally) than the

Southern Ryukyu Islands The (or 先島群島, ''Sakishima-guntō'') ( Okinawan: ''Sachishima'', Miyako: ''Saksїzїma'', Yaeyama: ''Sakїzїma'', Yonaguni: ''Satichima'') are an archipelago located at the southernmost end of the Japanese Archipelago. They are part ...

.Kerr, George H. ''Okinawa: History of an Island People''. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1958. 116-117.

References

{{coord, 25, 23, N, 126, 25, E, dim:500000_region:JP, display=title Ryukyu Islands Straits of Japan Landforms of Okinawa Prefecture