Iriomote-jima

Iriomote-jima (Iriomote) is the largest of the Yaeyama Islands and the second largest in Okinawa Prefecture after Okinawa Island itself. The island has an area of 289 km². The total population is less than 2,000, and infrastructure is limited to a single coastal road connecting the hamlets on the northern and eastern shores. The island does not have an airstrip, and most visitors - over 150,000 in 2003 - arrive from Ishigaki by ferry. Administratively the island belongs to Taketomi Town, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

The island is famed for the Iriomote Cat, an endangered nocturnal wildcat found only on Iriomote and considered by some to be its own species. There are estimated to be only about 100 Iriomote cats left in the wild. The island has a venomous snake - Trimeresurus flavoviridis, known locally as the habu, is a species of pitviper whose bite has a fatality rate of 3% and a permanent disability rate of 6–8%.

Until the end of World War II, Iriomote was largely uninhabited due to its infestation by malaria. It was used primarily as agricultural land to grow rice. Additionally, during the war some residents of Ishigaki were forcibly made to take refuge in Iriomote, some of whom contracted malaria. After the war, the US Forces in Japan eradicated malaria from the island, and the island has been malaria-free since. The island, together with the rest of Okinawa Prefecture, remained a US-controlled territory until 1972. Iriomote was returned to Japan on 17 June 1972.