Okinawa Island (沖縄本島, Okinawa-hontō?, alternatively 沖縄島 Okinawa-jima; Okinawan: ウチナー Uchinaa; Nakijin: フチナー Fuchinaa) is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (Nansei) Islands of Japan, and is home to Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture. The island has an area of 1,201.03 square kilometers (463.72 sq mi). It is roughly 640 kilometres (400 mi) south of the rest of Japan.
The island's population is known as the longest-lived people in the world; there are 34 centenarians per 100,000 people, which is more than three times the rate in the United States.
Read more about Okinawa Island: History, Demographics, Geography, Culture, Transportation, Film
Famous quotes containing the word island:
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)