Stretching roughly 800 miles from the Japanese island of Kyushu on Japan’s southern tip, south across the East China Sea to Taiwan, the Ryukyu archipelago consists of four main island groups: Amami-Oshima, Okinawa, Miyako and Yaeyama in order from north to south. As a result, major Asian cities such as Taipei, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Manila and Tokyo are all located within an approximate 900 mile radius of Okinawa.
Due to Okinawa’s close proximity to these centers of influence, Okinawa serves as the southern gateway to China, Southeast Asia and Oceania. Okinawa, the birthplace of Isshin‑ryu Karate, is the largest island in a chain known as the Ryukyu Islands, and is located in the Pacific Ocean approximately 350 miles south of mainland Japan.
