The sound of rain on Kudaka Island is not a Chopin melody, but a reflection of nature (Kudaka Island, Okinawa)

Kudaka Island is a long, narrow, and flat island with a circumference of 8.0 km, located 5.3 km off the eastern coast of Chinen Cape at the southeastern tip of the main island of Okinawa. The entire area belongs to Chinen, Nanjo City, Okinawa Prefecture. The population is 238, and there are 153 households. It is an island about 25 minutes by ferry from a port called Azama Port.

It is said that this is the island of the Ryukyu mythological sacred site, where the Ryukyu creator deity Amamikiyo descended from heaven to this island and began creating the country.

Up to this point, this is something you can easily find by searching online. Kudaka Island is considered a so-called sacred site and is a power spot. The reason I visited this place was because I wanted to feel that mysterious power. However, what I realized after actually going there was that it is a place where you can feel the power of nature, or nature itself, rather than the power of gods.

My visits to remote islands in Okinawa, in order, are Kume Island, Miyako Island, Irabu Island, Kurima Island, Ikema Island, Ogami Island, Yagaji Island, Ishigaki Island, Kohama Island, and then Kudaka Island. Compared to these islands, Kudaka Island is quite a different existence, and it is a place where you can feel a completely different atmosphere.

Unlike many remote islands, despite being only 5.3 kilometers away from the main island of Okinawa, almost no development has taken place. There are few accommodation facilities, and they are either guesthouses with zero resort feel or places like training camps such as the Kudaka Island Accommodation and Exchange Center. There are only 5 places where you can eat, and many of them have irregular holidays, so you could easily become a food refugee. Even if the information on Google Maps says they are open, it is almost unreliable. I have stayed for a total of 4 nights, but only one place was open every night, and even those were only 2 out of the 5 places.

Also, none of the accommodations provide meals. The only place where you can have breakfast is Kudaka Island Inn and Breakfast Okameya. Their breakfast is highly recommended.

Even to buy food, there are only two joint stores common on remote islands, and one of them seems to be almost never open. What you can buy there is also very limited. Orion beer, chuhai, and even awamori are only available in "Seifuku" and "Masahiro". Of course, there is no "Awamori" from Hateruma. Snacks are also just canned goods.

There is no pool on the island. There are several beaches, but you cannot swim except at Megi Beach, which is adjacent to the port. This is because all the beaches are sacred sites. Even that Megi Beach is far from the image of a beach on a southern island, feeling more like a fish preserve inside a fishing port. The transparency of the sea is more than beautiful enough, but in this area, it cannot compete with Miyako Island in terms of transparency.

Because of this, if you come to the island with the image of a vacation in Okinawa, it is an island where you will fail to achieve anything. And that is exactly the charm of Kudaka Island.

As I wrote at the beginning, there is a part known as a power spot. That is certainly true. Or rather, most of the island is a sacred site. But this is a place where you can feel nature with your whole body. In particular, I am completely fascinated by the difference in the sound of rain that I feel here.

This is my second visit, and I was very surprised by the difference in the sound of the rain during my first visit. I was aiming for the rain this time too, but please try to feel the state of the rain that started falling at night. If possible, please listen with headphones.

Don't you feel that the sound of the rain is high, hard, and short? The sound of rain on the mainland is fine, continuous, and I hear it as a swishing or roaring sound. Sometimes it feels like the sound of rain is a Chopin melody. However, the rain on Kudaka Island is not like that. It makes a short, hard sound like a drumroll. This is my imagination, but I think it is because the raindrops are large and the objects the raindrops hit are different from those on the mainland.

The place where I shot the video earlier has these kinds of trees growing. This is a tree called "Sea Almond". It is by no means rare, and it is a tree that can be found anywhere in Okinawa and other places. Not limited to the Sea Almond, the leaves of the trees on Kudaka Island are all large and hard. I think this is because, unlike the mainland, they need to store water to some extent and need to withstand large squalls and typhoons. As a result, I feel that it becomes the sound like the video earlier.

Also, in the city, rain falls on buildings, concrete, and asphalt. The sound when it hits these is clearly different from the sound when it falls on leaves. Rain falls on leaves on the mainland too, but the size of the leaves is different. The sound of rain falling on large leaves makes a loud sound. It is exactly like the rain is playing the drums. It is a reflection of nature through sound.

This is the state of the same place the next morning. If you listen with headphones, you can hear the sound of waves in the distance. It is the sound of waves hitting the reef on the east side of the island. You can hear this all day long. In addition, there is the sound of the wind, the sound of insects, and birds singing.

Ishiki Beach is located on the east side of the island. This place is, of course, also a sacred site. It is said to be the beach where the legend of the origin of the five grains began, as a jar containing the seeds of the five grains is said to have washed ashore here. Being here, I feel I can understand the reason why the concept of Nirai Kanai was born. Nirai Kanai is believed to be a sacred place located beyond the sea or deep underground, a land of eternal life, and it is said to exist beyond the eastern horizon. From Kudaka Island, the Japanese archipelago is not Nirai Kanai. And when you feel the sea in all directions—north, south, east, and west—on Kudaka Island, you clearly understand why only the east is special. From Kudaka Island, you cannot see anything but the sea on the eastern side. And it is from that direction that the sun rises. It is no wonder that one would feel a sense of awe; in fact, I feel it too.

On Kudaka Island, your five senses are sharpened. Or perhaps, they are tested. There are countless places in Japan where nature exists. Among them, the location of this remote island, the numerous legends and myths, the ability to feel the reasons why they were born, and the wind itself set it apart from anywhere else. This is a place you should go not to read books or to relax, but simply to do nothing—though not in a vacant way—but to feel and commune with nature. For me, Kudaka Island is that kind of place.

Information about Kudaka Island can be found on this official website. I feel that Kudaka Island is recommended for solo travel.