When I told the Japanese woman with whom I'd struck up a conversation in central Tokyo's very handy Haneda airport that I was flying to Lewchew, she looked puzzled.
The invading Japanese, struggling with the Chinese reading of the characters, pronounced the name of the islands — now known collectively as Okinawa — as Ryukyu. A quick etymological search reveals dozens of variant readings of the name, from Leung-Khieou to Likiwu, all hinting at the powerful sway once held by China over these islands.
The connection is incorporated into a poem that appears in the ancient Okinawan historical chronicle, the "Omoro Soshi," which reads: "Son of the Sun in Shuri/Who built the Floating Island/Into the port of Naha/Where the Chinese and South Seas ships come and gather."