As more people in Tokyo and elsewhere were beginning to hole up at home during the coronavirus pandemic, others were venturing out to visit islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
People on the resort island of Miyako as well as others in the Yaeyama archipelago, which had seen the same tourist flows as usual until recently, are conflicted as they welcome tourists while at the same time fear infection. Most of the visitors have been young people.
In an unusual move, Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama held a news conference on March 31 to warn tourists against a groundless assertion spreading on social media that “southern islands are safe from the virus.”