Tsukishima is a small island about 200 meters off the coast of Kushima, Miyazaki Prefecture, and as of October 2026 it has four residents. No scheduled ferry runs to it, so anyone who wants to go must take their own boat or ask an islander to come and collect them.
The island has no shop and no pharmacy, and mail and parcel deliveries do not reach it. Even among people in Miyazaki, few know the island exists.
A reporter stayed on Tsukishima for two days and one night to see how four people live there.
A friend's introduction
The reporter, who likes visiting islands in Japan and abroad, learned about Tsukishima from a friend. The friend's partner, Hiroki Tsukishima, 40, was planning to open a guesthouse on the island and later showed the reporter around.
Tsukishima was born on the island and lived there until junior high school. He now splits his time between Aoshima, in Miyazaki city, and Tsukishima. The reporter stayed at the guesthouse he is preparing to open.
The weather was clear. Miyazaki had been battered by storms the day before, but the reporter flew from Haneda Airport to Miyazaki Bougainvillea Airport and found the deep green vegetation that is rare around Tokyo.
Getting to Tsukishima means first reaching Heta Port on the mainland. Kushima runs a community bus, but it operates only on Wednesdays and Fridays, about three times a day. Tsukishima, who spends roughly half of each week on the island, said most people there use their own cars, so few are usually parked at the port.
Before the trip, the reporter had one thing that had to be done.