Access to the Yaeyamas - NYTimes.com In March, an airport opened on Ishigaki Island in Japan, creating a bigger gateway for tourism to the tropical Yaeyama Islands in the southern Okinawa prefecture. The new airport, unlike the old one, can accommodate long-haul jets coming from more than 1,200 miles away in Tokyo. Now both Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways offer direct flights from Tokyo and other cities in Japan. From Ishigaki, travelers can snorkel among rare blue coral or catch a ferry to some of the nine other neighboring Yaeyamas, including Taketomi Island, home to traditional wooden houses.