Meaning of Yonaguni | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A town and island of Yaeyama district, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan; the westmost inhabited island of Japan.
2. A Ryukyuan language spoken on the island of Yonaguni.

Equivalents

Examples

“Yonaguni, with three tiny villages and a small airport, is Japan’s westernmost point, a place from which Taiwan is visible on a clear day. It is also the closest spot of inhabited land to the Senkakus, a small group of uninhabited islets controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan, which call them the Diaoyu Islands. This put Yonaguni and its 1,600 mostly aging residents uncomfortably close to a bruising diplomatic showdown with Beijing last September over a Chinese trawler detained near the Senkakus, which resulted in Tokyo’s backing down. The government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has since vowed to beef up defenses for Japan’s “outlying islands,” and it appears close to a decision on the small Yonaguni garrison, a plan that has been under discussion for years.”

“The quake had a depth of 27.5 km (17.1 miles) with its epicentre 89.5 km (55.6 miles) off Taiwan's east coast, roughly halfway between the coast of Hualien county and the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni, the weather bureau said.”

“For years it was known as the "Two Gun" island – one gun for each of the two policemen stationed here. Yonaguni, Japan's most westerly island, can feel like a peaceful paradise — it is covered in tropical forests and hammerhead sharks glide through its azure waters. But there is trouble on the horizon. Almost 70 miles away lies the island of Taiwan — the self-governing democracy which once again finds itself in the headlines. On Thursday, six Chinese ballistic missiles landed in water near Japan's southwestern islands, one of them near Yonaguni and five others within Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone, according to the Japanese authorities.”

CEFR level