Hi — I’m Tabiiku. I travel around Japan with my daughter on the principle that experience is the best thing you can give a child. This trip was Ishigaki Island in Okinawa, with a day trip out to Iriomote. One part of it was the best day of the whole year. The other part was distinctly average. Here is both.
If you go to Iriomote, book Ken Guide
The single best memory of this trip was a full-day private tour of Iriomote with a guide called Ken. On our second morning we took the boat from Ishigaki, forty-five minutes across, spent the day on a private family tour, and came back to Ishigaki in the evening.
A practical note on that boat: it is genuinely rough. If you are prone to seasickness, take something beforehand, sit towards the back, and sleep through as much of it as you can.
Choosing a tour company was hard. In the end I shortlisted a few, contacted all of them, and judged them on how they responded — were they quick to reply, did they actually call back when they said they would, was the communication careful and professional. I also deliberately avoided the big operators, because on a tour like this everything comes down to the individual guide. That process led me to Ken, and I was so happy with the day that if we go back to Iriomote I will book him again without looking anywhere else.
The weather was difficult — rain on and off, and a fair amount of wind. We had originally asked for canyoning, but Ken made the professional call on the day and took us caving instead. Helmets, marine shoes, everything you need is provided, so you can turn up empty-handed. Even the drive to the edge of the jungle was fun, with a running commentary on Iriomote’s population and size and the Iriomote cat.
Once we were in the jungle he was constantly watching to make sure my daughter did not slip, that none of us got hurt, and that we were all still enjoying ourselves. We did three caves, starting at level one. He watched how we handled one and two and then took us to what he cheerfully described as a level forty-five. There was not another tourist anywhere — it felt genuinely remote.
After that came mangrove kayaking, starting from the private beach below Ken’s house. It was not just paddling: he pointed out plants, told us what wildlife we might spot, and turned the whole thing into a kind of real-life Where’s Wally.
My daughter trusted him completely by the end and was asking him questions about everything. For a child who spends her life in Tokyo it was a hugely stimulating day. And somehow, without us noticing him doing it, he took a huge number of photos of us as a family, all of which he shared afterwards at no extra cost.
We never did get to do the canyoning because of the weather, but that too struck me as the right professional call, and it is what I will ask him for next time. His website is kenguide.info.
Where we stayed: ANA InterContinental Ishigaki, Club wing
The best-known hotels on Ishigaki are probably JUSANDI, ANA InterContinental and Fusaki Resort. We wanted somewhere children enjoy but which is not overtly aimed at children — somewhere adults still feel they are somewhere luxurious — so Fusaki was out. JUSANDI was tempting, but we went for the Club wing, the top tier at ANA InterContinental.
Book ANA InterContinental Ishigaki Resort
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My conclusion:
- The facilities were not as good as I had expected
- The food was not bad, but nothing about it stood out
- The service was not bad, but again nothing stood out
There was nothing I could point to and call a disaster — but equally nothing that impressed me. An oddly middling hotel.
The facilities
The Club wing opened in 2009, so it is relatively new, and both the building and the room were spotless. For a resort hotel, though, the rooms are on the small side. And the bathroom had a faint but unmistakable smell that I can only describe as someone’s sweaty uncle having lived there, which was a real shame. The view from the balcony, on the other hand, was superb.
Activities
One reason we picked this hotel was the water obstacle course and the pools. My daughter had been looking forward to it for weeks, and the water course turned out to be smaller than the photos suggest — an hour and she was done.
The pool situation is odd. The Club wing has its own pool, which is small, so we ended up at the Sunset Pool next door. There is a third, larger pool that Club wing guests are not permitted to use, which I still do not understand. And the indoor pool was closed for maintenance.
Food
Ishigakiya (not in the hotel)
My daughter loves yakiniku, so on our first night we went ten minutes down the road to Ishigakiya, which had good reviews, to eat Ishigaki beef. The rarer cuts — the top-grade hanoshita and the so-called phantom hiuchi — were excellent. The kalbi was closer to what you would grill at a barbecue, and honestly I think the yakiniku we get in Tokyo is better. But when they brought out my daughter’s birthday cake they played Happy Birthday on a ukulele, and the whole place had a warmth to it.
Saltida (hotel buffet)
A large selection, with Okinawan dishes like champuru and soki soba alongside everything else — but flatly, everything tasted ordinary.
The Club Lounge
Lounge access is the whole point of the Club wing, and the idea is that you can drop in any time for drinks and light food. In practice it was less than I had hoped. At afternoon tea there is a queue — we were lucky and walked straight in, but then waited over fifteen minutes for anything to arrive, and it was fine at best. Outside that window the “light food” is a very short list: the same cookies and mixed nuts every time, plus perhaps one extra item.
Set against the lounges at the Ritz-Carlton Osaka or Shima Kanko Hotel, this fell short.
Service
We waited at check-in, and the woman on the desk spoke halting Japanese in a way I struggled to follow. We had asked for a birthday cake to be brought to the room; someone rang the bell, said “here is your cake”, handed it over and left — no offer to take a photo, nothing. We rang to ask for more water and it never came; it took a second call. Small frictions, but they added up. I do not think we would stay again.
I would like to go back to Ishigaki though — I want another day with Ken on Iriomote, and I would like to reach some of the other outer islands. If you have a hotel on Ishigaki you would recommend, please tell me in the comments.
Book ANA InterContinental Ishigaki Resort
Check rates and availability on Agoda
Check rates and availability on Booking.com
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