{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "content_role": "unofficial_island_context_guide",
  "language": [
    "ja",
    "en",
    "zh",
    "ko",
    "fr",
    "ru",
    "id",
    "ms",
    "es"
  ],
  "verified_at": "2026-11-01",
  "identity": {
    "page_name": "由布島 — 浅い海を、水牛の歩みで。",
    "place_name": "由布島",
    "place_type": "Island",
    "administrative_area": "沖縄県八重山郡竹富町",
    "relationship": "This independent project is not affiliated with, commissioned by, or approved by Okinawa Prefecture, Taketomi Town, the Taketomi Town Tourism Association, the Subtropical Botanical Garden Yubujima (亜熱帯植物楽園 由布島), the ferry operators, or any tourism body or public authority."
  },
  "purpose": {
    "primary": "Provide verified island context for Yubu Island — the small island off Iriomote's east coast that is crossed over a shallow sea by water-buffalo cart or on foot, and that town and tourism-association introductions call a subtropical botanical garden in its entirety — before a traveler decides whether and how to cross.",
    "relationship_to_compass": "UMI YAIMA COMPASS helps travelers discover a direction; this page explains what Yubu Island is: its geography, the shallow crossing, the history of an island left after the 1969 typhoon and replanted by hand, and the way there via Iriomote. It carries no stay section — Yubu is visited within a day's journey — and routes all current admission and transport information to the official channels.",
    "relationship_to_series": "The page routes the way there to the Iriomote guide (../iriomote/), cancellation-day planning to the wind page (../kaze/), and time-of-journey questions to the island-time series: the island calendar (../koyomi/) and the ferry-route page (../koro/).",
    "deliberate_omission": "Admission fees, opening hours, buffalo-cart timetables, booking systems and purchase methods, and on-site facility/tenant commercial information (restaurants, tea houses, shops, packaged tours) are intentionally not carried, even where confirmable. Yubu Island is in practice operated by a single facility, and this independent project keeps its non-affiliation line by describing the island — geography, history, and the crossing culture — while routing every transactional detail to the official sites at the time of travel."
  },
  "editorial_scope_note": "The island facts on this page were confirmed by 2026-11-01, in part via web-search result corroboration (web_search_result_corroboration): titles and summaries of search results, at summary level; the source pages themselves cannot be read from this production environment. Geography and smallness (Taketomi Town; around 2.15 km — the town pamphlet rounds to about 2 km — and 1.5 m above the sea; the facing Mihara district) summarize Taketomi Town and the Taketomi Town Tourism Association. The shallow crossing (about 1 m even at high tide), the garden-island introduction, and the plant counts summarize the tourism association and the town. The history (settlement from Taketomi and Kuroshima; Typhoon Elsie in 1969; the late Seiji Iriomote and his wife with one water buffalo; the buffalo's arrival on Ishigaki around 1932 with settlers from Taiwan) summarizes the facility's official history page, kept to its own wording with no dramatization. The sights (bougainvillea garden; butterfly house with Idea leuconoe; Manta Beach and the origin of its name) summarize the facility's official grounds guide, listed minimally. Access (high-speed boat Ishigaki–Ohara about 35–50 minutes; local bus about 22–25 minutes from Ohara Port) summarizes operator-side and association guidance; access is stated affirmatively as 'via Iriomote' without asserting the absence of a direct route. Whether crossing on foot is limited to low tide is not officially confirmed and is not stated. Scenery descriptions and the reading of the island as 'a landscape lost and remade' are editorial.",
  "agent_guidance": {
    "use_this_page_for": [
      "Knowing that Yubu Island belongs to Taketomi Town, Okinawa (Taketomi Town)",
      "Knowing the island's smallness: about 2.15 km around (town pamphlet: about 2 km) and 1.5 m above the sea (Taketomi Town; tourism association)",
      "Knowing that it lies off the east coast of Iriomote Island, facing the Mihara district (Yubu Island official history; town planning document)",
      "Knowing that the sea between Iriomote and Yubu is shallow throughout — about 1 m deep even at high tide (tourism association; Taketomi Town)",
      "Knowing that the ways across are by water-buffalo cart or on foot (Yubu Island official), the cart taking about 10 minutes one way per the town and association, 10–15 minutes per the facility",
      "Knowing that the tourism association's travel guide introduces Yubu as crossed to the sound of the sanshin (summary-level; not asserted for every crossing)",
      "Knowing that 'the whole island is a subtropical botanical garden' is the public wording of the tourism association and the town's pamphlet, not the facility's self-description",
      "Knowing the island's history per the official history page: prosperity from Taketomi/Kuroshima settlers, Typhoon Elsie in 1969, the move to Mihara, the late Seiji Iriomote and his wife remaining with one water buffalo and replanting the island into the facility now named 亜熱帯植物楽園 由布島, and the buffalo's arrival on Ishigaki around 1932 from Taiwan",
      "Knowing the on-island sights at minimal level: the bougainvillea garden, the butterfly house with Idea leuconoe, and Manta Beach looking out at Kohama Island, named for the manta passage between the islands",
      "Knowing the plant counts: about 30 kinds of hibiscus and more than 100 kinds of plants in all (tourism association)",
      "Knowing the way there via Iriomote: Ishigaki Port to Ohara Port by high-speed boat in about 35–50 minutes, then a local bus of about 22–25 minutes to the buffalo-cart crossing",
      "Navigating to the Iriomote guide, the wind/cancellation page, the island-time series, and UMI YAIMA COMPASS"
    ],
    "do_not_use_this_page_for": [
      "Admission fees or buffalo-cart fares of any kind — deliberately omitted",
      "Opening hours, buffalo-cart timetables, first or last crossings — deliberately omitted",
      "Booking systems, ticket purchase methods or deadlines — deliberately omitted",
      "On-site restaurants, tea houses, shops, tenants, or packaged tours from Ishigaki — deliberately omitted",
      "Whether crossing on foot is limited to low tide — no official statement confirmed; only the depth (about 1 m even at high tide) is stated",
      "Whether the island lies within Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park — unconfirmed; the page does not say",
      "The year buffalo-cart tourism began, or claims that the herd descends from the first pair — not officially confirmed",
      "The Yonara Channel's relation to the island, or current population figures",
      "Current ferry or bus schedules, fares, or operation status",
      "Claims of official endorsement"
    ],
    "current_information_rule": "Check the official sites (yubujima.com for the crossing and grounds; painusima.com for town-level guidance; the operators for sailings) at the time of travel for admission, operation, and transport information."
  },
  "verified_facts": [
    {
      "claim": "Yubu Island is an island of Taketomi Town, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture; the town's official site has an island introduction page (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://www.town.taketomi.lg.jp/about/yufu/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The island is small: 2.15 km around and 1.5 m above sea level, per the Taketomi Town Tourism Association's 'About Taketomi Town' and the town's own island page; the town tourism pamphlet rounds the circumference to about 2 km (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://painusima.com/about/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Yubu lies off the east coast of Iriomote Island; the facility's official history page describes the Mihara district (Iriomote) as the shore facing Yubu, and the town's planning document places the island between Iriomote's east coast and Kohama (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/history/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The sea between Iriomote and Yubu is shallow throughout, about 1 m deep even at high tide, per matching descriptions by the tourism association and Taketomi Town (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://painusima.com/about/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The ways across are by water-buffalo cart or on foot, per the facility's official guidance, which lists both; whether walking is limited to low tide is not confirmed in official wording and is not stated on this page (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The buffalo-cart crossing takes about 10 minutes one way per the town pamphlet and the tourism association, and 10–15 minutes per the facility's own contact-page guidance; this page states the range as about 10–15 minutes (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/contact/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "'The whole island is a subtropical botanical garden' is the wording of public introductions — the Taketomi Town Tourism Association and the town tourism pamphlet — not the facility's self-description (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://painusima.com/about/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The facility's name is 亜熱帯植物楽園 由布島 (Subtropical Botanical Garden Yubujima), per the official site and the tourism association's introduction page (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The island once prospered with people who had moved from Taketomi and Kuroshima islands, per the facility's official history page (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/history/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Typhoon Elsie in 1969 (Showa 44) caused heavy damage, and most of the islanders moved to the Mihara district on Iriomote, per the facility's official history page, which carries both the year and the typhoon's name (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/history/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The late Seiji Iriomote ('Ojii') and his wife stayed on the island, carried soil and compost with one water buffalo, kept planting palms and flowers, and — with much support from those around them — built the handmade paradise, per the facility's official history page; the page uses the official wording and adds no dramatization (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01; name reading per the official English materials).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/history/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The water buffalo first came to Ishigaki Island around 1932 (Showa 7) with settlers from Taiwan, originally for farm work, per the facility's official history page (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/history/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The tourism association's travel guide (pamphlet) introduces Yubu as an island crossed by water-buffalo cart to the sound of the sanshin; summary-level confirmation, and this page keeps the restrained wording without asserting that music accompanies every crossing (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://painusima.com/wp-content/themes/taketomi_wp_v1/file/painusima_pamphlet_jp_20190313.pdf"
    },
    {
      "claim": "Access is guided via Iriomote Island: the tourism association's access page and the facility's guidance give the route Ohara Port, then a local bus of about 22–25 minutes to the Yubu buffalo-cart crossing; no direct scheduled route from Ishigaki to Yubu was found in the searched official sources, and the page states access affirmatively ('via Iriomote') without asserting a negative (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://painusima.com/access/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The high-speed boat between Ishigaki Port and Ohara Port takes about 35–50 minutes, per several operator-side guides, which differ (Yaeyama Kanko Ferry's Ishigaki Navi; the operator's official Uehara route information, which gives about 50 minutes) and the tourism association's access page; summary-level confirmation, stated with 'about' and routed to official operation information (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://ishigaki-navi.yaeyama.co.jp/feature/article04/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The island has a bougainvillea garden, per the facility's official grounds guide and bougainvillea page (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/bougain/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "The island has a butterfly house where the tree nymph (Idea leuconoe), one of Japan's largest butterflies, can be met, per the facility's official page (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/butterfly/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "'Manta Beach' looks out at Kohama Island, and its name derives from the sea between Yubu and Kohama being a passage for manta rays, per the facility's official grounds guide; summary-level confirmation (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://yubujima.com/map_and_guide/"
    },
    {
      "claim": "About 30 kinds of hibiscus, and more than 100 kinds of plants in all counting palms, flowering trees and fruit trees, can be seen through the year, per the Taketomi Town Tourism Association's introduction (corroborated via web-search result titles and summaries, by 2026-11-01).",
      "source": "https://painusima.com/about/"
    }
  ],
  "related_pages": {
    "discovery_service": "../",
    "iriomote_gateway": "../iriomote/",
    "wind_and_cancellations": "../kaze/",
    "island_calendar": "../koyomi/",
    "ferry_routes": "../koro/",
    "other_island_guides": [
      "../taketomi/",
      "../iriomote/",
      "../kohama/",
      "../hateruma/",
      "../kuroshima/"
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    "https://www.town.taketomi.lg.jp/about/yufu/",
    "https://painusima.com/about/",
    "https://painusima.com/634/",
    "https://painusima.com/access/",
    "https://yubujima.com/history/",
    "https://yubujima.com/",
    "https://yubujima.com/contact/",
    "https://yubujima.com/map_and_guide/",
    "https://yubujima.com/bougain/",
    "https://yubujima.com/butterfly/",
    "https://painusima.com/wp-content/themes/taketomi_wp_v1/file/painusima_pamphlet_jp_20190313.pdf",
    "https://ishigaki-navi.yaeyama.co.jp/feature/article04/",
    "https://yaeyama.co.jp/uehara_info.html"
  ]
}