The Ryukyu Islands · 琉球列島
Why Okinawa?
Japan is home to over 120 million people, yet less than 2% follow Jesus. As one of the least-reached nations on earth, Japan is home to Okinawa, a subtropical island crossroads where we have been planted: a place of deep cultural complexity, spiritual openness, and 48 inhabited islands stretching a thousand kilometers toward the nations.
1,466,024
Population (official estimate)
12
Unreached people groups
48
Inhabited islands
0
Complete Bibles in any Ryukyuan language
Sources
- Population — Okinawa Prefecture Statistics Division, 沖縄県の推計人口 (monthly official estimate based on the 2020 Census), 1,466,024 as of 1 September 2026. This is an estimate, not a census count; the 2025 Census results had not been published on the prefecture's estimates page at the time of writing.
- Inhabited islands — Okinawa Prefecture, 離島の概況 (Overview of Remote Islands, updated 8 July 2025): 38 inhabited designated remote islands (指定離島) + 9 inhabited islands joined to the main island by bridge + Okinawa main island = 48. Scope: Okinawa Prefecture only (the Amami islands belong to Kagoshima). For comparison, the Geospatial Information Authority counts 691 islands in the prefecture including uninhabited islets (28 Feb 2023).
- Unreached people groups — Joshua Project, Progress Scale 1 ("Unreached"), accessed October 2026. One system is used throughout: the eleven Ryukyuan people groups that Joshua Project lists for the Ryukyu Islands, plus the Japanese people group, which Joshua Project lists once for the whole country (about 117 million) and to which mainland Japanese living in Okinawa belong. The Japanese figure is nationwide; Joshua Project publishes no Okinawa-specific count for it, and not all twelve groups are indigenous to the islands.
- Bible translation — Joshua Project language profiles: Okinawan (Central), the largest Ryukyuan language, has Scripture portions from 1855–58 and no New Testament or complete Bible ("None Reported"); the other Ryukyuan languages are likewise recorded without a complete Bible. Complete Japanese Bibles are widely available, and Japanese is the language of literacy across the islands.
People-group, Christian-adherent, Evangelical and Unreached figures are Joshua Project estimates — not Japanese government census statistics.
Explore the islands
The Ryukyu Islands.
From the main island of Okinawa down to Yonaguni, just 110 km from Taiwan, each island group carries its own people, language and spiritual need.
Tap an island to zoom in — tap it again to see the whole chain
沖縄本島
Okinawa Main Island
A designed overview, not a nautical chart: island shapes are drawn from real coastline data and the north–south order is true, but ocean distances are compressed and smaller islands enlarged so everything stays readable and tappable on a phone.
Sources
- Island populations — Okinawa Prefecture Statistics Division and Kagoshima Prefecture Statistics Division, 2025 Census (preliminary).
- People-group, Christian-adherent, Evangelical and Unreached status — Joshua Project, individual Ryukyuan people-group profiles.
People-group, Christian-adherent, Evangelical and Unreached figures are Joshua Project estimates — not Japanese government census statistics.
An island with
its own voice.
Okinawa is a modern, international island with a strong identity of its own: its own languages, festivals and traditions alongside everyday Japanese life and a long American presence. We live here, and these are the people we are called to love.
The people
People groups
of the Ryukyus.
Joshua Project lists eleven distinct Ryukyuan people groups across these islands, each with its own identity, language and spiritual need. Alongside them live mainland Japanese, who belong to the Japanese people group, also classified as unreached. Together these are the twelve unreached people groups we live among and are called to love.
Okinawan, Ryukyuan
沖縄人
Unreached≈ 1,350,000
Population
2.00%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
Descendants of the Ryukyu Kingdom, spanning central and southern Okinawa, Kerama, and Kume.
Okinawan elders traditionally practice hara hachi bu — eating until only 80% full — one of the customs linked to the region's renowned longevity.
Miyako, Ryukyuan
宮古人
Unreached52,950
Population
2–5%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
A distinct Ryukyuan language, unintelligible to Okinawan speakers.
Miyako's Yonaha Maehama Beach, famed for its impossibly vivid "Miyako Blue" water, has been ranked among Japan's best beaches.
Yaeyama
八重山人
Unreached47,735
Population
2–5%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
Centered on Ishigaki and Taketomi, Japan's southernmost inhabited islands.
Yaeyama's traditional minsa weaving carries a woven proverb of devotion — "forever and always" — historically given by women to the men they loved.
Kikai
喜界人
Unreached5,997
Population
2–5%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
Kikai Island, in the Amami chain — its own distinct language and people group.
Kikai is built almost entirely from an uplifted coral reef and is still rising today — among the fastest-uplifting islands on Earth.
Amami-Ōshima, Northern
奄美大島（北部）
Unreached38,416
Population
0.1–2%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
The northern Amami-Ōshima community, centered on Amami City.
Amami City is home to Oshima Tsumugi, a centuries-old silk-weaving tradition famous for its deep black dye made from local mud and native sharinbai wood.
Toku-No-Shima
徳之島人
Unreached19,894
Population
0.1–2%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
The people of Tokunoshima, in the central Amami Islands.
Tokunoshima is famous for tōgyū, a centuries-old tradition where trained bulls push each other from a ring rather than fight to harm.
Kunigami
国頭人
Unreached≈ 79,000
Population
0.1–2%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
Spanning northern Okinawa and the southern Amami Islands.
Kunigami Village lies within the Yanbaru forest, home to the flightless Okinawa rail — a bird unknown to science until 1981.
Oki-No-Erabu
沖永良部人
Unreached10,755
Population
2–5%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
The people of Okinoerabu Island, between Okinawa and Amami.
Okinoerabu grows the Erabu lily, supplying roughly 80% of Japan's domestically produced Easter lilies.
Amami-Ōshima, Southern
奄美大島（南部）
Unreached7,652
Population
2–5%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
The southern Amami-Ōshima community, around Setouchi.
Amami-Ōshima is part of a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, home to the Amami rabbit — a "living fossil" found nowhere else on Earth.
Yoron
与論人
Unreached4,825
Population
0.1–2%
Christian adherents
0–0.1%
Evangelical
Japan's southernmost point in the Amami chain, closest to Okinawa.
At low tide, a phantom sandbar called Yurigahama appears off Yoron's coast, visible for only a few hours before the sea reclaims it.
Yonaguni
与那国人
Unreached1,510
Population
0.1–2%
Christian adherents
0–0.1%
Evangelical
Japan's westernmost point, just 110 km from Taiwan — closer to Taipei than to Naha.
Yonaguni is home to Japan's largest moth, the Yonaguni-san, with a wingspan over 25 cm.
Japanese (mainland)
日本人（本土出身）
Unreached117,111,000
Nationwide total
0.1–2%
Christian adherents
0.1–2%
Evangelical
Mainland Japanese who have moved to Okinawa for work, family, study or retirement, and their families. Joshua Project counts the Japanese as one people group for the whole country; this group is not indigenous to the islands.
The figure shown is the nationwide total. No Okinawa-specific population is published for this group.
Tap a card to see where each people group lives
Sources
- Population — Okinawa & Kagoshima Prefecture Statistics Divisions, 2025 Census (preliminary); figures match the map above. Kunigami's population is a derived estimate: Okinawa's Northern region (excluding Nago City) plus Okinoerabu and Yoron, reflecting the wider area sometimes classified under Kunigami.
- Christian-adherent, Evangelical and Unreached figures — Joshua Project, individual Ryukyuan people-group profiles and Progress Scale, accessed 2026.
- National Geographic; Blue Zones — Okinawan longevity traditions, including hara hachi bu.
- International Union of Geological Sciences, Geoheritage Sites — Kikaijima uplifted coral reef terraces.
- Japan Tourism Agency; Kagoshima Prefecture tourism — Oshima Tsumugi silk-dyeing tradition; Tokunoshima tōgyū.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre; Japan Ministry of the Environment — Amami-Ōshima & northern Okinawa World Natural Heritage Site; Okinawa rail (Yanbaru kuina).
- Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Geographical Indication registry — Erabu Lily.
- Kyushu Tourism Organization; Kagoshima Prefecture tourism — Yurigahama sandbar, Yoron Island.
- Ryukyu Shimpo — Yonaguni-san (Atlas moth), Yonaguni Island.
- Japan National Tourism Organization; Kanpai Japan — Yonaha Maehama Beach, Miyako Island.
- Kogei Japan; Okinawa Craft Industry Promotion Center — Yaeyama minsa weaving.
People-group, Christian-adherent, Evangelical and Unreached figures are Joshua Project estimates — not Japanese government census statistics.
