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( Ryukyu Islands)
The Ryukyu Islands, in Japanese called the Nansei Islands (????, Nansei-shoto?) (literally Southwest Islands), are a chain of Japanese islands in the western Pacific Ocean at the eastern limit of the East China Sea. They stretch southwest from the island of Kyushu to the island of Taiwan. The islands are administratively divided into Satsunan Islands to the north, belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, and Ryukyu Shoto to the south, belonging to Okinawa Prefecture, Japan (Yoron Island is the southernmost island of the Satsunan Islands and Yonaguni the southernmost of the Ryukyu Islands). The largest of the islands is Okinawa Island. The islands have a subtropical climate with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very high, and is affected by the rainy season and typhoons. The archipelago is home to the Ryukyuan languages. The original dialects are native to each island and distinct from one another. In Japanese, the definition of the Ryukyu Shoto (????, Ryukyu Shoto?)[1], literally meaning "Ryukyu Islands", is somewhat different from the English definition[2] of the word. In Japanese, the term Ryukyu Shoto is used to refer to the part of the Nansei Islands which is in Okinawa Prefecture (the southern half), as opposed to islands of the same group located in Kagoshima Prefecture (the northern half).
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