As military tensions between China and Japan reach the highest level in more than a decade, the sparsely populated island of Yonaguni finds itself right on the front lines.
Sitting just 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of Taiwan, Yonaguni marks the tail end of an archipelago stretching north to Japan’s main islands, a distance roughly equivalent to the length of the California coastline. Ever since former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taipei in 2022 prompted China to fire missiles that landed near Yonaguni, Japan has accelerated plans for its largest military buildup in at least four decades.