Spot guide · Miyakojima 宮古島

Higashi-Henna CapeTwo kilometres of cliff-top grass dividing two seas, with a lighthouse at the end

Photo: Jakub Michankow / CC BY-SA 4.0

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From the berth

~40 min by car

The far southeastern tip

Time needed

~1h on site

2.5h round trip with the drive

Hours

Cape always; lighthouse ~9:00–16:30

Lighthouse ~¥300

Cost

Free

Except the lighthouse climb

Why it's worth your hours

The island’s southeastern corner narrows to a two-kilometre blade of raised coral, ocean on both sides — the Pacific beating the cliffs to your right, the East China Sea lying flat to your left, sometimes in visibly different moods at once. It is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty, and the island’s one great walk that involves no sand.

Along the path sit house-sized boulders that look decorative and are not: they are tsunami stones, thrown onto the cape by the great Meiwa tsunami of 1771. The prettiest walk on the island is also its most legible geology lesson.

The clock

Does it fit your call?

2–3h ashoreToo far

Eighty minutes of driving against a short call is bad arithmetic — take the bridge instead.

4–6h ashoreYes, one anchor of two

Pair it with the east-coast viewpoints, or trade beach time for it.

8h+ ashoreFirst leg of the loop

Do it early, then work back north and west with the sun.

Timed plansSee the minute-by-minute Miyakojima plansEvery step clocked from the gangway →

Do it right

Five things the plaques won't tell you

Climb the lighthouse — around a hundred steps, ~¥300, and the only view that shows the cape’s full blade.
Wind is the cape’s weather even on calm days; hats need a hand on them.
Easter lilies carpet the cape in April–May, which is its single most photogenic window.
There is shade at the parking end and none on the walk — carry water in summer.
The tsunami stones are marked; read one plaque and the whole coastline reorganises itself in your head.

Eat nearby

The picks

Nothing at the cape — plan around itThe pick: soba in Hirara before or after →

Roadside mango stands in seasonThe pick: farm stalls en route →

Quick answers

FAQ

Is Higashi-Henna Cape worth the drive from the cruise port?

On calls of six hours or more, yes — it is the island’s best non-beach sight and its finest walk. On short calls the 80-minute round-trip drive eats the day; the Irabu bridge delivers comparable drama at a quarter of the distance from the quay.

What are the huge boulders on the cape?

Tsunami stones — coral blocks the size of houses thrown onto the clifftop, most of them by the Meiwa tsunami of 1771 that devastated the Miyako and Yaeyama islands. They are studied, dated and left where the sea put them.

Whatever the plan: back aboard 60 minutes before all-aboard. Full port context on the Miyakojima guide.