We’ve visited Ishigaki Island, a lush green paradise in the southwest end of Japan.
Ishigaki Island is located between Okinawa Honto (Main island) and Taiwan and about 2,000 km south west of Tokyo. It is famous for its coral reef beach, tropical flowers and trees, and the unique culture.
I had not been there, but I think it is an excellent opportunity for my son to understand that Japan has a rich diversity of nature and culture.
Of course, we carried our bikes to the island.

Day 1: From Tokyo to Ishigaki
Day 2: Cycling to the east end
Day 3: Cycling To the west end
Day 4: A half-day trip to Taketomi Island

Vanilla Air (LCC)

We flew to Ishigaki from Narita Airport.
To reduce the travel expense, I chosen Vanilla Air, a low-cost carrier. In July 2018, Vanilla Air started the Tokyo(Narita) – Ishigaki route.
I had paid ¥2 000 to carry each bicycle with Oversized Charge.
It was our first time to carry my son’s road bike to the plane.
I bought OSTRICH OS-500 for it.

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As usual, My husband and I packed our BikeFriday Bikes in Chibi-Rin bag with some cardboard.

6:30 am We were not sure that we could carry three bikes in TAXI, so I went to TCAT by bike and my husband and his son got on a taxi to TCAT with two bikes. (On our way back, we found we could carry our three bikes in an ordinal taxi. )

8:30 am 
Arrived at Narita airport. First, we checked in our bicycles and luggage at the counter. The procedure took much more time than we expected. (about 15-20 minutes all). We had to eat breakfast at the cafe in a hurry.
10:00 am Departed Narita airport on JW811.

2:00 pm Arrived at Ishigaki airport, then went to Times Car Rental Ishigaki Airport office.

This time, We rented a car because the public transportation in Ishigaki is inconvenient and the inn we booked was far from the city center.
We were worried about the luggage area in the car because I booked the cheapest compact one.
Fortunately, we could load three bikes of us in the car; Nissan Note.

3:30 PM Checked in “Vacances à la mer Ishigaki 海の休日石垣島,” an apartment type accommodation located between Kabira and Yonehara Beach.
We chatted with the owners and checked the kitchen equipment and found there were enough utensils to cook for ourselves and basic seasonings in the kitchen.

Then we went shopping in the Ishigaki city center by a car.
At “Sanko,” a local supermarket, we bought food and drink which we needed to cook.

We cooked by ourselves and ate dinner. We ate Fried Ishigaki pork and Osashimi of local fish with local craft beer.