I could set up a house all by myself, or live off a spear I built myself! Such images of great adventure aroused my excitement. For a child who did not know the world, “deserted island” was a magic word that created unlimited imagination, regardless of how difficult it really was.

The image came from a book I read when I was a child, “Robinson Adrift” (author: Daniel Defoe). Robinson Crusoe, a sailor, is shipwrecked and finds himself alone on a deserted island. He gathers wood to build a hut, catches birds and beasts for food, gets his loyal servant Friday, and overcomes his difficulties… This is a novel of adventure.

But this was only the children’s version.

The actual title of the first edition was a reportage-style title, “An account of the life and strange and surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York who was cast ashore in a shipwreck that claimed the lives of everyone but himself, and who lived alone for 28 years on a deserted island near the mouth of a great river called Oroonok on the shores of America, until he was miraculously saved by a pirate ship. The title of the book is a reportage-style account of the life and strange and surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York who lived alone for 28 years on a deserted island near the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico and was miraculously rescued by a pirate ship in the end. There was a great discrepancy between the dreams of children and the reality of adults.

Although this work is a fictional story, it actually has a model.

According to established theory, it was a Scottish man named Alexander Selkirk. Selkirk lived on the uninhabited island of Mas a Tierra, one of the Juan Fernandez Islands off the coast of Chile in South America in the early 18th century. The story was inspired by this island. And this island is no longer uninhabited, with 600 people living there today.

Now, there are exactly 113 uninhabited islands in Okinawa. I have already visited more than 20 uninhabited islands (island hopping) in my life in Okinawa since 2020. Every island is unique and interesting.

This time we explored a sunken ship in the Cibici Atoll in Kerama, Okinawa!

I think I still think of myself as Robinson Crusoe.

◆Reference (October 31, 2020 article; Google link is broken for some reason)

Beaches and uninhabited islands in Okinawa and (Google Map)