What Is Amami Oshima? World Heritage Forests, the Amami Rabbit and Mangroves

Published 2026-10-04 · Sources checked 2026-10-04 · Treasure Hunting Co., Ltd.

This guide is for visitors who want to know why Amami Oshima is a World Natural Heritage site and what lives there. It uses seven English pages of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), several written for the Ministry of the Environment's national park pages. All pages were read on 2026-10-04.

Some of the pages are older, including a 2020 feature and a 2019 interview, and this guide marks them as dated.

The short answer

JNTO describes Amami Oshima as an island of volcanic origin ringed by coral reefs, at once a prime subtropical destination and the site of a fascinating culture. It says the island has the second-largest mangrove forest in Japan and is home to rare species such as the Amami rabbit and the Amami jay, also known as Lidth's jay.

World Heritage status

JNTO says the island was registered as a World Natural Heritage site in July 2021, together with Tokunoshima, the northern part of Okinawa Island and Iriomote Island. A news item gives the date as 26 July 2021 and says Kagoshima became the only prefecture in Japan with two World Natural Heritage sites, since Yakushima was certified in 1993. The registered area is 42,698 hectares in five parts across four regions, and JNTO calls the region the fifth natural site in Japan.

The news item quotes the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which noted the area's great importance for biodiversity conservation as shown by the number of rare endemic species. JNTO adds that the region covers less than 0.5 percent of Japan's land mass.

Forest and rain

A JNTO feature says mountain forest covers 90 percent of the landscape in the southern and central areas of the island. Heavy rainfall of about 3,000 millimetres a year feeds subtropical evergreen trees and ferns. Another JNTO page gives about 2,900 millimetres, so the figure is around 3,000 millimetres either way. The feature says Mount Yuwandake, at 694.4 metres, is the highest mountain, and that around 220 species of coral live in the warm currents off the coast. It adds that sea turtles come to lay their eggs in coves along the shore.

The Amami rabbit

JNTO's conservation centre page calls the Amami rabbit a relict species with short ears, dark fur and a hunched back, found only on Amami Oshima and neighbouring Tokunoshima. The World Heritage page says it is the only species in its genus with no close relatives anywhere else in the world. The feature adds that it is so rare that it was designated a Special Natural Monument, and that night tour guides often find it near dens in roadside banks.

Other rare animals

The feature lists the Amami Ishikawa's frog, which has a metallic sheen with a golden spotted pattern and is found only on Amami Oshima, the Ryukyu scops-owl, whose call is easier to detect than its camouflaged body, and the Amami spiny rat. It says the Ryukyu ayu fish is found only on Amami Oshima, and that its young hide in the aerial roots of the mangroves.

The Sumiyo mangroves

The feature says a mangrove forest of around 0.7 square kilometres lies in the town of Sumiyo in the southeast. At high tide, seawater flows up the Sumiyo and Yakagachi rivers, and the forest sits where the two rivers meet. The two prevalent species are ohirugi, with knee roots, and mehirugi, with buttress roots shaped like thin boards. At high tide you can wind through tunnels of mangroves, while low tide lets you see crabs and mudskippers in the tidal pools.

An invasive threat, and a recovery

An interview with a national park ranger, conducted in November 2019, says mongooses were introduced in 1979 and became the most dangerous threat to species like the Amami rabbit. A group called Mongoose Busters formed in 2000 and used traps and detection dogs. The ranger said the estimated population had fallen from about 10,000 to fewer than 10, and that the rabbit population was rising again. Treat those numbers as of 2019.

Visiting responsibly

JNTO's World Heritage page says nature at registered sites cannot be replaced if it disappears, and asks visitors to check local manners, customs and rules for the conservation of nature before visiting. It names the Small Indian Mongoose as an invasive species the region protects against.

What we could not verify, and therefore left out

• Current population figures for the Amami rabbit and the mongoose.
• Rules for entering individual forest areas.
• The best months for seeing wildlife on night tours.
• The conflict between the two rainfall figures, which we report as a range.

Related guides

• How Do You Get to Amami Oshima and Reach the Other Amami Islands?
• What Can You Do on Amami Oshima? Mangrove Canoes, Night Tours, Tsumugi and Keihan

Sources

All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.

1. Amami Oshima Island (JNTO) — (volcanic island, mangrove forest, registration)
2. World Heritage: Amami-Oshima and neighbours (JNTO) — (area, rabbit genus, rules)
3. Amami Oshima and Tokunoshima named UNESCO Sites (JNTO) — (26 July 2021, IUCN)
4. Amami Oshima and Tokunoshima Islands (JNTO, 2020) — (forest, rain, mangroves, animals)
5. Amami-Oshima World Heritage Conservation Center (JNTO) — (relict species)
6. Meet a Ranger Amamigunto (JNTO, 2019 interview) — (mongoose, rabbit recovery)
7. Explore Amamigunto National Park (JNTO) — (Sumiyo, night tours)