Rail transport in Okinawa

In 2005, the Okinawa Monorail is the only rail line providing rail transportation in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. In the past, Okinawa Island had railroad, trolley, and horse-drawn streetcar service. Also, Minami Daito and other islands had rail lines to transport sugar cane and other commodities.

The first rail line laid down in Okinawa was during the Meiji period when in 1902, in Minami Daitō, a line opened with handcars. Okinawa Island's first railroad opened in 1910, for the transportation of sugar cane.

After many false starts, rail transportation began in earnest during the Taishō period. The Okinawa Electric Railway (the predecessor of Okinawa Electric Company), having received exclusive rights to this route in 1910, opened the island's first streetcar line, between Daimon-mae and Shuri (5.7 km, 1067 mm gauge, 500 V). Some months later, as an expansion of service on the sugar-cane line in Nishihara, the company introduced person-drawn service between Yonabaru and Konaha (762 mm gauge).

This line would later convert to horse-drawn service. Extensions brought the rails to Awase, part of the present-day city of Okinawa (17.7 km). Meanwhile, the prefectural government, recognizing the failure of private attempts, was preparing its own line, and opened the Okinawa Prefectural Railways line between Naha and Yonabaru in December 1914.

At the end of the Taisho period, the prefecture completed a railway system having three lines radiating from Naha: one to Kadena, one to Yonabaru, and one to Itoman.

Okinawa Electric also extended its routes. A horse-drawn trolley linking Naha and Itoman also began operations. This was the peak of the rail system in Okinawa.

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