{"id":177551,"date":"2026-05-14T12:19:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T03:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=177551&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:19:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T03:19:37","slug":"ishigaki-taiwan-ferry-to-launch","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/ishigaki-taiwan-ferry-to-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Ishigaki-Taiwan Ferry To Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A regular international ferry service linking Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture with Keelung in northern Taiwan will begin on May 28, operator Shosen Yaima and Ishigaki City announced on May 13. The route will initially operate once a week, with plans to increase to twice weekly from July. The 160-meter Yaima Maru, formerly used on the Osaka-Busan route, can carry up to 545 passengers as well as cargo including daily goods, agricultural products, and construction materials. Travel time between Ishigaki and Keelung will be about seven to eight hours. The project aims to strengthen tourism and trade ties with Taiwan, although rising fuel costs and competition from low-cost airlines could make profitability difficult in the near term. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nikkei.com\/article\/DGXZQOJC279PF0X21C25A1000000\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nikkei<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.okinawatimes.co.jp\/articles\/-\/1836346\" target=\"_blank\">Okinawa Times<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fnn_okinawa-keelung-yaima-maru_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"780\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-177552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fnn_okinawa-keelung-yaima-maru_2026_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fnn_okinawa-keelung-yaima-maru_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C167&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fnn_okinawa-keelung-yaima-maru_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C571&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fnn_okinawa-keelung-yaima-maru_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C428&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/yaimaline.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Yaima Line<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &#038; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\">free weekly newsletter<\/a> today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\">The Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\">this <strong>form<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A regular international ferry service linking Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture with Keelung in northern Taiwan will begin on May 28, operator Shosen Yaima&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":177552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-177551","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-okinawa-prefecture","news-category-business","news-category-travel-tourism","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/177551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}