There had been a delay in our departure for Aguni Island as we waited for a typhoon to spend itself. Two hours later, we finally boarded the ferry at Naha's Tomari Port. As the wind picked up again, and more people retreated into the comfort of the passenger lounge, it was clear that maritime and land conditions in Okinawa were quite different.

The main drawbacks to sitting in the open air were the roar of the ferry's rear engines, the sound producing a muscular vibration along the deck, and the swell and heave of the ocean, breathtaking to some, nauseous to others. Halfway into the crossing, and the sea was still broiling, white spume hitting the deck like the hiss of an acid bath.

With an average of 60 ferry cancellations a year on this route, a fair-weather eye is kept on conditions along this capricious passage of water. The rolling motion, though, didn't stop locals from tucking into cans of Orion beer or keeping up a spirited banter among themselves. A group of elderly women in smocks and gumboots seemed oblivious to the last storm spasms, their feet, like the benches, riveted to the deck. On this two-hour trip, everyone seemed to know each other, sitting in generational clusters. There was an easy conviviality among people who had probably grown up together on an island whose current population stands at around 700 residents.