A Chinese woman who made headlines two years ago by claiming on social media to have bought an island in Okinawa is planning to visit the island this summer, Chinese media have reported.
The woman is reportedly preparing a trip to the island for employees of a company she runs in July or August.
The island she claimed to have purchased is the uninhabited Yanaha Island in the village of Izena in Okinawa. According to the village office, a Chinese consulting company based in Tokyo has owned about half of the 740,000-square-meter island since February 2021.
The woman told Chinese media that she bought the island through direct negotiations with its owner after learning by chance that it had been put up for auction. She did not disclose how much she paid for it. She said she decided on the acquisition since the island is uninhabited and close to the city of Qingdao in the Chinese province of Shandong, her birthplace.
The woman said she hopes to preserve the nature of the island as it is, adding that she may help develop it if she finds the right person, but that she will otherwise pass the island on to the next generation.
The woman went back to Qingdao some 10 years ago after studying in Japan and founded a dining business.
Her social media video posted in January 2023 in which she claimed her purchase of the island spurred national security concerns in Japan.
Then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the government would monitor further developments relating to the island.
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