Uganzaki Cape

Uganzaki is a cape at the tip of the Yarabu peninsula on Ishigaki's west coast, about half an hour's drive from town. A white lighthouse stands above dark cliffs that drop straight into the sea, and the view runs west over open water with nothing in the way — which is why people come here for the sunset.

For portraits, the grassy slope around the lighthouse and the edge of the lookout leave the sea and the sky as the whole background, and in spring the slope turns white with wild lilies. The cliffs are sheer, so the shots stay on the paths, well back from the edge.

The sun sets late on Ishigaki, because the island sits at the western edge of Japan's single time zone. Come an hour before it for warm light on faces, and stay for the twenty minutes after, when the sky colours over the water. Clear evenings bring a crowd to the lookout.