S2-E11 - Taiwan's Nearest Neighbors - the 1,000+ Kilometer-Long Ryukyu Island Chain

Taiwan lies at the heart of what's called the "first island
chain," a boring name for a long line of amazing islands that
stretches from Borneo to Russia’s Kuril Islands. The main island
of Taiwan's closest neighbor is Yonaguni Island, part of what is
today Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Formerly it was part of the
Ryukyu Kingdom, itself a vassal state of first Ming China, and
then Japan after a 1609 invasion from Kyushu. In 1879, Japan
officially annexed the islands into its empire, and then turned
their gaze to nearby Taiwan. The connections between Okinawa (the
Ryukyus) and Taiwan are not well-documented, but there were many,
both in the distant and recent past. Here are a few of those
stories. ​