What Happened in Okinawa's Waters in 2025

In 2025, Okinawa welcomed a record 10.75 million visitors. In the same year, 111 people were involved in marine leisure accidents — tying the highest number since records began in 2001. Tourism at its peak and ocean safety in crisis are advancing side by side.

Accident victims up roughly 1.5x in five years

Source: 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters (deaths and missing persons: 21 in 2021 → 29 in 2025)

Who Is Getting Hurt — and Doing What

Over the past five years (2021–2025), 469 people were involved in marine leisure accidents, including 129 deaths and missing persons. The data points clearly to where action is needed.

By activity: snorkeling accounts for a third of accidents — and half of all deaths

Five-year totals, 11th Regional Coast Guard HQ (469 victims in total, incl. tidepooling 15 and other 34)

Three decisive facts

The Structural Challenge — 3,384 Registrations, Only 2.5% Certified

Businesses registered under Okinawa's Water Safety Ordinance total 3,384 (2,388 unique operators). Yet only 85 businesses — a mere 2.5% — hold the Public Safety Commission's "Maru-Yu" certification for excellence in safety measures.

This is less a failure of individual operators than of the system itself. Certification brings no market advantage, and going without it carries no penalty — so operators who invest in safety lose out in price competition. That structure has gone unaddressed for three decades. Building a market where travelers can identify safe operators is the next challenge for Okinawa tourism.

AMP Initiatives (2023–2026)

Five Recommendations — Making Okinawa the World's Safest Place to Learn the Ocean

1. Make life jackets part of Okinawa's ocean culture87% of snorkeling and swimming fatalities were not wearing one. We call for operators, hotels and government to jointly build an environment where wearing one is the norm.
2. Teach snorkeling as an ocean survival skillWith half of all deaths occurring while snorkeling, this is a matter of education. We propose an all-weather ocean safety education hub, aligned with the nationwide consolidation of school pools.
3. Build a market that rewards operators who invest in safetyFacing a 2.5% certification rate head-on, we call for real incentives for certification and a review of the registration-only system.
4. Manage the sea by "using and protecting" — mooring buoys and conservation feesWe propose installing and codifying reef-safe mooring buoys and a conservation fee that lets visitors take part in protection.
5. Shift to data-driven safety governanceWe call for integrating data now scattered across agencies and operators, and for continuing this white paper as an annual fixed-point observation.