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The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 Yaeyama-rettō, also 八重山諸島 Yaeyama-shotō, Yaeyama language: Yaima, Yonaguni: Daama, Okinawan: Yeema, Northern Ryukyuan: やへま Yapema) are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and cover . The islands are located southwest of the Miyako Islands, part of the Ryukyu Islands archipelago. The Yaeyama Islands are the most remote part of Japan from the main islands and contain Japan's southernmost (Hateruma) and westernmost (Yonaguni) inhabited islands. The city of Ishigaki serves as the political, cultural, and economic center of the Yaeyama Islands. On maps dating to the 1700s, the Yaeyama Group of Islands appears as the "Majico Sima Group", "Nambu-soto Islands", "Nambu Soto", and the "Taipin Islands".
around the islands are ideal habitats for , , and larger fish such as and . Before being wiped out by humans, and were common as well, and Yaeyama once had the largest population of dugongs in the Ryukyu Islands. On Aragusuku Island, there is an utaki or sacred place that specially enshrines hunted dugongs with their skulls, but non-residents are not permitted to enter unless they receive special permission from inhabitants, and it is said that anyone without permission will be driven out by force.
The islands have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support populations of resident black wood pigeons and Ryukyu green pigeons, wintering , migrating grey-tailed tattlers, and breeding colonies of bridled tern, roseate tern and .
Satakentia liukiuensis, the Yaeyama palm, is only species in the genus Satakentia, is endemism to the two islands of Ishigaki Island and Iriomote Island in the Yaeyama Islands. (2025). 9781842461822, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 9781842461822
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The Yaeyama Islands are home to the production of traditional Okinawan textiles.
The Mushaama Festival on Hateruma Island is a harvest festival is celebrated during Obon. It features a parade with the local fertility god Miruku and his children (the local children), shishi (lion) dances, and staff dances.
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