located in 60 – 100 feet of water off the coast of Okinawa, Japan in 1995. The terraces are quite
massive, by normal standards. And another site was discovered soon after just off the southern
end of the island of Yonaguni, the southernmost island of Japan.
Fig.99The Yonaguni location is quite an extensive site, with five irregular terraced sections
resembling ceremonial platforms. There have so far been eight of these anomalous, underwater
sites found in the vicinity of Japan to date. Kimura firmly believes the ruins to be man made and
the traces of an unknown civilization, perhaps from the Asian mainland. One site includes the
ruins of a building about 240 feet long (fig.101)Two of Japan's leading researchers, Kihachiro
Aratake, and Prof. Masaaki Kimura, a marine geologist with the University of the Ryukyus in
Okinawa, have spent several years studying eight sites in all, especially Yonaguni, which was
found by Aratake also in 1995.
In an article in ‘Ancient American’, the writer Frank Josef had this to say about the find:
“One of the greatest discoveries in the history of archaeology was made last summer, off Japan
There, spread over an amazing 311 miles on the ocean floor, are the well-preserved remains of an
ancient city, or at the very least, a number of closely related sites.
“In the waters around Okinawa and beyond to the small island of Yonaguni, divers located
eight separate locations beginning in March 1995. That first sighting was equivocal - a
provocative, squared structure, so encrusted with coral that its manmade identity was uncertain.
Then, as recently as the summer of 1996, a sports diver accidentally discovered a huge, angular
platform about 40 feet below the surface, off the southwestern shore of Okinawa. The feature’s
artificial provenance was beyond question. Widening their search, teams of more divers found
another, different monument nearby – then another and another... They discovered long streets,
grand boulevards, majestic staircases, magnificent archways, enormous blocks of perfectly cut
and fitted stone - all harmoniously welded together in a linear architecture unlike anything they
had ever seen before.
“In the following weeks and months, Japan’s archaeological community joined the feeding-
frenzy of discovery. Trained professionals formed a healthy alliance with the enthusiasts who first