Kikai Airport
airport in Kikai, Japan
Kikai Airport (喜界空港, Kikai Kūkō) (IATA: KKX, ICAO: RJKI), also known as Kikaijima Airport or Kikaiga Shima Airport, is located in Kikai, a town on Kikaijima (also known as Kikai Island, Kikaishima, Kikaigashima, etc.), one of the Amami Islands in the Kagoshima Prefecture of Japan.
History
An airstrip was opened on the island of Kikaijima in 1931 by the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was attacked by the United States Navy repeatedly during the Battle of Okinawa in the final stages of World War II. One of the pilots on these raids was Samuel Hynes, later a well-known author and university professor. He flew a single-engine Avenger aircraft. In May 1968, the old airstrip was re-opened for commercial use with a 1200-meter runway. The airport was closed from August to December 1968 to permit strengthening of the runway. In April 1971, it was designated as a third-class airport by the Japanese government.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kikai Airport” is airport in Kikai, Japan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kikai, Airport and airport, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “airport in Kikai, Japan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1927346. Authority coordinates are 28.321, 129.928. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1931, 1968, 1200 and 1971.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kikai Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kikai Airport primary sources, Kikai Airport archive and Kikai research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kikai Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.