The Ryukyuan people (琉球民族, Ryūkyū minzoku, Okinawan: Ruuchuu minzuku or Duuchuu minzuku), also Lewchewan or Loochooan, are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch between the islands of Kyushu and Taiwan. Administratively, they live in either the Okinawa Prefecture or the Kagoshima Prefecture within Japan. They speak one of the Ryukyuan languages, considered to be one of the two branches of the Japonic language family, the other being Japanese and its dialects. Hachijō is sometimes considered to constitute a third branch.