After his visit to the main island of Okinawa and Ishigaki Island in 1882, Nakagawa made a request to the Okinawa prefectural government to reclaim land on Ishigaki Island. But the government rejected his request, claiming that it was too early for the Japanese Main Islanders to reclaim the land on Yaeyama.  This implied that the government was cautious about promoting the social integration of Yaeyama into the Main Islands because they were concerned about the existing local authorities as well as China’s reaction towards the government’s active involvement in reclamation.

Nakagawa made another application to reclaim land on Ishigaki Island with nine colleagues in 1891, and this was immediately accepted by the local government of Yaeyama (Hattori 1963, 118-119).

After the Okinawa prefectural government established the Regulations for Reclamation in Yaeyama (Yaeyama Kaikon Kisoku 八重山開墾規則) in 1891, not only Nakagawa but also other settlers from both the main island of Okinawa and the Japanese Main Islands applied for the official lease of the land in Ishigaki Island.  Between 1891 and 1893, eighteen projects with 81 Okinawan and Japanese settlers were allowed to take approximately 385 hectare for reclamation. Some of them, however, did not start reclamation, and others gave up their projects at an early stage.