The settlement includes the Port of Tsuken, a post office, and a medical clinic attached to the Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital in Uruma.

[5] Thick belts of vegetation that now exist around coastal areas of the island protect the settlement and agricultural land from sea breeze.

Tsuken was settled early in the history of the Ryukyu Islands, as evidenced by its numerous shell mounds, of which three have been excavated.

[2][3] The areas of present-day Uruma were affected in World War II during the initial part of the Battle of Okinawa.

A smaller invasion force invaded the Yokatsu Islands on L-Day, and encountered stiff resistance from the Japanese military.

In contrast to its population decline, tourism is growing on Tsuken: in 1975, shortly after the reversion of Okinawa Prefecture to Japan, only 3,000 tourists visited the island.

The Kamiya Tourism Company operates a ferry service fives times a day between the pier at Heshikiya on the Katsuren Peninsula in Uruma City.