Ogasawara Islands

Ogasawara Islands
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The Ogasawara Islands are a group of oceanic islands that display the evolution process from the birth of the islands.

It also is an habitat for valuable and endangered species, including the Bonin Flying Fox, a critically endangered bat. Also remarkable are its 134 species of land snails. Its fauna and flora with many endemic species and taxonomic disharmony is typical for isolated oceanic islands.

The nominated area consists of the Ogasawara archipelago (Mukojima, Chichijima, Hahajima), Kita-iwoto, Minami-iwoto, Nishinoshima island and marine zones. They are located 1000km south of Tokyo.

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Site Info

Full Name
Ogasawara Islands
Unesco ID
1362
Country
Japan
Inscribed
2011
Type
Natural
Criteria
9
Categories
Natural landscape - Insular
Link
By ID

Site History

2011 Inscribed

Site Links

Unesco Website
Ogasawara Islands
Official Website

Ogasawara Islands

Related

Wiki on the Bonin Islands

In the News

On remote Japanese isle, old bonds with America stir modern questions over race and identity (2020.08.21)

Nishinoshima’s Explosive Growth Creates New Land (2020.07.12)

Airport plan a 'potential threat' to Ogasawara (2018.05.02)

New bird species found in Ogasawara Islands (2018.01.29)

Volcanic eruption raises new islet amid Ogasawara Islands (2013.11.23)

Ogasawara island threatened by non-native lizard (2013.04.18)

Ogasawara island chain named as World Heritage site (2011.06.26)

Locations

The site has 21 locations

Ogasawara Islands: Kitanoshima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Mukojima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Nakodojima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Yomejima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Ototojima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Anijima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Some parts of Chichijima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Nishijima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Higashijima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Minamijima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Marine area
Ogasawara Islands: Some parts of Hahajima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Mukohjima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Hirajima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Meijima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Anejima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Imotojima and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Marine area
Ogasawara Islands: Kita-iwoto and peripheral reefs
Ogasawara Islands: Minami-iwoto
Ogasawara Islands: Nishinoshima and peripheral reefs

Connections

The site has

Damaged
Hit by Tsunami: Chichijima 1826, 1944, 1960
Ecology
Stratovolcanoes: The two islands from the Kazan Group are mountainous with both islands formed from the summits of giant submarine stratovolcanos. (AB ev)
Whales: Breeding grounds of humpback whales and sperm whales, also sightings of sei whale, blue whale and north pacific right whale
Turtles and tortoises: Green turtle (also lays eggs here), loggerhead turtle, hawksbill turtle and leatherback turtle
Coral
Endemic Bird Species: Ogasawara Islands (its own EBA) - Japanese Wood-pigeon (Columba janthina), Bonin Wood-pigeon (Columba versicolor), Bonin White-eye (Apalopteron familiare), Bonin Thrush (Zoothera terrestris), Bonin Grosbeak (Chaunoproctus ferreorostris)
Natural Arches and Bridges: Natural stone arch at Minamijima
Notable for Bats: "... home to a wealth of fauna, including the Bonin Flying Fox, a critically endangered bat,"
Molluscs: "The islands are the habitat for more than 100 recorded native land snail species, over 90% of which are endemic to the islands."
Geography
Archipelagos
Pacific Ocean: located in the western Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ring of Fire
Formerly inhabited islands: North Iwo Jima was inhabited twice, first by Micronesians before the European discovery in the 16th century and then by the Japanese between 1889 and WWII
Micronesia: previously inhabited by Micronesians, tectonically and biologically part of Micronesia
New islands: An Island provisionally named as Niijima emerged in november 2013, but has since Dec 26 joined Nishinoshima and ceased to be a separate island.
History
Once Claimed for the USA: "Commodore Perry's flagship USS Susquehanna (1850) anchored for three days in Chichijima's harbor on June 15, 1853 on the way to his historic visit to Tokyo Bay to open up the country to western trade. Perry also laid claim to the island for the United States for a coaling station for steamships, appointing Nathaniel Savory as an official agent of the US Navy and formed a governing council with Savory as the leader. On behalf of the US government, Perry "purchased" 50 acres (200,000 m2) from Savory" (Wiki). The US appears to have simply acquiesced in Japan's 1862 formal claim over all the Bonin Islands
Human Activity
Natural sites with indigenous human population: includes villages of Bonin Islanders, a mixture of European and Pacific settlers who talk Bonin English, also called Ogasawara Mixed Language
Timeline
Eocene: The Ogasawara Islands were formed around 48 million years ago. (Wiki)
Trivia
Dubbed as another WHS: Galapagos in the Orient
Built or owned by Americans: Under US control from 1945-1968 (they introduced the goats that degraded the vegetation on Chichijima and Mukojima)
Situated in an administrative exclave of a city: Administratively part of Tokyo City despite being situated 1000kms south of it.
Visiting conditions
Takes more than 5 days to visit: Ferry from Tokyo takes (at least) 25 hours, return ferry starts 3 days later, so just over 5 days round trip
WHS on Other Lists
Biodiversity hotspot: Japan
World Heritage Process
Inscribed on a single criterion only: ix. to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals

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