Ogasawara Islands

I traveled here years ago while teaching English in Tokyo. I had a vacation, had already traveled widely, and this place caught my eye, for its obscurity. Administratively, the islands are part of the city of Tokyo, even though they’re on the same latitude as Okinawa, much further out into the Pacific than any other Japanese islands. Iwo Jima, where the US Marines raised their flag on 23 February 1945, is part of the island group, but civilian visitation is almost completely restricted. Another island was also off limits when I visited, due to a Japanese military base. At the time, traveling by ferry in the cheapest class seemed like an interesting travel experience, and I remember lying around on fake tatami mats, eating snacks and drinking beer. Speaking Japanese helped, as I chatted with folks my own age, and it was fun when the boat rolled in some seas. We all went ‘whoa’ together, tried not to slide, and then chuckled nervously.  

When I finally arrived in Chichijima (Dad Island), I was surprised to find many young people from around the world visiting, and they asked me if I was there to watch the international junior surfing championships. Apparently, during the typhoon season—late summer/ early fall—, there’s epic swell that attracts some of the world’s best surfers. I hadn’t planned to watch, but I did wander around a few beaches without seeing much actual surfing. On the other hand, I did spend a lot of time with several …

My first one from the “Takes 5 days or more to visit”-list! The Ogasawara Islands are a Japanese archipelago in the Northern Pacific Ocean about 1,000km south of Tokyo and 1,800km north of Guam. They can only be visited by a weekly ferry which takes 24 hours to cover the distance. About 2,500 people inhabit its two main islands. Settlers arrived here in the 19th century, the islands were mostly uninhabited before. After having been taken by the US during the Second World War, the islands were returned to Japan in 1968.

Despite being a group of islands, the OUV is not marine but firmly focused on land (rapidly diversifying land snails! endemic plants!) – even UNESCO seems to have forgotten that as its Gallery only shows photos of sea creatures. About 80% of the core zones of the 5 components are land-based. On Chichi-jima, where I stayed for 3 nights, the core zone of the WHS covers about 65% of this island; the coastal villages and agricultural fields are excluded.

The protected area that lies closest to the main settlement of Omura is Miyanohama Beach. And that is where I headed on my first afternoon on the island. It’s only a 1.2km walk, but I learned quickly that the hills on the island are very steep. The bay has characteristic volcanic arches and outcrops, and inland I got my first good look at the endemic, fruit-bearing Pandanus trees.

In the evening I joined …

Also called the Bonin Islands but that won't get you far with the locals, has 30 islands but you will only visit two of them tops. You will always arrive at Chichi-jima (Father Island) by ferry and it continues to Haha-jima (Mother Island) before returning the same way. This ferry goes twice a week most of the year and takes 24h from Tokyo. There is no faster way to get here and returning will only be after at least 3 days on the island. You will not want to leave as the islands are lovely but you MAY want to leave because it's quite off the beaten path and expensive too. I've been wanting to do this your EVERY time I had something planned for Japan and buying the ferry tickets is actually really easy, but not so much for hotels!! They are sold out for months ahead especially for the golden weeks (=peak holiday season) and to make things worse you can ONLY book by contacting the hotels/hostels/"guest houses" which don't speak English. So...err.. good luck? Well there is one place on booking.com but it far way from the port area and getting to there and then getting around seemed very annoying. You can rent a scooter or car if you really want but that just seems silly for a place like this. Scooter...maybe. and there is a bus service but it would just be a burden to stay far away and having to come back to port for …