Ogasawara Islands

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from Volcano Islands)

Image:Ogasawara Islands.jpg

The Ogasawara Islands (小笠原諸島) are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical islands some 1,000 km directly south of central Tokyo, Japan. Administratively, they are a part of Tokyo. The islands are also known as the Bonin Islands, and the southernmost (uninhabited) group is known as the Volcano Islands. Still 700 km further south is Okino Torishima, and 1,900 km further east is Minami Torishima. These two remote islands are not geographically part of Ogasawara but belong to it administratively. The total area of the islands is 84 km².

The only inhabited islands are Chichi-jima (父島) and Haha-jima (母島).

Contents

[edit]

Island Subgroups

The Ogasawara Islands consists of four subgroups, including the Volcano Islands, which are listed along with their main islands:

  • Mukojima Group (聟島列島 Mukojima Rettō)
    • Mukojima (聟島, literally: Bridegroom Island)
    • Yomejima (嫁島, literally: Bride Island)
    • Kitanojima (北ノ島, literally: Northern Island)
  • Chichijima Group (父島列島 Chichijima Rettō)
    • Chichijima (父島, literally: Father Island),
    • Anijima (兄島, literally: Elder Brother Island)
    • Otōtojima (弟島, literally: Younger Brother Island)
  • Hahajima Group (母島列島 Hahajima Rettō)
    • Hahajima (母島, literally: Mother Island)
    • Anejima (姉島, literally: Elder Sister Island)
    • Imōtojima (妹島, literally: Younger Sister Island)
  • Volcano Group (火山列島 Kazan Rettō)
    • Kita Iōjima (北硫黄島 Kitaiōjima, literally: North Sulphur Island)
    • Iwo Jima (硫黄島 Iōjima, literally: Sulphur Island)
    • Minami Iōjima (南硫黄島 Minamiiōjima, literally: South Sulphur Island)
  • Single Isolated Island, west of Hahajima Group and North of Volcano Group:
    • Nishino shima (西之島, literally: Western Island, also: Rosario Island)
  • Isolated Remote Islands, not geographically but administratively part of Ogasawara Islands
[edit]

Transportation

One can get from the main Japanese islands to Chichijima by way of the "Ogasawara Maru" liner, run by Ogasawara Marine Transportation. The boat leaves from Takeshiba port in Tokyo Bay, and the trip takes around 25.5 hours (in good weather). There are four or five crossings each month. The Ogasawara-maru is a 6700 ton vessel, 131m long, with a capacity of 1031 passengers.

The world first TSL, the "SUPER LINER OGASAWARA" (which was to be commissioned in 2006), with a maximum speed of 70 km/h, 14,500 tons gross tonnage, was expected to shorten the voyage to Ogasawara to about 17 hours carrying up to 740 passengers. However, the Ogasawara Marine Transport which receives some form of Tokyo-related financial assistance for an estimated annual deficit of up to 10 hundred million Yen, announced the cancellation of the TSL's development in August 2005.

There are no commercial passenger flights to the islands.

To get to Hahajima, one has to get to Chichijima, and then cross via the liner "Hahajima Maru".

Because a trip from the main Japanese islands to the Ogasawara Islands is very difficult, when people get severely ill or otherwise have an emergency situation, word is conveyed to Iwo Jima Maritime Self Defense Force post, and a helicopter is sent to the islands. Emergencies can also be handled from the main Japanese islands by airplanes of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, or the Maritime Self Defense Force base in Iwakuni can convey evacuees to the main islands by a seaplane, the US-1A. This seaplane is also used for the transportation of VIPs such as the Governor of Tokyo.

Even today, the emergency service takes several hours, and help does not necessarily arrive in time.

Ogasawara village operates a bus service on Chichijima and elderly passengers may use a "silver pass". There is also a sightseeing taxi service, a rental car company, motorized scooter rental services and a bike rental service, as well as other amenities. Bringing one's own automobile onto the island is an extremely difficult and costly task.

[edit]

Ogasawara Airport construction problem

The Ogasawara Islands have no airport and there is, at present, no prospect for one being constructed. However, there was talk for several decades of building one. Anjima and Chichijima was both once designated possible construction sites, but because there are numerous valuable, rare or endangered plant species forming a unique ecosystem in the vicinity of the proposed sites, issues of nature conservation were raised. Although construction of an airport was desired by some, a desire to keep the natural beauty of the islands untouched created a movement to block any such construction. The airport issue was quite controversial on the islands.

The island of Iwo Jima (硫黄島 Iōjima), is a part of the Volcano Islands. It is occupied by a Japanese military base and access requires special permission.

[edit]

Geology

The Ogasawara islands are a part of an island arc known geologically as a 'fore arc'. They lie above a subduction zone between the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Plate. The Pacific Plate is subducting under the Philippine Plate, which creates an oceanic trench to the east of the islands. The crust of the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands was formed by volcanic activity when subduction began about 45-50 million years ago, and is composed mostly of an andesitic volcanic rock called Boninite, which is rich in magnesium oxide, chromium, and silicon dioxide. The Ogasawara Islands may represent the exposed parts of an ophiolite that has not yet been emplaced on oceanic crust. The rocks of the Volcano Islands are much younger; Iwo Jima is a dormant volcano characerized by rapid uplift and several hot springs. The Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the fiercest battles of World War II, was fought here in 1945.

Most of the islands have steep shorelines, often with sea cliffs ranging from 50 to 100 meters in height, but the islands are also fringed with coral reefs and have many beaches. Tourists are attracted to the islands by scuba diving and whale watching.

[edit]

History

The first recorded settlement of the islands was an American colony founded in 1830, and the descendents of these settlers live on the island today. Ogasawara was claimed by Japan from the British in 1875 and became part of Tokyo prefecture in 1880.

In World War II, most of the inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland. There was a Japanese military base on Chichijima, whose officer in charge, Major Matoba, was known for performing sadistic acts (including cannibalism) on prisoners of war, and was executed for his crimes after the war. However, other officers on the island disagreed with his methods. Former President George H. W. Bush's plane crashed in the ocean near Chichijima, but he was rescued by Americans. The islands were occupied by the U.S. Navy from 1945, at which point the inhabitants who were western in descent were allowed back on the island. The islands were returned to Japan in 1968, when the Japanese evacuees were finally allowed to return.

Now, nearly all of the inhabitants, including those of Western ancestry, are Japanese citizens and the Japanese language is used. During the nineteenth century, research points to the existence of an English-lexified pidgin/creole on the islands. During the twentieth century, islanders of Western descent increasingly mixed Japanese with island English, resulting in a "Mixed Language" which can still be heard among these islanders today. Younger speakers are monolingual in variety of Japanese closely resembling the Tokyo standard. A bilingual dictionary, Talking Dictionary of the Bonin Islands Language (with CD-ROM), edited by Daniel Long and Naoyuki Hashimoto, was published in 2005.

[edit]

Ogasawara subtropical moist forests

The Ogasawara Islands form a distinct subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion, with a high degree of biodiversity and endemism. The islands are home to about 500 plant species, of which 43% are endemic. The forests are of three main types:

  • Type I: Elaeocarpus-Ardisia mesic forest is found in the moist lowland areas with deep soils. The forests have a closed canopy with a height of about 15 meters, dominated by Ardisia sieboldii. Elaeocarpus photiniaefolius, Pisonia umbellifera, and Pouteria obovata are other important canopy species. These forests were almost completely destroyed by clearing for agriculture before 1945.
  • Type II: Distylium-Raphiolepis-Schima dry forest is found in drier lowland and upland sites with shallower soils. It is also a closed-canopy forest, with a 4 to 8 meter canopy comprised mostly of Distylium lepidotum, Rhaphiolepis integerrima, Schima mertensiana, Pouteria obovata, and Syzygium buxifolium. The Type II forests can be further subdivided into:
    • Type IIa: Distylium-Schima dry forest occurs in cloudy upland areas with fine-textured soils. These forests contain many rare and endemic species, with Pandanus boninensis and Syzygium buxifolium as the predominant trees.
    • Type IIb: Raphiolepsis-Livistona dry forest is found in upland areas with few clouds and rocky soils. Rhaphiolepis integerrima is the dominant tree species, along with the fan palm Livistona chinensis var. bonensis, Pandanus boninensis and Ochrosia nakaiana.
  • Type III: Distylium-Pouteria scrub forest is found on windy and dry mountain ridges and exposed sea cliffs. These forests have the highest species diversity on the islands. Distylium lepidotum and Pouteria obovata are the dominant species, growing from 0.5 to 1.5 meters tall. Other common shrubs are Myrsine okabeana, Symplocos kawakamii, and Pittosporum parvifolium.

Several bird species are endemic to the islands, including the Japanese Woodpigeon (Columba janthina) and the Vulnerable Bonin Honeyeater (Apalopteron familiare).

[edit]

Trivia

  • This island has been brought up numerous times in Godzilla films as being Monster Island.
  • Architeuthis (or Giant Squid) was filmed for the first time in the wild on September 27, 2005.
[edit]

See also

[edit]

External links

Template:Tokyocs:Ostrovy Ogasawara de:Ogasawara-Inseln et:Ogasawara saared es:Islas Ogasawara nl:Bonin-eilanden ja:小笠原諸島

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Ogasawara_Islands"