The Pristine Beauty of Ogasawara Islands
In this modern age, it’s a refreshing change of pace to be able to get away from all the technology that dominates everyday life. Many opt to relax and get lost in all that nature has to offer in remote corners of the world. There are very few places left on earth that are untouched by modern civilization: a few are Easter Island in Chile, Foula in Scotland, Svalbard in Norway, the Galápagos Islands in the Himalayas, and Ogasawara Islands in Japan.
Chichijima Island, Ogasawara
The Ogasawara Islands, also known as the Bonin Islands, are about a thousand kilometers south of Tokyo. The area is almost totally secluded and the only access to the islands is by boat. The Ogasawara Maru is a 6,700 tonne vessel with a capacity of 1,031 passengers that shuttles visitors to the islands. There are some 30 subtropical and tropical islands. The name “Bonin Islands” is from the Japanese word bunin (an archaic reading of 無人 mujin) which means “uninhabited.” The only inhabited islands of Ogasawara Islands are the group of islands Haha-jima and Chichi-jima islands (the seat of the municipal government), including the Ogasawara Village.
Prehistoric and carved stones discovered on Chichi-jima indicate that the islands may have been inhabited in earlier times. The earliest recorded visit to the islands by Europeans was on the 2nd of October in 1543 when the Spanish explorer Bernardo de la Torre sighted Haha-jima and charted it as Forfana. At that time, the islands were uninhabited. They were discovered by the Japanese in 1670, soon followed by a Shogunate expedition 1675, and the islands were claimed as a territory of Japan.
The Ogasawara Islands Group has a total population of 2,440 with about 2,000 on Chichi-jima and 440 on Haha-jima. Because it has never been connected to a continent, many of the animals and the plants in the area have evolved into unique species. This has led to the Ogasawara Islands’ reputation as the “Galápagos of the Orient.” It was nominated as a natural World Heritage Site in 2011.
People can visit the pristine islands and witness some of its unique fauna and flora. You can swim with wild dolphins, take a ride on an excursion boat, island-hop, scuba dive, ride a kayak, and see the thriving marine life of the area. There are guided eco-tours in the forests and hills. Walking through some of the most beautiful scenery on earth, untouched by time, makes us appreciate the simple pleasures in life away from all the chaos of the modern world. A visit there will truly be an unforgettable, once in a lifetime experience.
