Tokyo Stroll Supplement: Aogashima Mura

This page is for locations in Aogashima Mura a village on Aogashima Island in the Hachijō Subprefecture of Tokyo. This island is not part of my book Tokyo Stroll.

For information on Tokyo Stroll and this web supplement see Tokyo Stroll Supplement home page

For users of the Organic Maps, Maps.Me and Google Maps apps the items below have bookmarks you can import into those apps to make navigation easier.
Instructions and links are on the Viewing Locations in Organic Maps, Maps.Me, Google Maps, or Google Earth page.

Some entries on this page may include a note that says "Description to be added soon ." These entries are for items I felt should be listed even if the description is not ready to assist those who wish to plan a trip. When possible I included a link to an official web page, I suggest also doing web searchs for more information.

Aogashima Mura (青ヶ島村)

Official pages for each of the towns and villages of Tokyo will have sections of interest to visitors. These will likely be labeled as dealing with culture, tourism, or events.
Aogashima Mura official site: https://www.vill.aogashima.tokyo.jp

NOTE: Given the difficulty of adding many specific location bookmarks to my bookmark files some places on the island may not be listed. Check the local website for more information.

ACCESS:
From Hachijōjima:
A boat trip lasts about 2 hours 30 minutes. About 40% of the time the sea is too rough for the boat to dock at Aogashima and the boat does not run every day.
Helicopter flights last about 20 minutes. Reservations are required, often they are booked up a month in advance.
Tokyo Island Shuttle Helicommuter (Toho Air Service Co.,Ltd.): https://www.tohoair.co.jp

ABOUT: Like all of the Tokyo islands Aogashima is volcanic. What is different is that this island is surrounded by tall cliffs to the water so there is no beach. There is no harbor, just one spot for a docking facility at Sampō Port with a few utilitarian buildings and boat storage facilities. The island is composed of layers of ash, lava, and volcanic cinder. This means erosion and landslide are problems in many parts of the island. large concrete grid retaining walls have been erected to protect the port and roadway leading to it.

The island has a rare double caldera with the smaller caldera, Maruyama, inside a much larger one. Maruyama was formed by an eruption that lasted from 1780 to 1785 which killed almost half the island's population, the rest evacuated to Hachijōjima and the island was uninhabited for some 50 years.

Given the island's volcanic history no ancient artifacts have been found. Early Edo Period records kept by Tokugawa shōgunate officials on Hachijōjima mention it was inhabited. Documents from 1835 states there were 241 inhabitants, mainly involved in fishing. In 1940 the island became part of the area administered by Hachijō Subprefecture. The economy is mainly public sector jobs, fishing, some farming, a sea salt factory producing Hingya salt from seawater using heat from fumaroles to process a few tons of water into about 90 kg of salt in about 30 days. Another product is the local Aochu shōchū which is made by several small brewers, in the past wives would make it for their husbands. This shōchū is exported and easy to find with a web search. There is one school on the island where local children study through middle school, after that point they have to leave the island to go to high school on the mainland in Tokyo. Many of the islands folksongs are about people leaving the island. Aogashima does not have a tourism office, the village offices have brochures and maps in Japanese.

Bring cash if you go to the island as there seems to be no places to use credit or debit cards. However the Post Office does have an international ATM. There is one store, one post office, a sentō with a sauna open in the evening, one bar, a farmer raising wagyu beef cattle, several viewpoints that you can reach by hiking, and fumaroles can be used to cook food. This is a place for relaxing, add in stargazing and you cover activities for pretty much anytime of the day and night. BTW there are several rare plants on the island so don't go picking them.
POPULATION: The population in 2020 was 169.
DISTANCE FROM HACHIJŌJIMA: Located 70 km south of Hachijōjima in the Izu Shotō Island Chain.

LOCAL TRANSIT: Mainly walking and car rental, international drivers license required.
Aogashima Rent a Car: https://www.aogashimaseibi.jp/, telephone: 04996-9-0088(Japanese only)

Maruyama (丸山)

Description to be added soon

Oyama Observation Park / Oyama Tenbō Kōen (尾山展望公園)

Description to be added soon