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The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an
archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of
Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic reading of ''mujin''), meaning "no people" or " uninhabited". The only inhabited islands of the group are Chichijima (), the seat of the municipal government, and Hahajima (). Archeological evidence has revealed that some of the islands may have been prehistorically inhabited by members of an unknown Micronesian ethnicity.小笠原・火山(硫黄)列島の歴史
/ref> Ogasawara Municipality (''mura'') and
Ogasawara Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The subprefecture covers the Ogasawara Archipelago and is coterminous with the village of Ogasawara. The prefectural government maintains a main office on Chichijima and a branch office on Hahaji ...
take their names from the Ogasawara Group. The is also used as a wider collective term that includes other islands in Ogasawara Municipality, such as the
Volcano Islands The or are a group of three Japanese-governed islands in Micronesia. They lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and belong to the municipality of Ogasawara, Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The islands are all active volcanoes lying atop ...
, along with three other remote islands ( Nishinoshima,
Minamitorishima , also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line ...
, and
Okinotorishima , or Parece Vela, is a coral reef with two rocks enlarged with tetrapod-cement structures. It is administered by Japan with a total shoal area of and land area . Its dry land area is mostly made up by three concrete encasings and there is a st ...
). Geographically speaking, all of these islands are parts of the
Nanpō Islands The is a collective term for the groups of islands that are located to the south of the Japanese archipelago in Micronesia. They extend from the Izu Peninsula west of Tokyo Bay southward for about , to within of the Mariana Islands. The Nanpō ...
. A total population of 2,560 (2021), 2,120 on Chichijima and 440 on Hahajima, lives in the Ogasawara Group, which has a total area of . Because the Ogasawara Islands have never been connected to a continent, many of their animals and plants have undergone unique evolutionary processes. This has led to the islands' nickname of "The Galápagos of the
Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...
", and their nomination as a natural
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
on June 24, 2011. The
giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Trace ...
(genus ''Architeuthis'') was photographed off the Ogasawara Islands for the first time in the wild on 30 September 2004, and was filmed alive there in December 2006. A radio telescope is located in Chichijima, one of the stations of the
very-long-baseline interferometry Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometer, astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. In VLBI a signal from an astronomical radio source, such as a quasar, is collected at multiple radio telesco ...
(VLBI) Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA) project, and is operated by the
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan The (NAOJ) is an astronomical research organisation comprising several facilities in Japan, as well as an observatory in Hawaii and Chile. It was established in 1988 as an amalgamation of three existing research organizations - the Tokyo Astron ...
.


History

Prehistoric tools and carved stones, discovered on
North Iwo Jima , native_name_link = , image_caption = Kita-Iwō-jima , image_size = , pushpin_map = Japan complete , pushpin_label = North Iwo Jima , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_relief ...
at the end of the 20th century, as well as stone tools discovered on Chichi-jima, indicate the islands might have been populated in ancient times.


Early claims

The first recorded visit by Europeans to the islands happened on 2 October 1543, when the Spanish explorer
Bernardo de la Torre Bernardo de la Torre was a Spanish sailor, primarily noted for having explored parts of the Western Pacific Ocean south of Japan in the 16th century. Bernardo de la Torre sailed under the instructions of Ruy López de Villalobos, who sent him in Au ...
on the ''San Juan'' sighted
Haha-jima , native_name_link = , image_caption = Map of the Hahajima Rettō (Imōtojima is mislabeled as Tori-shima) , image_size = , pushpin_map = Japan complete , pushpin_label = Hahajima , pushpin_label_position = , pushp ...
, which he charted as ''Forfana''. At that time, the islands were uninhabited. Japanese discovery of the islands occurred in ''
Kanbun A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. A ...
'' 10 (1670) and was followed by a shogunate expedition in ''
Enpō (contemporarily written as 延寳) is the after '' Kanbun'' and before ''Tenna.'' This period spanned the years from September 1673 to September 1681. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1673 : The new era of ''Enpō'' (meaning "Prolong ...
'' 3 (1675). The islands were then referred to as , literally "the uninhabited islands". Shimaya Ichizaemon, the explorer at the order of the shogunate, inventoried several species of trees and birds, but after his expedition, the shogunate abandoned any plans to develop the remote islands. In 1727, , a
rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master's ...
, claimed that the islands were discovered by his ancestor , in 1593, ( Tensho 20), and the territory was granted as a fief by
Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...
. However, investigation of the claim found that it was a fraud and the very existence of Sadayori was doubtful; as a punishment Sadato was exiled by the shogunate (1735). The first published description of the islands in the West was brought to Europe by
Isaac Titsingh Isaac Titsingh FRS ( January 1745 – 2 February 1812) was a Dutch diplomat, historian, Japanologist, and merchant.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Isaak Titsingh" in . During a long career in East Asia, Titsingh was a senior official of the ...
in 1796. His small library of Japanese books included by
Hayashi Shihei was a Japanese military scholar and a retainer of the Sendai Domain. His name is sometimes transliterated (according to the Sino-Japanese reading) as ''Rin Shihei''. Biography Hayashi was born in Edo as the second son of Hayashi Gonhyoue Yoshi ...
. This book, which was published in Japan in 1785, briefly described the
Ogasawara Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...
. These groups were collectively called ''Islas del Arzobispo'' (Archbishop Islands) in Spanish sources of the 18th–19th century. This name is most likely due to an expedition organized by the Arzobispo (
Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
) Pedro Moya de Contreras, Viceroy of New Spain, to explore the northern Pacific and the islands of Japan. Its main objective was to find the long sought and legendary islands of ''Rica de Oro'' (Rich in Gold), ''Rica de Plata'' (Rich in Silver) and the ''Islas del Armenio'' (Islands of the Armenian). After several years of planning and frustrated attempts the expedition finally set sail on 12 July 1587 commanded by Pedro de Unamuno. Even if it did revisit the
Daitō Islands The are an archipelago consisting of three isolated coral islands in the Philippine Sea southeast of Okinawa. The islands have a total area of and a population of 2,107. Administratively, the whole group belongs to Shimajiri District of Okinawa ...
, already charted by
Bernardo de la Torre Bernardo de la Torre was a Spanish sailor, primarily noted for having explored parts of the Western Pacific Ocean south of Japan in the 16th century. Bernardo de la Torre sailed under the instructions of Ruy López de Villalobos, who sent him in Au ...
in 1543, the expedition could not find the wanted islands after searching the positions where they were charted in contemporary references. Japanese maps at the time seem to have been rather inaccurate and therefore considered by some to be deliberately misleading. It is thought that this was an attempt to discourage
colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
attempts by foreign nations. Frederick William Beechey used the Spanish name as late as 1831 and believed that the Japanese ''Boninsima'' referred to entirely different islands. On 12 September 1824 American Captain James Coffin in the whaler first visited the southern group of islands (''Coffin Islands''). He visited the archipelago again in 1825 but this time he arrived at the middle group of islands (''Beechey Group''). In September 1825, the British whaling ship ''Supply'' landed in the southern Bailey Group of islands. In 1826, another British whaler, ''William'', arrived at Beechey Island. Whaling ships called on a regular basis, for water and turtles, before continuing their voyages.


British possession

In 1827 Captain F. W. Beechey of reached the island chain and claimed them as a British possession. A copper plate was removed from ''Blossom''s hull and left on a beach as a marker of the claim: He also named the island of Chichijima "Peel" after then British Home Secretary Sir
Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...
. Beechey was also surprised to find two men living on the islands. They remained on the islands after the ''William'' left the year before in 1826. The men were Wittrein and Petersen. In 1830, with the help of British Consul to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) Richard Charlton, Richard Millichamp, and Matteo Mazzaro sailed to the islands. The first permanent colony was made up of
Nathaniel Savory Nathaniel Savory (1794 - 1874) was one of the first American colonists who is said to have settled on the Ogasawara Islands. He eventually became governor, and played an active role in government before and during the colonization by Japan. Life ...
of
Bradford, Massachusetts Bradford is a village and former town, in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Eastern Bradford is the current town of Groveland, while western Bradford was annexed by the city of Haverhill, and today consists of the part of Haverhill o ...
, America, Richard Millichamp of
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, England; Matteo Mazzaro of Ragusa/
Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
,
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
(now in
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
); Alden B. Chapin and Nathaniel Savory of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
; Carl Johnsen of
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
; as well as seven unnamed men and 13 women from the
Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...
. They found the climate suitable for farming and the raising of livestock. Rum was made from cane sugar, and bordellos were opened, somtimes staffed by women kidnapped from other island chains. Whalers and other ships that could not find another friendly port in Japan often visited the Bonins for provision and recreation. Two years later the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland published a posthumous, abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation of ''Sankoku Tsūran Zusetsu''. Further settlers arrived in 1846, aboard the whaling ship ''Howard''. They established themselves initially in South Island. (One of them, a woman from the Caroline Islands named Hypa, died in 1897 age about 112, after being baptized on her deathbed.) Commodore
Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a commodore of the United States Navy who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). He played a leading role in the op ...
of the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
visited the islands in 1853 and bought property at Port Lloyd from Savory for $50. The US "
Colony of Peel Island , native_name_link = , image_caption = Map of Chichijima, Anijima and Otoutojima , image_size = , pushpin_map = Japan complete , pushpin_label = Chichijima , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = , ...
" (Chichijima) was created and Savory was appointed governor.


Japanese possession

In January 1862 (
Bunkyū was a after ''Man'en'' and before '' Genji''. This period spanned the years from March 1861 through March 1864. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * March 29, 1861 (''Man'en 2/Bunkyū 1, 19th day of the 2nd month'') : The new era name of ...
1), the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
of Japan claimed the islands in a short-lived colonial enterprise. The shogunal steamboat '' Kanrin Maru'' was dispatched to the islands with a crew of cartographers, physicians and prominent bureaucrats. The islands were now officially named Ogasawara, referring to the legendary Japanese discoverer from the late 16th century. This tentative colonization, however, did not last for long. In summer 1863, under foreign pressure, the shogunate ordered the evacuation of the islands. In 1875 the Japanese Meiji government reclaimed the islands. The Japanese names of each island were resolved and 38 settlers from Hachijojima were sent the following year. In 1876 the islands were put under the direct control of the Home Ministry. Further foreign settlement was banned, and the government assisted settlers who wished to relocate there from mainland Japan. The islands' forests were also cut down for sugar cane production. Colonists largely segregated themselves in two different villages, one for the Americans and the other for the Japanese. Islanders of European and US ancestry were eventually granted Japanese nationality in 1882.
Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
visited the islands in 1893 and published an account of his sojourn.
Lionel Cholmondeley Lionel Berners Cholmondeley (11 December 1858 – 21 January 1945) was an ordained Anglican priest, educator, historian and Rector of St. Barnabas' Church at Ushigome in Shinjuku, Tokyo. For thirty years he served as a minister in the Anglican ...
compiled a history of the islands over the course of several years. His work was published in London in 1915. In 1917, 60–70 island people claimed ancestry among the 19th-century English-speaking settlers; however, in 1941, no Bonin people would acknowledge descent from these early colonists. The current residents include some who claim to be related to Nathaniel Savory. In the winter of 1920–1921,
Russian Futurist Russian Futurism is the broad term for a movement of Russian poets and artists who adopted the principles of Filippo Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism," which espoused the rejection of the past, and a celebration of speed, machinery, violence, ...
painter
David Burliuk David Davidovich Burliuk (Давид Давидович Бурлюк; 21 July 1882 – 15 January 1967) was a Russian-language poet, artist and publicist associated with the Futurist and Neo-Primitivist movements. Burliuk has been described as ...
lived in the Bonin Islands and painted several landscapes of the islands. The islanders were relegated to an insignificant status up through the early
Shōwa period Shōwa may refer to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufacturer, affiliated with the Honda keiretsu Japanese eras * Jōwa (Heian ...
. After Japan's attack on the American naval base at
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
, English was banned on the Bonins, and Americans had to take on Japanese names. As fighting creeped closer to Japan during the later stage of the war, most inhabitants were forcibly evacuated to the mainland. There was a Japanese military base on Chichijima run by a Major , who was known for engaging in
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
and other acts on prisoners of war.Welch, Jeanie M
"Without a Hangman, Without a Rope: Navy War Crimes Trials After World War II,"
''International Journal of Naval History.'' Vol. 1, No. 1 (April 2002).
The torpedo bomber of later American President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
crashed in the ocean near Chichijima. He ended up getting rescued by USS Finback and becoming the only one to ultimately survive. Eight other airmen downed near the islands were later executed and cannibalized by the Japanese soldiers. Matoba Sueo was eventually hanged for his crimes after the war. The
Battle of Iwo Jima The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJ ...
in 1945, one of the fiercest battles of World War II, was fought on a garrison island in this region of the Pacific.


Navy Time

Following Japan's surrender, the islands were controlled by the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
for the next 23 years, which the Westerners referred to as "Navy Time." All residents except those descended from the original settlers and/or related to them by marriage were expelled, while pre-war inhabitants of
White American White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...
or
European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
,
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...
n or Polynesian ancestry were allowed to return. Vacant properties of exiled Japanese were bulldozed as part of the Navy's management of nuclear weapons on Chichijima. In 1956, the residents petitioned for American annexation of the islands but received no response. In 1968, without consulting them, the United States government returned the Bonins to Japanese control. The Americans could choose to either become Japanese nationals or to receive American citizenship and repatriate to the United States. Initially some 600 Japanese relocated to the islands, growing to about 2,000 by the end of the 20th century.


Economy

Ogasawara has a reputation as a tourist destination, but they also produce their own unique fruits and vegetables. More recently, they have also had success in producing coffee.


Geography and administration

The Bonin Islands consist of three subgroups, which are listed below along with their main islands: * Muko-jima Group ( ) – formerly Parry Group: **Muko-jima (, ); **Yome-jima (嫁島, ) – formerly Kater ; **Nakōdo-jima or Nakadachi-jima (媒島, ); **Kita-no-jima (北の島 or 北島, ); **Mae-jima – formerly the Ears; * Chichi-jima Group (父島列島 ) – formerly Beechey Group: ** Chichi-jima (父島, ) – formerly Main I./Peel I.; **Ani-jima (兄島, ) – formerly Hog I./Buckland I.; **Otōto-jima (弟島, ) – formerly North I./Stapleton I.; **Mago-jima (孫島 ); **Higashi-jima (東島 ) **Nishi-jima (西島 ) – formerly Goat I.; **Minami-jima (南島 ) – formerly Knorr I.; * Haha-jima Group (母島列島 ) – formerly Baily Group or Coffin Islands: **
Haha-jima , native_name_link = , image_caption = Map of the Hahajima Rettō (Imōtojima is mislabeled as Tori-shima) , image_size = , pushpin_map = Japan complete , pushpin_label = Hahajima , pushpin_label_position = , pushp ...
(母島, ) – formerly Hillsborough I.; **Mukō-jima (向島, ) – formerly Plymouth I.; **Hira-jima or Taira-jima (平島, ) **Ane-jima (姉島, ) – formerly Perry I.; **Imōto-jima (妹島, ) – formerly Kelly I.; **Mei-jima (姪島, ) Administratively, the
Volcano Islands The or are a group of three Japanese-governed islands in Micronesia. They lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and belong to the municipality of Ogasawara, Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The islands are all active volcanoes lying atop ...
, Nishinoshima (Rosario Island),
Okinotorishima , or Parece Vela, is a coral reef with two rocks enlarged with tetrapod-cement structures. It is administered by Japan with a total shoal area of and land area . Its dry land area is mostly made up by three concrete encasings and there is a st ...
(Parece Vela), and
Minamitorishima , also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line ...
(Marcus Island), are today part of Ogasawara municipality. It is a Subprefecture of Tokyo Metropolis.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Tōkyō" in ; in Geographically, they are not traditionally considered part of the Bonin Islands, which are the Mukojima, Chichijima, and Hahajima island clusters. In other words, the historical range of the Bonin Islands (''Ogasawara Guntō'') is not the precise equivalent of the Japanese governmental unit. The Bonin Islands is a geographical term excluding the other islands which are today associated within the boundaries of a collective term, ''Ogasawara Shotō.''


Geology

The Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands were formed around 48 million years ago. They are a part of the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc known geologically as a ''fore arc''. They lie above a
subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
zone between the
Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
and the
Philippine Sea Plate The Philippine Sea Plate or the Philippine Plate is a tectonic plate comprising oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines. Most segments of the Philippines, including northern Luzon, are part of ...
. The Pacific Plate is subducting under the Philippine Sea Plate, which creates an oceanic trench to the east of the islands: the Bonin Trench. The crust of the Ogasawara Islands was formed by volcanic activity when subduction began 45–50 million years ago, and is composed mostly of an andesitic volcanic rock called
boninite Boninite is an extrusive rock high in both magnesium and silica, thought to be usually formed in fore-arc environments, typically during the early stages of subduction. The rock is named for its occurrence in the Izu-Bonin arc south of Japan. It ...
, which is rich in
magnesium oxide Magnesium oxide ( Mg O), or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium (see also oxide). It has an empirical formula of MgO and consists of a lattice of Mg2+ ions and O2− ions ...
,
chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...
, and
silicon dioxide Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...
. 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 Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...
is a dormant volcano characterized by rapid uplift and several
hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
. In November 2013, a new
volcanic island Geologically, a high island or volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...
formed offshore from Nishinoshima and eventually merged with Nishinoshima, enlarging it. Most of the islands have steep shorelines, often with sea cliffs ranging from in height, but the islands are also fringed with
coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...
s and have many beaches. The highest point lies on
South Iwo Jima , native_name_link = , image_caption = Minami-Iōtō , image_size = , pushpin_map = Japan complete , pushpin_label = South Iwo Jima , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_relief ...
, at .


Climate

The climate of the Ogasawara Islands ranges from a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Cfa'') to
tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Am''). The climate of Chichi-jima in is on the boundary between the humid subtropical climate (Köppen classification ''Cfa'') and the tropical monsoon climate (Köppen classification ''Am''). Temperatures are warm to hot all year round owing to the warm currents from the North Pacific gyre that surround the island. Rainfall is less heavy than in most parts of mainland Japan since the island is too far south to be influenced by the Aleutian Low and too far from Asia to receive monsoonal rainfall or orographic precipitation on the equatorward side of the Siberian High. The wettest months are May and September, while the driest months are January and February. The Ogasawara Islands' easternmost island,
Minamitorishima , also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line ...
(Marcus Island), has the tropical savanna climate (Köppen classification ''Aw'') with warm to hot temperatures throughout the year. The wettest months are July and August, while the driest months are February and March.


Ecology


Flora

Flora has evolved differently on each of the islands. The Ogasawara Islands are sometimes referred to as the Galápagos of the Orient. These islands are home to the northernmost outliers of the palm genus '' Clinostigma''. ''C. savoryianum'' is endemic and has been planted in mediterranean climates often with success. Other unique species include '' Metrosideros boninensis'', a plant related to similar species growing in
Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
and
New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
. The Ogasawara Archipelago forms a distinct
subtropical moist broadleaf forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
, the
Ogasawara subtropical moist forests The Ogasawara subtropical moist forests is a terrestrial ecoregion which encompasses the Ogasawara Archipelago of Japan. The Ogasawara Archipelago lies in the Pacific Ocean south of Honshu, Japan's largest island, and north of the Marianas Isla ...
. The ecoregion has a high degree of
biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
and
endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
. The islands are home to about 500 plant species, of which 43% are endemic. The forests are of three main types:"Ogasawara subtropical moist forests". ''Encyclopedia of Earth''. Acccessed 28 July 2020

/ref> *Type I: '' ElaeocarpusArdisia'' mesic forest is found in the moist lowland areas with deep soils. The forests have a closed canopy with a height of about , dominated by '' Ardisia sieboldii''. '' Elaeocarpus photiniaefolius'', '' Pisonia umbellifera'', and ''
Pouteria ''Pouteria'' is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical regions of the world. It includes the canistel ('' P. campechiana''), the mamey sapote ('' P. sapota''), and the lu ...
obovata'' are other important canopy species. These forests were almost completely destroyed by clearing for
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
before 1945. *Type II: ''
Distylium ''Distylium'' (winter-hazel) is a genus of about 18 species of evergreen shrubs and trees in the witch hazel family, Hamamelidaceae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia. Taxonomy Fossil record Researchers have recognized ''Distylium'' foss ...
Raphiolepis ''Rhaphiolepis'' ( or ;The first pronunciation is that expected for Anglo-Latin; the second is common in nurseries. ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607. However, William T. Stearn in his book ''Botanical Latin'' says "Botanical Latin ...
Schima'' dry forest is found in drier lowland and upland sites with shallower soils. It is also a closed-canopy forest, with a canopy composed mostly of ''
Distylium lepidotum ''Distylium'' (winter-hazel) is a genus of about 18 species of evergreen shrubs and trees in the witch hazel family, Hamamelidaceae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia. Taxonomy Fossil record Researchers have recognized ''Distylium'' fossi ...
'', ''
Rhaphiolepis integerrima ''Rhaphiolepis'' ( or ;The first pronunciation is that expected for Anglo-Latin; the second is common in nurseries. ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607. However, William T. Stearn in his book ''Botanical Latin'' says "Botanical Latin ...
'', ''
Schima mertensiana ''Schima'' is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the tea family, Theaceae. The genus inhabits warm temperate to subtropical climates across southern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalaya of Nepal and eastern India across Indochin ...
'', ''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 ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names ...
boninensis'' and ''Syzygium buxifolium'' as the predominant trees. **Type IIb: ''Raphiolepis-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 boninensis ''Livistona boninensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae (palms), native to the Bonin Islands of Japan. It has been introduced into the Volcano Islands The or are a group of three Japanese-governed islands in ...
'', ''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 tall. Other common shrubs are ''
Myrsine ''Myrsine'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. It was formerly placed in the family Myrsinaceae before this was merged into the Primulaceae. It is found nearly worldwide, primarily in tropical and subtropical areas. It con ...
okabeana'', '' Symplocos kawakamii'', and '' Pittosporum parvifolium''.


Fauna

The range of the
Bonin petrel The Bonin petrel or'' nunulu'' (''Pterodroma hypoleuca'') is a seabird in the family Procellariidae. It is a small gadfly petrel that is found in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its secretive habits, remote breeding colonies and limited range have re ...
extends beyond the Ogasawaras to include other islands in the northern Pacific region. There are two restricted-range species of birds on the islands; the
Japanese woodpigeon The Japanese wood pigeon (''Columba janthina'') is a species of columbid bird. It is found in East Asia along shorelines of the Pacific's Korea Strait, Philippine Sea and East China Sea. They are believed to be the largest representative of thei ...
(''Columba janthina'') and the Near Threatened
Bonin white-eye The Bonin white-eye (''Apalopteron familiare'') or is a small songbird endemic to the Bonin Islands (Ogasawara Islands) of Japan. It is the only species in the genus ''Apalopteron''. Its taxonomic affinities were a long-standing mystery and it ...
(''Apalopteron familiare''), formerly known as "Bonin honeyeater". The Japanese woodpigeon was extirpated in the Iwo Island groups in the 1980s. The formerly endemic Bonin pigeon (''Columba versicolor''),
Bonin thrush The Bonin thrush (''Zoothera terrestris''), also known as Kittlitz's thrush or the Bonin Islands thrush, is an extinct species of Asian thrush. It is sometimes separated as the only species of the genus ''Cichlopasser''. The only place where thi ...
(''Zoothera terrestris'') and
Bonin grosbeak The Bonin grosbeak or Bonin Islands grosbeak (''Carpodacus ferreorostris'') is an extinct finch. It is one of the diverse bird taxa that are vernacularly called "grosbeaks", but it is not closely related to the grosbeaks ''sensu stricto''. Many ...
(''Carpodacus ferreorostris'') are now extinct."Bonin Islands" ''Avibase – Bird Checklists of the World''. BirdLife International. Accessed 27 July 2020

/ref> A small bat,
Sturdee's pipistrelle Sturdee's pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus sturdeei''), also known as the Bonin pipistrelle bat, is a bat that was thought to have lived in Japan before officially becoming extinct in 2000. In 2020, the IUCN changed its official status to "extinct". ' ...
, is only known in one record and has not been seen since 1915. The
Bonin flying fox The Bonin flying fox, Bonin fruit bat (''Pteropus pselaphon''), or in Japanese is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to four islands (Chichijima, Hahajima, North Iwo Jima, and South Iwo Jima) in Ogasawara Islands, ...
(''Pteropus pselaphon''), also called the Bonin fruit bat, is endemic to the islands. It is currently listed as
Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
, and a survey published by the Ogasawara Office of Education in 1999 estimated their number to be around 100. The islands are also renowned for the many species of snail that are found across the islands, especially the '' Mandarina'' snails. Unfortunately, most of the native snails are now endangered or extinct, because of introduced species and habitat loss.


Transportation


Water transport

One can get from the main Japanese islands to Chichijima by way of the ''Ogasawara Maru'' liner, run by Ogasawara Marine Transportation. The ship leaves from Takeshiba pier in
Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...
, and the trip takes around 24 hours (in good weather). There are four or five crossings each month. It travels to Futami Port on Chichijima Island. The ''Ogasawara Maru'' is a vessel, long, with a capacity of 1,031 passengers. To get to Hahajima, one must first get to Chichijima, and then cross by the liner ''Hahajima Maru''. Because a trip from the main Japanese islands to the Ogasawaras is very difficult, when people get severely ill or otherwise have an emergency, word is conveyed to the
Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...
Japan Maritime Self Defense Force post, and a
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
is sent to the islands. Emergencies can also be handled from the main Japanese islands by Japan Air Self-Defense Force airplanes, or the Maritime Self Defense Force base in
Iwakuni is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. History Iwakuni was formerly the castle town of the Iwakuni han, which was formed by Lord Hiroie Kikkawa after he was banished there for supporting the defeated shōgun. The Kikkawa clan ruled ...
can convey evacuees to the main islands by
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
, the ''
ShinMaywa US-1 The Shin Meiwa PS-1 and US-1A is a large STOL aircraft designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and air-sea rescue (SAR) work respectively by Japanese aircraft manufacturer Shin Meiwa. The PS-1 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) variant is a flying ...
''. This seaplane is also used to transport the Tokyo governor and other VIPs.


Ports and harbours

*Harbours: Futami Port on Chichijima


Road transport

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, a bike rental service, and other amenities. Bringing one's own automobile onto the island is extremely difficult and costly.


Transportation issues

The world's first "techno superliner", the ''Super Liner Ogasawara'' (which was to be commissioned in 2006), with a maximum speed of , 14,500 tons
gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...
, was expected to shorten the voyage to Ogasawara to about 17 hours and carry up to 740 passengers. However, the project was canceled in July 2005 due to rising fuel prices and the loss of ¥2 billion.


Airport plans

The Ogasawara Islands have no airport. However, for several decades there was talk of building one. Anijima and Chichijima were 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 it. The airport issue was quite controversial on the islands. On 26 June 2016, Tamayo Marukawa, Minister of Environment talked about Ogasawara airport construction after the meeting in Tokyo commemorating the fifth anniversary of the registration of the Ogasawara Islands as World Natural Heritage, and to consult with Tokyo and various ministries and agencies concerned. On 27 July 2017 at a meeting with Ogasawara Village, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced that it is considering to open a regular air route to the Ogasawara Islands (Tokyo) with a plan to construct an airport on Chichijima (Chichijima Village) with a runway that will land propeller aircraft with 50 passengers. It said that future assessment of the impact on the natural environment and feasibility report will be carried out. In the past, there were two other plans: to utilize the Self Defense Force helicopter pad on Iwojima (Iwojima Village); and to operate a flying boat. Meanwhile the airport plan, which Ogasawara Village had been supporting, is prioritized. In fiscal 2019, 490 million Yen was included in the budget for a feasibility study with a survey on Chichijima. The purpose is to determine the best location to construct an airport. The potential construction will turn a part of the sea area into a runway for propeller aircraft. In August 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government held a council. It was proposed to use tiltrotor aircraft which require a shorter runway of 500 meters. It would be more environmentally friendly compared with conventional aircraft. Travel time would be around 2 hours from the mainland of Japan. It would also strengthen emergency support and tourism. The government intends to open an airport in 10 years at the earliest.


Demography, language and education

Virtually all of the Bonin Islands' inhabitants are Japanese citizens. This includes the significant proportion with ancestors from the United States, Europe and other Pacific islands, who can often be distinguished by their family names and ancestry, physical features or adherence to Christianity. During and after the US military occupation of 1946–68, a small minority of islanders opted for US citizenship and/or emigrated from the islands. However, most islanders with non-Japanese ancestry now appear to be reassimilating with the ethnic Japanese majority. Japanese is the common language. Because settlers from the United States, Europe and other Pacific islands preceded ethnic Japanese residents, an English-lexified
pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
which subsequently developed into a creole, known as
Bonin English Bonin English, or the Bonin Islands language, is an English-based creole of the Ogasawara Islands (informally called Bonin Islands) south of Japan with strong Japanese influence, to the extent that it has been called a mixture of English and Jap ...
, Ogasawara Creole or Ogasawara Mixed Language, emerged on the islands during the 19th century. This was the result of Japanese being hybridised with island English, resulting in a mixed language that can still be heard. The Ogasawara Village municipality operates public elementary and junior high schools, while
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education (東京都教育委員会 ''Tōkyō-to Kyōiku Iinkai'') is the board of education in Tokyo, Japan. The board directly manages all of the public high schools in all 23 special wards, the Western T ...
operates Ogasawara High School.


Fictional references

The Ogasawara Islands have been referenced in a number of works of fiction. ''Bonin'' by Robert Standish describes itself as 'a novel', but claims 'this book is an accurate history of the Bonin Islands', based mainly on information from Nathaniel Savory's great-granddaughter, and includes descriptions of maltreatment of the Anglo-Polynesian population by the later Japanese settlers and authorities and a detailed map of the Chichijima group (on the back end-paper), including over 50 English place-names. Chapter XVI of
Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
's autobiographical novel '' John Barleycorn'' says "This isolated group, belonging to Japan, had been selected as the rendezvous of the Canadian and American sealing fleets", and describes the drunken visit of a young sailor and his shipmates to the Bonin Islands. In the television series '' The Super Dimension Fortress Macross'', a fictional island in the chain, South Ataria Island (which would have laid at the southernmost position in the chain, surpassing
Minami Iwo Jima , native_name_link = , image_caption = Minami-Iōtō , image_size = , pushpin_map = Japan complete , pushpin_label = South Iwo Jima , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_relief ...
), is the landing site of the
SDF-1 Macross is an anime television series from 1982. According to story creator Shoji Kawamori, it depicts "a love triangle against the backdrop of great battles" during the first Human-alien war. It is the first part of two franchises: The ''Super D ...
. In the 1963 film ''
Matango is a 1963 Japanese horror film directed by Ishirō Honda. The film stars Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno and Kenji Sahara. It is partially based on William Hope Hodgson's short story "The Voice in the Night" and is about a group of castaways on an isl ...
'', a luxury yacht is set adrift and lands on an island. Upon approaching the island, one of the crew members shouts: "I wonder if it's the Bonin Islands?" The English subtitles for the film misspell Bonin "Bonan". The 2017
anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
film '' The Irregular at Magic High School: The Movie – The Girl Who Summons the Stars'' takes place on fictional islands in the Ogasawara Island chain.


Gallery

File:Mukojima, Ogasawara, Tokyo.jpg, Muko-jima File:Minamijima.jpg, Minami-jima, a small island in the Chichi-jima group File:Hahajima-oki.jpg,
Haha-jima , native_name_link = , image_caption = Map of the Hahajima Rettō (Imōtojima is mislabeled as Tori-shima) , image_size = , pushpin_map = Japan complete , pushpin_label = Hahajima , pushpin_label_position = , pushp ...


See also

*
List of extreme points of Japan The extreme points of Japan include the coordinates that are farthest north, south, east and west in Japan, and the ones that are at the highest and the lowest elevations in the country. Japan's northernmost point is disputed, because Japan cons ...
* List of World Heritage Sites in Japan *
María de Lajara María de Lajara or Laxara, or also María de La Jara, was a 17th-century Spanish woman, known for her tragic fate aboard the Manila Galleon and for her name having been attributed to a Pacific Ocean island. The story The story of María de Laj ...


References


Bibliography

* * * Freeman, Otis Willard. (1951)
''Geography of the Pacific.''
New York: Wiley. * Hawks, Francis. (1856)
''Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan Performed in the Years 1852, 1853 and 1854 under the Command of Commodore M.C. Perry, United States Navy.''
Washington: A.O.P. Nicholson by order of Congress, 1856; originally published in ''Senate Executive Documents'', No. 34 of 33rd Congress, 2nd Session. eprinted by London: Trafalgar Square, 2005. (paper)* Hayashi, Shihei. (1785). . Edo: Manuscript
OCLC 44014900
* Head, Timothy E., and Gavan Daws. "The Bonins--Isles of Contention" ''American Heritage'' (Feb1968_ 19#2 pp 58-74. * Klaproth, Julius. (1832)
''San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes.''
Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 2563166
''also'
OCLC 561284561
* Kublin, Hyman. (1947)
''The Bonin Islands, 1543–1875.''
PhD thesis,
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, Cambridge, Massachusetts * Muroga, Nobuo. (1967). Geographical exploration by the Japanese. ''In:'' Friis, Herman R. (ed.): ''The Pacific Basin: A history of its geographical exploration''. New York. * Sewall, John S. (1905). ''The Logbook of the Captain's Clerk: Adventures in the China Seas'', Bangor, Maine: Chas H. Glass & Co. eprint by Chicago: R.R. Donnelly & Sons, 1995 * ''Teikoku's Complete Atlas of Japan'', Tekoku-Shoin Co., Ltd. Tokyo 1990,


External links


Ogasawara Village
(Japanese)

(no longer maintained, apparently as of 2001)
Ogasawara Channel
(Japanese) * National Archives of Japan
The faked map of 1752 mentioned in Hiroyuki Tanaka's 1998 article.
* Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Ogasawara-mura

* Waseda University
Hayashi Shihei was a Japanese military scholar and a retainer of the Sendai Domain. His name is sometimes transliterated (according to the Sino-Japanese reading) as ''Rin Shihei''. Biography Hayashi was born in Edo as the second son of Hayashi Gonhyoue Yoshi ...
. (1785)
三国通覧図説
(''Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu'') {{Authority control Archipelagoes of Japan * Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park Islands of Tokyo Ecoregions of Japan World Heritage Sites in Japan Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean