is an island in

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It has an area of . The town of Okushiri and the

Hiyama Prefectural Natural Park is a Prefectural Natural Park in southwest Hokkaidō, Japan. Established in 1960, the park spans the municipalities of Esashi, Kaminokuni, Okushiri, Otobe, Setana, and Yakumo. Notable islands within the park include Okushiri Island and K ...

encompass the entire island. It has many pastures, beech tree forests, and a rocky coastline. There are two elementary schools, one junior high school, and one senior high school. Okushiri currently has no colleges or universities.

Etymology

The name Okushiri comes from the Ainu name ''I-kus-un-sir'' (). The phonetic word ''ikus(un)'' means ''other side'' and ''sir'' means island. However, the Japanese meaning of the two ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' used for the name mean "deep inside/innermost" and "buttocks/hips".

Geography

Okushiri Island is located roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of mainland

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. It is oval in shape with a coastline of 84 kilometers (52.2 miles). The island spans 27 kilometers (16.8 miles) from north to south, and 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from east to west. Mount Kamui is the island's highest peak, and reaches 584 meters (1,916 feet).

Climate

Communities

Two main towns, Aonae at the southern tip and Okushiri in the central-eastern portion, contain the majority of the island's population and infrastructure. Additional small communities and individual households are found near the coast, and are connected by a road that circumnavigates the island.

History

Okushiri has been struck by several natural disasters, including the

1983 Sea of Japan earthquake The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

on 26 May 1983 which killed two, and the more deadly 1993 Hokkaidō earthquake and tsunami on 12 July 1993. The 1993 earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 on the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

and a maximum felt intensity of VIII (''Severe'') on the

Mercalli intensity scale The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

. It triggered a major

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

that caused deaths on Hokkaidō and in southeastern

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, with a total of 230 fatalities recorded. Okushiri Island was the hardest hit, with 198 casualties from the

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

, tsunami and a large

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

. The tsunami inundated large parts of Okushiri, despite its tsunami defenses. The island subsided by . After the tsunami, the number of residents slowly declined, and continues to do so.

Transportation

Okushiri Airport is an airport located in Okushiri, Okushiri Island, Hokkaidō, Japan. Airlines and destinations References External links Airport Guide Okushiri Airport- Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airl ...

serves the island with daily flights to and from

Hakodate Airport is an airport located eastAIS Japan
of

Esashi (2 hours and 20 minutes) and

Setana is a town located in Hiyama Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of September 2016, the town has an estimated population of 8,501, and a density of 13 persons per km². The total area is 638.67 km². Geography Setana is located on the northe ...

(1 hour and 40 minutes) are provided by Heartland Ferry, and time timetable changes seasonally. A local bus service operates year-round.

Tourist activities

Okushiri Island is known for Nabetsuru Rock, which translates to "pot-handle rock," a small rock arch sitting offshore of Okushiri Town. Okushiri Island has one operating

hot spring 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 ...

, and opportunities for fishing and swimming. The Okushiri Moonlight Marathon was started in 2013, and is the largest attraction on Okushiri Island for visitors, attracting runners from around Japan and some foreign countries. The race starts at 3 pm and often finishes as it is getting dark. Local villagers turn out in large numbers to cheer on the runners. At the finish line, the race concludes with a seafood banquet and awards ceremony.

References

{{Authority control Islands of the Sea of Japan Islands of Hokkaido