, also spelled as Oki Daitō Island or Oki-Daitō or Oki-no-Daitō, previously known as , is an abandoned island in 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 Oki ...

group southeast of

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

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 n ...

. It is administered as part of the village of Kitadaitō,

Shimajiri District is a district located in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Modern translation of Shimajiri means "Butt of the island" which may refer to its southerly position on the island of Okinawa. Compare this to Kunigami District, Okinawa. However, there are ...

Geography

Okidaitōjima is a relatively isolated coralline island, located approximately south of Minamidaitōjima, the largest island of the archipelago, and south of Kitadaitōjima.

Naha, Okinawa is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area is ...

, is to the northwest. As with the other islands in the archipelago, Okidaitōjima is an uplifted

coral atoll Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secr ...

with a steep coastal cliff of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

(the former fringing

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

of the island), and a depressed center (the former lagoon of the island). The island is roughly triangular in shape, with a circumference of about and an area of . The highest point is above sea level. Due to extensive

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

mining operations in the early 20th century, and decades of use as a bombing and gunnery range 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 ...

, the island has very little topsoil and no trees. Okidaitō has 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, nota ...

''Cfa'') with very warm summers and mild winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year; the wettest month is June and the driest month is February. The island is subject to frequent

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

History

It was first sighted by the Spanish navigator

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 ...

on 25 September 1543, during his abortive attempt to reach New Spain from the Philippines with the ''San Juan de Letran''. It was then charted as ''Abreojos'' (Keep your eyes open!) because being so flat and almost water level it was dangerous for navigation. It was later sighted by a

Manila galleon fil, Galyon ng Maynila , english_name = Manila Galleon , duration = From 1565 to 1815 (250 years) , venue = Between Manila and Acapulco , location = New Spain ( Spanish Empir ...

on 28 July 1587, commanded by Pedro de Unamuno who charted the Daitōs as the ''Islas sin Provecho'' (Useless Islands). Another Manila galleon, the ''Nuestra Señora de la Consolación'' commanded by Felipe Tompson, reported its sighting in 1773 and charted it as ''Isla Dolores''. Its sighting was also reported by the British in 1788 and named "Grampus Island", but the recorded coordinates were not correct. The French also reported sighting an island in 1807. However, in 1815, the last

Manila Galleon fil, Galyon ng Maynila , english_name = Manila Galleon , duration = From 1565 to 1815 (250 years) , venue = Between Manila and Acapulco , location = New Spain ( Spanish Empir ...

, the Spanish frigate ''San Fernando de Magallanes'', made a definite sighting at the present coordinates, and named the island "Isla Rasa" (Flat Island in Spanish). The island remained uninhabited until formally claimed by the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent form ...

in 1900. In 1907, a team of pioneers from Hachijōjima, one of the

Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply � ...

located south of Tokyo, led by Tamaoki Han'emon (1838–1910), who had previously pioneered settlement on Minamidaitōjima, became the first human inhabitants of the island. The island was surveyed in 1908 by Tsuneto Noritaka, a professor with the

Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce The was a cabinet-level ministry in the government of the Empire of Japan from 1881-1925. It was briefly recreated as the during World War II History The original Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce was created on April 7, 1881, initially under ...

, who recommended that its

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

resources be exploited for fertilizer. "The Rasa Island Phosphate Ore Company" (; today: Rasa Kōgyō KK) was created in 1911 for this purpose and also for the export of sugar. During this period (1911–1945), Okidaitōjima was inhabited by up to 2000 people, with a settlement was located in the west of the island. Until 1929, the population was exclusively male and consisted of workers from Okinawa and managers from Hachijojima. The disparity in wages led to labor unrest in the 1920s. Mining operations were halted from 1929 to 1940 for economic reasons, but were resumed in 1940 due to the need for phosphates in explosives. The inhabitants were evacuated to mainland Okinawa in 1945 due to the increasing threat of attack during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. After World War II, the island was occupied by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and was used as a bombing range by the

. The island was returned to Japan in 1972, and remains the private property of Rasa Industries.

Self-Defense Force Exercises

In late October 2013 it was announced that Okidaitojima would be the site of large scale exercises by the

JSDF The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, the ...

, including live fire naval exercises and amphibious landings, intended to test the JSDF's ability to defend remote islands against hostile incursions. These would be among the largest exercises ever held by the JSDF, involving at least 34,000 troops along with vessels and aircraft.

References

External links

Rasa Industries

oceandots.com

"Self-Defense Forces gear up for large-scale war games on remote isle"
''The Japan Times''/AFP-JIJI, 24 October 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Okidaitojima Daitō Islands Uninhabited islands of Japan Former populated places in Japan Japan Self-Defense Forces Military exercises and wargames Islands of Okinawa Prefecture

Geography

History

Self-Defense Force Exercises

See also

References

External links