is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

located in Ōshima Subprefecture,

Tokyo Metropolis Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. The village comprises the whole of To-shima Island. The island, at , is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Izu Island chain. Approximately 330 people live on the island. Eighty per cent of the island is covered by

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controv ...

forests. From November to March, much of the island is red from the camellia flowers. The island is also home to the ''Saku'' lily (''

Lilium auratum ''Lilium auratum'' ( ja, 山百合, yamayuri, label=none, literally "mountain lily") is one of the true lilies. It is native to Japan and is sometimes called the golden-rayed lily or the goldband lily. Description The flower colour is typica ...

'' var. ''platyphyllum''), the largest lily in the world. The island is between

Izu Ōshima is an inhabited volcanic island in the Izu archipelago in the Philippine Sea, off the coast of Honshu, Japan, east of the Izu Peninsula and southwest of Bōsō Peninsula. As with the other islands in the Izu Island group, Izu Ōshima for ...

, the largest of the Izu Islands, and Nii-jima. Ferries that sail to Nii-jima make a brief stop in To-shima. Toshima is also accessible (weather permitting) by helicopter departing from Ōshima island, from Ōshima airport it is a 10-minute flight to To-shima. The main industry on To-shima is fishing. There is some small-scale farming and tourism.

Geography

, a

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the Izu Islands, is administered by the

Tōkyō Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Metropolitan government. It lies south of Tōkyō and east of the Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture. To-shima forms part of the

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is a national park in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Kanagawa Prefectures, and western Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It consists of Mount Fuji, Fuji Five Lakes, Hakone, the Izu Peninsula, and the Izu Islands. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park covers . Rat ...

. The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of

Japanese wood pigeon 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 the ...

Pleske's grasshopper warbler Styan's grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes pleskei''), also known as Pleske's grasshopper warbler and Taczanowski's warbler, is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It breeds in eastern Siberia to Korea, Kyushu and Izu ...

Ijima's leaf-warbler Ijima's leaf warbler (''Phylloscopus ijimae'') (also known as Izu leaf warbler, Ijima's willow warbler or Ijima's warbler) is a species of Old World warbler in the family Phylloscopidae. The species is native to Japan, where it has been designate ...

s and

Izu thrush The Izu thrush or Izu Islands thrush (''Turdus celaenops'') is a bird of the thrush family native to Japan. Behavior Feeding Izu thrushes eat small animals, such as earthworms and insects, and fruits, like cherries or mullberries. Breeding Th ...

es.

Education

There is a single combined elementary and junior high school, Toshima Elementary and Junior High School (利島村立利島小中学校). For high school students may attend schools on other islands operated by the

Tokyo Metropolitan 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 ...

Gallery

File:ToshimaPortTyoJpDec04-0001.jpg, Toshima Port

Notes

References

* ''Teikoku's Complete Atlas of Japan'', Teikoku-Shoin Co., Ltd. Tokyo 1990, * ''Saishin-Nihon-chizu 1990 - Atlas of Japan'', Imidas Shueisha, Tokyo

External links