Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
from this Iōtorishima near Tokuno, which, incidentally, is sometimes called “Okinawa Tor-
ishima” or “Okinawa Iōtorishima” even though it's really nowhere near Okinawa.
That's a big story for a little place, especially an uninhabited volcanic isle. You can't get
there, unless perhaps you have your own boat, and even then it's prohibited because it's too
dangerous. It should go without saying that since it's forbidden to go there, there is no com-
mercial service to there. Rising to a height of 696 feet (212 meters), most of Iōtori Island is
just a bit less than three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) wide east to west and about 2 miles
(3 kilometers) long from north to south. Its shape is that of an elongated oval. It has an area
of 0.98 square miles (2.55 square kilometers), a circumference of 4.5 miles (7.3 kilometers)
and about 330 feet (100 meters) of beach. It's quite isolated and is the only active volcano in
this section of the East China Sea.
Amazingly, until the beginning of the 20th century, the island was inhabited. Its residents
were sulphur gatherers and their families. There's not much left of this occupation today.
After a violent volcanic eruption and explosion in 1903, the island's entire population of 600
people was relocated to Kume. After World War II, some of its former residents returned, to
again mine sulphur, but another volcanic eruption forced their evacuation in 1967. The is-
land has remained uninhabited since then.
Iōtorishima consists of two overlapping volcanoes: Sulphur Peak (
硫黄岳
; Iō-daké), on
the island's northwest side, and Maé-daké (
前岳
), which lies at the southeast tip of the island.
A lava dome occupies the center of the island. Technically, Iōtorishima is the northernmost
island of Okinawa Prefecture.
6
OKINOERABUJIMA
沖之永良部島
Sailing south out of Nazé Port on Amami-Ōshima, the ferry takes a little less than six hours
to reach Okinoerabujima (
沖之永良 部島
; Oki-no-érabu-jima), which its residents often call
Okiérabu (
沖永良部
). Both ferry lines, on alternating days, depart at 5:50
AM
and are sched-
uled to arrive at 11:30
AM
. The journey includes a half- hour stop at Tokunoshima along the
way. Northbound out of Okinawa, the sailing takes about seven hours. The ferries leave Naha
at 7:00
AM
and arrive on Okinoerabu right around 2:00
PM
. The northbound sailings include
a couple of brief stops. The sailing time is two hours less if starting from Okinawa's northern
port at Motobu. From there, the ferries depart about 9:00
AM
.
Alternatively, there are multiple daily flights to Okinoerabu Airport (
沖之永良部 空港
;
Oki-no-érabu-kūkō) from Kagoshima, Amami-Ōshima, and Naha. From Kagoshima it's over
312 miles (500 kilometers) by air and flights to or from there take about 90 minutes. It's al-
