We usually think of Japan as four major islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and the smattering of small islands of Okinawa. But in reality, Japan is tons of different islands of all sizes.
Case in point, I recently saw the picture above and was astounded to learn that it’s part of Japan. Say hello to the Japanese island of Aogashima.
Aogashima (“blue island”) is a tropical, volcanic island in the Phillipine Sea. Despite being over 200 miles away from the country’s capital, Aogashima is governed by Tokyo. In fact, a whole stretch of tropical and sometimes uninhabited islands called the Izu Islands are technically part of Tokyo. Volcanic islands? Not typically what comes to mind when you think of Tokyo.
As you might imagine, Aogashima isn’t the most crowded place in the world. As of this year, only about 200 people live on Aogashima. The island only has one post office and one school.
There are two ways on and off the island: by helicopter or by boat. There’s only one, small harbor where the boats go in an out of, and it seems to be a little unreliable. Because Aogashima is so remote and isolated, it can sometimes be hard to get a boat to or from the island safely.
Fortunately, there’s a live video feed of the harbor that’s available on the island 24/7 (Jurassic-Park-style) so you can keep an eye on how bad the weather is without having to actually be at the harbor.
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