This blog post was originally uploaded in
Japanese to OPRI's blog on September 20, 2018.---
The Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa
Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF) has been conducting
the “Ocean Education Pioneer School Program,” and
Hachijo Senior High School and Ogasawara Senior
High School, both belonging to the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government Board of Education, are
back to participate in the Regional Development
Section this year. The schools have continued to
keep in touch and organized the “Islands’ Senior
High School Students Summit.” Seven schools from
Izu and Ogasawara Islands participated in the
summit. (I wrote about last year’s summit in my
article, “Ocean Jigsaw Puzzle Piece No. 41,” in
Japanese.) I visited Hachijojima Island and
Chichijima Island between June 21 and 27, 2018,
and interviewed various individuals to get their
opinions about ocean education.
People who had moved to Ogasawara to help
develop the islands from Hachijojima Island were
forced to move back to Hachijojima during World
War II (as mentioned in “Ocean Jigsaw Puzzle Piece
No. 95,” in Japanese). Therefore, an Ogasawara
Goodwill Visit Group is formed each year, and the
group visits Chichijima on board the
Ogasawaramaru. The ship comes to Hachijojima on
June 26, the anniversary of the return to Ogasawara
Islands. Using this occasion, a meeting was planned
between Hachijo Senior High School and Ogasawara
High School, and I joined the group. There is no
direct route between the islands, so it was the only
opportunity to visit both islands from Tokyo. In
addition, this was the 50th anniversary of the return
of the Ogasawara Islands, and I heard that various
events were going to be held on Chichijima Island.
I was very excited!
When I touched down at Hachijojima Island by
plane, I was welcomed by thick clouds and strong
winds. Washed by the Kuroshio Warm Current,
Hachijojima is well-known for strong winds and
frequent rainfalls throughout the year. On the
gourd-shaped island, there are two towering
volcanoes, Hachijo-Fuji on the north end and
Miharayama on the south end. The airport is
located in the valley between the volcanoes, and
fog can easily develop. There are three flights
per day, but the airport is famous for its high
cancellation rates.
At Hachijo Senior High School, a unit to study
ocean-related geography and culture is
integrated into the curriculum for both full-time
and part-time courses. Not many senior high
schools offer “Oceanography” in part-time
coursesbecause students have limited time in
the evenings. In the optional classes for full-time
coursework, all students were studying to obtain
scuba diving licenses. The results of their studies
could be clearly seen in their research on turtles.
The school accepts students from outside the
island. Local students are motivated by a student
who came from Nerima Ward, Tokyo, to study
agriculture.
View from the Osaka Tunnel Lookout located on the
southwestern side of Hachijojima,
looking toward Hachijo-Fuji and smaller islands
Uramigataki Waterfall
Hachijojima Island entered a sister city agreement
with Maui County, Hawaii in 1964. The island is
receiving a lot of attention for their promotion of
senior high school and university cooperation in
ocean education. For both islands, keeping their
fading local languages (a Hachijo dialect and the
Hawaiian language) and traditional culture from
disappearing isa common issue. The Share Heart
Islander Program (SHIP) is a program in Hawaii for
senior high school students from the Izu Islands to
learn and discuss countermeasures to prevent the
loss of culture and language. The program is very
interesting. Short-term study visits are included in
this program, and part of the cost is offset by
crowdfunding among residents of Hachijojima.
In Hawaii, the building of “Nāmāhoe,” a sister
canoe of the outrigger canoe “Hōkūleʻa,” was
completed in September 2016. It is an additional
canoe which can be used for worldwide voyages.
The Hawaiians are negotiating with relevant
individuals to visit Hachijojima during its world
voyage. Remnants of outrigger canoes brought by
immigrants from Hawaii to Ogasawara during
Japan’s isolationism period can be seen in the
Ogasawara Islands and Hachijojima today.
They are half-Japanese, half-Hawaiian outrigger-
style fishing boats (oar-rowing outrigger canoes
on Hachijojima) (*). The visit by Nāmāhoe seems
to be taking a lot longer to organize due to lack
of funding, but we can see the possibility for ocean
education to be connected by the Pacific Ocean
beyond national borders.
Sailing canoe at Chichijima Visitor Center
Two student representatives from Hachijojima Senior
High School and a student from Hawaii joined the
Ogasawara Goodwill Visit Group with their teacher.
They boarded the Ogasawaramaru when it reached
Sokodo Port in the evening. It was a sixteen hour
trip to Chichijima, 700 kilometers south of
Hachijojima. However, the third Ogasawaramaru,
which was launched in 2016, was a large 10,000-
ton ferry, so the inside of the ship was quite
spacious and comfortable. The group members all
gathered on the deck at 8:30 the following morning
and had a memorial service for Seiryumaru
passengers on the ocean near Mukojima, of the
Ogasawara Islands. Mourning the death of the
passengers who died in 1944 by a torpedo attack
during their evacuation, we threw white
chrysanthemums into the water. It was impressive
seeing the flowers floating on the ocean waves
reflecting the beautiful morning sun.
These individuals joined us on Ogasawaramaru
Ship at Sokodo Port
A memorial service for Seiryumaru passengers
Students and teachers from Ogasawara Senior High
School warmly welcomed us at Futami Port on
Chichijima Island. They showed us around the island
and introduced Ogasawara’s nature and culture.
We observed some classes at their school, and I met
their Biology teacher. I went snorkeling along the
coast and saw coral reefs. The Ogasawara Islands
are registered as a world heritage site and are truly
a natural treasure. Many endemic species of plants
and animals live there, so there are many species
which could be subjects for ecosystem surveys.
At Ogasawara Senior High School, students are
conducting research on black sea snails
(Semisulcospira boninensis), which live in rivers.
I learned that the distance to the tidelands −which
have become scarce now− and the ocean coral from
the school are similar, but the ocean has more
challenging factors to surmount (such as climate,
times of high and low tides and changing seasons)
when including it as a classroom subject. In physical
education classes, there are opportunities to practice
wind surfing and study outrigger canoes. On the
other hand, Hachijojima has no sandy beaches, so
students are unable to enjoy marine sports, including
canoeing.
We received a warm welcome at Futami Port.
Minamijima, an uninhibited island with
submerged karst topography
Due to steep topography, the coral reefs of the
Ogasawara Islands are not spread out and instead
grow in a narrow strip along the coastline.
Therefore, these reefs are not amenable to diving
and do not attract diving enthusiasts. However,
compared to the coral bleaching seen in the
Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa, the coral reefs of the
Ogasawara Islands are still quite healthy due to
stable water temperatures and water quality. I heard
that this is largely thanks to the government, which
established sewage treatment facilities on the edge
of Chichijima Island immediately after the
Ogasawara Islands were returned to Japan from the
United States.In ocean education, coral reefs are
typically only mentioned in correlation to the topic of
beachcombing. Therefore, I suggested observation
of the sand grains (the sand there contains coral
gravel and sea urchin spines) and research of the
growth speed or degree of coverage of coral reefs
as achievable themes.
Colonies of branch-shaped coral (Acropora formosa)
under the red lighthouse
Scleractinian coral at Miyanohama Beach
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the return of the
Ogasawara Islands to Japan following U.S.
occupation, and a large ceremony was held on
Chichijima Island. Compared to Hachijojima Island,
the history and culture −such as the Nanyo-Odori
dance− of the Ogasawara Islands is relatively new.
The number of young people moving onto the
islands seems to have been increasing. The
Ogasawara Islands look like a peaceful paradise
now, but the islands were utilized to protect Japan’s
mainland during the Pacific War. On Mt. Yoakeyama
of Chichijima Island, there is a military
communication facility which still remains intact.
The undersea cable, which used to connect to
Saipan before the Pacific War, was cut and still lies
under the sandy Miyanohara Beach alongside
beautiful coral reefs, and remains as proof that the
war actually happened here.
Although the Ogasawara Islands are located within
Japan’s national borders, like Okinawa, they have
gone through a very different post-war history.
Infrastructures on these islands have been well
developed due to funding from Metropolitan Tokyo.
Despite the fact that there are beautiful white sandy
beaches here, these remote islands do have issues.
There have been ongoing arguments over airfield
construction. As there is a high possibility of the
islands being greatly affected by typhoons and
climate change, I predict that exchanges between
senior high school students living on remote islands
like this one will strengthen connections among the
islands and be very useful in the future.
Nobuko Nakamura
Research Fellow,
Policy Research Department
【Reference Material】
*Akira, Goto. Technological Interaction of Traditional
Boat Building in the Circum-Pacific Area−Outrigger
Fishing Boats on the Bonin Islands and the Hachijo-
jima Island, Annual Report−International Center for
Folk Culture Studies, Kanagawa University 2010,
1: 75-82