Miyakejima
Encyclopedia
is an island
in the Izu
group, southeast of Honshū
, Japan
, administered by the Tokyo
Metropolitan government, with an area of 55.50 km². The island, 180 km south of Tokyo, is located at 34.5N and 139.34E. As of January 1, 2006, the population of the island is 2884. Like other islands in the Izu Island group, Miyakejima forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park
.
serves as the local government of the island. Village is used in the sense of a municipality
in this context, which also encloses nearby tiny uninhabited Ōnoharajima
WSW
of it Miyakejima Island. The seat of the local government is in the village (in the traditional sense) of Tsubota on the southeast coast of Miyakejima Island.
The island is a granitic composite cone in origin, and the main volcano
, Mount Oyama, has erupted several times in recent history. A lava
flow in 1940 killed 11 people, and other eruptions occurred in 1962 and 1983. http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/north_asia/miyakejima/oyama.html
On July 14, 2000, Mount Oyama began another series of eruptions, and by September, the island was completely evacuated. After a four-year period of volcanic emissions, residents were allowed to return permanently on February 1, 2005. After the eruption, there has been a constant flow of sulfuric gas coming from Mount Oyama (see link).
performances, known as kamitsuki kiyari taiko, as well as being home to the rare endemic Izu Thrush
(akakokko). http://www.asahi.com/english/vox/TKY200502030145.html
The island is home to an unusually rich flora and fauna with several rare species of birds and animals, although its natural habitats are constantly under threat from human and volcanic activity. Underwater, the island is valued by divers for its coral reefs and marine fauna (including the dolphin population outside nearby Mikurajima
).
The residents of the island are required to carry gas masks with them at all times, but need not wear them constantly. Raid alarms go off if there is a dramatic increase in the levels of sulfur in the air.
The island was used as a penal colony during the Edo Period
.
, Tokyo at 22:30 and arrives at Miyakejima at 5:00. There are also two helicopter flights operated by Tokyo Island Shuttle which originate in Aogashima
and Izu Ōshima
and fly to Toshima
, Miyakejima, Mikurajima
, Hachijōjima
and Aogashima
. In the past, there were flights to Miyakejima Airport from Haneda Airport with an approximate flying time of 50 minutes. However, the area is a high sulfuric gas volume area and flights have been suspended since before the July 14, 2000 eruption. Flights have again resumed during April 2008, after sulfuric gases in the air have dropped to levels below 0.2ppm. There is also a helicopter that arrives via Izu Ōshima
.
, the U.S. airforce was using Onoharajima, a small rocky outcrop near Miyakejima, as a practice bombing range. U.S. serviceman Jack Moyer wrote a letter to an associate of President Truman to stop the bombing in order to save a rare seabird, the Japanese Murrelet, that breeds on Onoharajima (also known as Sanbondake). The bombing was stopped. Jack Moyer moved to the island and became a part of the island community for over 50 years. Moyer eventually attained his doctorate in marine ecology from the University of Tokyo
. In 1996, he was awarded the Asahi Shimbun
prize for his work on ocean ecology and the education of young children.
Moyer split his time between Miyakejima and Tokyo, where he taught a course entitled "Japan Lands And People" (JLAP) at the American School in Japan
(ASIJ). Moyer was an extremely popular teacher at the school. A highlight of the JLAP course was the annual week-long trip to Miyakejima for the 7th grade ASIJ class, where they would stay in Moyer's modest island home while studying local fisheries and farming.
Jack Moyer was an ornithologist, marine biologist and naturalist who focused on the Izu islands and promoted the need for preservation of the islands' unique ecology. Having spent many years on Miyakejima he was aware of the changes that came with modernization. Construction of public roads and harbors claimed increasing amounts of previously untouched mountain forest areas of the islands, and increasing car traffic and sea pollution were important concerns of his as well.
Along with the other residents of the island, Moyer was forced to flee the island following the eruptions of Mount Oyama in 2000. Later, he was asked by the Tokyo Metropolitan government to survey the island. He concluded that the island's ecology was recovering. Dr. Moyer committed suicide in his Tokyo home in 2004.
Tokyo Metropolitan Government operates Miyake High School http://www.miyake-h.metro.tokyo.jp/.
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
in the Izu
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. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōshima....
group, southeast of Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, administered by the Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
Metropolitan government, with an area of 55.50 km². The island, 180 km south of Tokyo, is located at 34.5N and 139.34E. As of January 1, 2006, the population of the island is 2884. Like other islands in the Izu Island group, Miyakejima forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park
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....
.
serves as the local government of the island. Village is used in the sense of a municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in this context, which also encloses nearby tiny uninhabited Ōnoharajima
Ōnoharajima
is a group of volcanic deserted islands located in the Philippine Sea approximately south of Tokyo and west of Miyakejima, in the northern portion of the Izu archipelago, Japan. The group is also known as from its profile.-Geography:...
WSW
WSW
WSW may refer to:*WSW, the SAME code for a Winter Storm Warning*Wall Street Week, a business show on the US Public Broadcasting Service *War§ow, a video game*West-Southwest, a compass point for "Boxing the compass"...
of it Miyakejima Island. The seat of the local government is in the village (in the traditional sense) of Tsubota on the southeast coast of Miyakejima Island.
Mt. Oyama
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
, Mount Oyama, has erupted several times in recent history. A lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
flow in 1940 killed 11 people, and other eruptions occurred in 1962 and 1983. http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/north_asia/miyakejima/oyama.html
On July 14, 2000, Mount Oyama began another series of eruptions, and by September, the island was completely evacuated. After a four-year period of volcanic emissions, residents were allowed to return permanently on February 1, 2005. After the eruption, there has been a constant flow of sulfuric gas coming from Mount Oyama (see link).
Culture and tourism
Miyakejima is famous for its traditional taikoTaiko
means "drum" in Japanese . Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming...
performances, known as kamitsuki kiyari taiko, as well as being home to the rare endemic Izu Thrush
Izu Thrush
The Izu Thrush , also known as the Izu Islands Thrush, is a thrush native to the Izu and Ryukyu Islands of Japan, in particular, Hachijojima, Mikurajima, and Miyakejima in the former chain, and Yakushima and the Tokara Islands in the latter...
(akakokko). http://www.asahi.com/english/vox/TKY200502030145.html
The island is home to an unusually rich flora and fauna with several rare species of birds and animals, although its natural habitats are constantly under threat from human and volcanic activity. Underwater, the island is valued by divers for its coral reefs and marine fauna (including the dolphin population outside nearby Mikurajima
Mikurajima
is a volcanic Japanese island in the Philippine Sea, administered by Tōkyō Metropolis and located approximately south of Tokyo and south-southeast of Miyakejima. It is one of the Izu Seven Islands group of the seven northern islands of the Izu archipelago....
).
The residents of the island are required to carry gas masks with them at all times, but need not wear them constantly. Raid alarms go off if there is a dramatic increase in the levels of sulfur in the air.
The island was used as a penal colony during the Edo Period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
.
Access
The island is accessible by over-night ferry, the Sarubia Maru or the Camellia, which is operated by Tōkai Kisen. The ferry departs from Takeshiba Sanbashi Pier, near HamamatsuchōHamamatsucho
is an area of Minato ward in Tokyo, Japan.Hamamatsuchō Station is served by the JR Yamanote Line and Keihin Tōhoku Line, and the Tokyo Monorail. The latter links Hamamatsuchō with Haneda Airport....
, Tokyo at 22:30 and arrives at Miyakejima at 5:00. There are also two helicopter flights operated by Tokyo Island Shuttle which originate in Aogashima
Aogashima
is a village located in Hachijō Subprefecture, Tokyo, Japan.-Geography:Aogashima Village covers the island of Aogashima, the southernmost and most isolated populated island in the Izu archipelago in the Philippine Sea, south of central Tokyo, and south of Hachijōjima, its nearest populated...
and Izu Ōshima
Izu Oshima
is a volcanic island in the Izu Islands and administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan government, Japan, lies about 100 km south of Tokyo, 22 km east of the Izu Peninsula and 36 km southwest of Bōsō Peninsula. serves as the local government of the island...
and fly to Toshima
Toshima Island
, a volcanic island in the Izu Islands and administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan government, Japan, lies south of Tokyo and east of the Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka prefecture. Toshima forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. serves as the local government of the island.The island, at...
, Miyakejima, Mikurajima
Mikurajima
is a volcanic Japanese island in the Philippine Sea, administered by Tōkyō Metropolis and located approximately south of Tokyo and south-southeast of Miyakejima. It is one of the Izu Seven Islands group of the seven northern islands of the Izu archipelago....
, Hachijōjima
Hachijojima
is a volcanic Japanese island in the Philippine Sea, administered by Tōkyō and located approximately south of the Special Wards of Tōkyō. It is the southernmost and most isolated of the Izu Seven Islands group of the seven northern islands of the Izu archipelago...
and Aogashima
Aogashima
is a village located in Hachijō Subprefecture, Tokyo, Japan.-Geography:Aogashima Village covers the island of Aogashima, the southernmost and most isolated populated island in the Izu archipelago in the Philippine Sea, south of central Tokyo, and south of Hachijōjima, its nearest populated...
. In the past, there were flights to Miyakejima Airport from Haneda Airport with an approximate flying time of 50 minutes. However, the area is a high sulfuric gas volume area and flights have been suspended since before the July 14, 2000 eruption. Flights have again resumed during April 2008, after sulfuric gases in the air have dropped to levels below 0.2ppm. There is also a helicopter that arrives via Izu Ōshima
Izu Oshima
is a volcanic island in the Izu Islands and administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan government, Japan, lies about 100 km south of Tokyo, 22 km east of the Izu Peninsula and 36 km southwest of Bōsō Peninsula. serves as the local government of the island...
.
Jack Moyer
In years past, foreign visitors were often greeted by locals with the query: "Jack friend?" During the Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, the U.S. airforce was using Onoharajima, a small rocky outcrop near Miyakejima, as a practice bombing range. U.S. serviceman Jack Moyer wrote a letter to an associate of President Truman to stop the bombing in order to save a rare seabird, the Japanese Murrelet, that breeds on Onoharajima (also known as Sanbondake). The bombing was stopped. Jack Moyer moved to the island and became a part of the island community for over 50 years. Moyer eventually attained his doctorate in marine ecology from the University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
. In 1996, he was awarded the Asahi Shimbun
Asahi Shimbun
The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...
prize for his work on ocean ecology and the education of young children.
Moyer split his time between Miyakejima and Tokyo, where he taught a course entitled "Japan Lands And People" (JLAP) at the American School in Japan
American School in Japan
The American School in Japan was founded in 1902 and is an international private day school located in the city of Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The school consists of an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school, all located on the Chōfu campus...
(ASIJ). Moyer was an extremely popular teacher at the school. A highlight of the JLAP course was the annual week-long trip to Miyakejima for the 7th grade ASIJ class, where they would stay in Moyer's modest island home while studying local fisheries and farming.
Jack Moyer was an ornithologist, marine biologist and naturalist who focused on the Izu islands and promoted the need for preservation of the islands' unique ecology. Having spent many years on Miyakejima he was aware of the changes that came with modernization. Construction of public roads and harbors claimed increasing amounts of previously untouched mountain forest areas of the islands, and increasing car traffic and sea pollution were important concerns of his as well.
Along with the other residents of the island, Moyer was forced to flee the island following the eruptions of Mount Oyama in 2000. Later, he was asked by the Tokyo Metropolitan government to survey the island. He concluded that the island's ecology was recovering. Dr. Moyer committed suicide in his Tokyo home in 2004.
Education
The village operates its public elementary and junior high schools.Tokyo Metropolitan Government operates Miyake High School http://www.miyake-h.metro.tokyo.jp/.