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Chapter 2

THE TOKARA ISLANDS 吐噶喇列島

Remote isles, volcanic peaks

1 Kuchinoshima 口之島

2 Kogajajima 小臥蛇島

3 Gajajima 臥蛇島

4 Nakanoshima 中之島

5 Tairajima 平島

6 Suwanosejima 諏訪之瀬島

7 Akusekijima 悪石島

8 Kojima 小島

9 Kotakarajima 小宝島

10 Takarajima 宝島

11 Kaminoneshima 上ノ根島

12 Yokoatejima 横当島

Tokara Islands (吐噶喇列島 orトカラ列島; Tokara-rettō, also called Shichi-tō (七島), which means “Seven Islands,” consists of 12 very small islands scattered across 100 miles (160 kilometers) of Japanese waters between the northeastern group of the Ōsumi’s and the Amami’s northernmost and largest island, Amami-Ōshima. Seven islands are inhabited, five are not. The group is also commonly called the Toshima Islands (十島; Toshima-mura) although that name is more properly applied to the Japanese administrative district, which is the village of Toshima.

Toshima means “ten islands,” a reference to the former administrative union of the present seven inhabited islands plus the Mishima, the three inhabited islands of the Ōsumi’s northwestern group. Although the political boundaries were realigned some years ago, the name Toshima has stuck. The total area of all 12 islands of the present Tokara group is 39 square miles (100 square kilometers). The population of all the Tokara Islands combined is about 650, which averages some 30–170 people on each inhabited island. The largest island in the group is Nakanoshima. It has an area of 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) and a population of about 170.

By and large, the islands of the Tokara group are infrequently visited. Inter-island traffic primarily consists of residents on shopping trips to Kagoshima, “mainland” fishermen pursuing a few days of new waters, and adventurous travelers seeking uncrowded hot springs (onsen). What little settlement there is consists of fishing villages and some limited sugar cane farming and cattle raising. There are no commercial flights to any of the Tokaras, although there is an abandoned airstrip on Suwanosejima. In general, the islands can only be reached on the twice weekly service of the Tokara-Toshima ferry (フェリーとしま; Ferie To-shima).

Here’s how it works. The Tokaras are roughly aligned in an arc from the northeast to the southwest and are clustered into several lesser groups. Year round, at 10 minutes before midnight every Monday and Friday, except during bad weather, the ferry departs Kagoshima on its 125-mile (204-kilometer) overnight journey to Kuchinoshima, the most northerly of the Tokara Island group, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) southwest of Yakushima and Kuchinoerabujima. Kuchinoshima is at the top of the first and largest Tokara cluster of seven islands. The ferry arrives there a little more than six hours later, at 6:05AM. Fifteen minutes afterwards, at 6:20AM, the ship is underway on its 11-mile (18-kilometer) journey southwest to the next island, Nakanoshima, arriving at 7:10AM. There’s no reason to stop at either Kogajajima or Gajajima, the pair of uninhabited islets 14 and 19 miles (22 and 30 kilometers) due west, but you’ll see them off in the distance if the sky is clear.

After passengers and cargo have been unloaded and reloaded at Nakanoshima, the ferry departs at 7:30AM for Tairajima, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) southwest, arriving at 8:50AM. After a ten-minute stop, at 9:00AM, it’s 9 miles (15 kilometers) southeast to Suwanosejima, arriving about 9:50AM. Passengers and cargo are again discharged and boarded. Departing at 10:00AM, it takes a little less than an hour to sail the 12 miles (20 kilometers) due south to Akusekijima, with the arrival time usually about 10:50AM. Akusekijima is the last island in this little Tokara subgroup.

The western approach to Kuchinoshima on the ferry.

The Tokara, lifeline of the Tokara Island group.

Treasure Island (1911 Edition)

This classic edition was published by New York’s C. Scribner’s Sons. The cover and its illustrations were by Newell Convers Wyeth (1882–1945), one of America’s greatest illustrators and the father of Andrew Newell Wyeth (1917–2009) and grandfather of Jamie Wyeth (1946–). It would be quite a treasure to own this edition.

There’s no extra charge for the common area tatami-style sleeping rooms on the Tokara but it is possible to upgrade to private cabins with either two or four berths.

Tamoto Lily (Lilium nobilissimum)

Of the more than 200 genera called Lilium found within the Liliaceae family, and the more than 2,000 species of lily, a good number originate in the Ryūkyū Islands where they are called yuri (百合). One, in particular, comes from the volcano island of Kuchinoshima, an indigenous white lily known as Tamoto Yuri. It has very fragrant pure white, funnel-shaped flowers with bright yellow pollen on the inside and green shading on the outside.

Quickly enough, at 11:00AM, the ship is underway again, now a long 22 miles (35 kilometers) southwest to the next little cluster of three islands, starting with Kotakarajima, where arrival is scheduled for 12:20PM. The ship bypasses tiny uninhabited Kojima just over a mile (2 kilometers) before reaching Kotakara Island. At 12:30PM, from Kotakarajima it’s 9 miles (14 kilometers) southwest to the last island in this subgroup, Takarajima, arriving at 1:05PM. The trip takes altogether about 13 hours from departure at Kagoshima the previous evening.

If the ship departs from Kagoshima on the Friday sailing, it will dock at Takara on Saturday afternoon, stay there the remainder of the day and over night until 7:15AM Sunday morning. Then it will depart northbound, make all the same Tokara Island stops in reverse and arrive back in Kagoshima at 8:30PM the same day. If, however, the ship departs Kagoshima southbound on the Monday sailing, it will first make all the same ports of call described above and likewise arrive at Takarajima at 1:05PM the next day, which in this case is Tuesday. But rather than docking and spending the night, after a 15-minute stop, at 1:20PM, the ship will depart and continue due south another 56 miles (90 kilometers) to Nazé, the principal city of Amami-Ōshima, the northernmost and largest island of the Amami-shotō. About midway along the way, and approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) to the west, lies the final cluster of Tokara Islands—the two uninhabited volcano isles of Kaminoneshima and Yokoatejima. They are too far away to be seen from the ferry.

This last leg of the cruise is three hours and arrives in Nazé at 4:20PM, Tuesday. Here the ship moors and stays until 4:00AM Wednesday morning. Then it will depart northbound, sailing three hours to arrive back at Takarajima at 7:00AM. From there, starting at 7:15AM, the ship will make all the same Tokara Island stops in reverse, arriving back in Kagoshima at 8:30PM Wednesday evening. Late Friday night, two days later, the cycle begins all over again. Note that the only day the ship is at rest is Thursday. This day is a catch-up for weather and any other delays that have interfered with the normal weekly schedule. By the way, this schedule has not changed in over ten years. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

As for these dozen islands, although to the casual observer it may seem as though one is more or less the same as another, that’s not true. Every island is a little different and each has its own special attraction. Some, like Suwanosejima, have active volcanoes. Others, like Nakanoshima, have good onsen. Yet another will have a good beach or a coral reef for diving or snorkeling. And some, like Tairajima, will have some historical ties to ancient Japan. Akusekijima is the island of the mask god Bozé and each summer a festival is held there.

Each and every island is an individual and, like people, each is unique and special. Kotakarajima may be unusual merely because it is so small and yet inhabited. All the islands have sago palms and hibiscus flowers and stars and ocean. All have beauty. Finally, for dreamers, some believe that the coral island Takarajima, literally, “Treasure Island,” is the spot on which Robert Louis Stevenson based his eponymously named novel.

1 KUCHINOSHIMA 口之島

The northernmost island of the Tokara group and the first stop on the semi-weekly ferry when sailing south out of Kagoshima is Kuchinoshima (口之島; Kuchi-no-shima). It’s an irregularly shaped island, more or less a 2 by 3-mile (3 by 5-kilometer) rectangle but with an extra extension on its northern end. The port is located in the northwest in a natural bay formed at the junction of the island’s main body and its northern extension. Other than a cement plant, there’s almost nothing to see at the port itself.

Just over the hill, beyond the port, there are two small villages, Nishinohama and Kuchinoshima, although it’s difficult to tell where one ends and another begins. The total population is only about 160. There are three minshuku inns in town and a nice public bath. At the other end of the island, at its southeasternmost point, there’s another onsen. It’s outdoors and free.

Uninhabited Kogaja (left) and Gaja (right), the two “Lying Down Snake Islands.”

Altogether, Kuchinoshima’s area is a little over 5 square miles (13 square kilometers), with a circumference of a bit over 12 miles (20 kilometers). The Kanji character 口 (kuchi) means “mouth,” a reference to the craters of several good-sized volcanoes on this island: Mt Mae (前岳; Maé-daké), with an elevation of 2,062 feet (628 meters), and Mt Yoko (横岳; Yoko-daké) at 1,647 feet (502 meters). Both are located near the center of the main body of the island. There’s a good circle-island road that goes right around them and there are trails almost to the very top of both.

2 KOGAJAJIMA 小臥蛇島

This micro-sized uninhabited islet lies about 14 miles (22 kilometers) west of Nakanoshima. It is egg-shaped, about 1,640 feet (500 meters) wide from east to west and almost a mile (1.6 kilometers) long from north to south. Its name literally translates as “Little Lying Down Snake Island,” which doesn’t make it sound all that attractive. Maybe that’s why it’s not inhabited. Maybe JNTO (the Japan National Tourism Organization) should get to work on this and rename it, something like “Happy Island” or “Isle of Beauty and Peace.” Why not? Years ago, the Bahamas renamed “Hog Island” as “Paradise Island” and look what it did for that place. Neither Kogajajima (小臥 蛇島; Ko-gaja-jima) nor Gajajima (臥蛇島; Gaja-jima) is inhabited or inhabitable.

3 GAJAJIMA 臥蛇島

Four miles (6 kilometers) further west from Kogajajima (19 miles/30 kilometers west of Nakanoshima) is Gajajima (臥蛇島; Gajajima) or “Lying Down Snake Island.” It’s Little Lying Down Snake Island’s larger big brother is also uninhabited. It’s roughly triangular in shape, less than a mile (1 kilometer) wide and 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) long from top to bottom. Ditto the renaming idea. There’s a volcano on the island, Mt Ontake (御岳; On-také).

4 NAKANOSHIMA 中之島

As the ferry approaches, Nakanoshima (中之島; Naka-no-shima) looms, a green mountain floating on a blue sea. Popular with divers, it is ringed by coral reefs. The island, whose name translates as “Middle or “Central Island,” is the largest in the Tokara group. It’s about a 3 by 5-mile (5 by 8-kilometer)-shaped oval, except for a short protuberance on its southeastern side. It has a coastline circumference of 20 miles (32 kilometers) and an overall area of not quite 13 square miles (35 square kilometers). Around 170 people live on the island. Nakanoshima town and the port are located on the island’s central west side. There are three minshuku in town but almost nothing at the port.

Only a mile (2 kilometers) or so to the north as the crow flies is the island’s dominating feature—3,212-foot (979-meter)-tall Mt Mi (御岳; Mi-také), which is the highest peak in the Tokaras. There is a road that encircles the volcano, plus a small, extremely twisty road that goes almost to the caldera at the top. There are an additional two roads that start in town. One goes to the island’s southeast corner, the other to the southwest end. There’s an unpaved road that connects those two along the southern coast. It’s pretty rugged but drivable.

Nakanoshima dock on the largest Tokara Island.

Dawn arrival at the symmetrical cone-shaped Nakanoshima.

Incidentally, there are many volcanoes and mountains in Japan that use 御 as their first character, including Nagoya’s Mt Ontake (御嶽山; On-také-san), Japan’s second highest volcano and eighth highest mountain at 10,062 feet (3,067 meters). It’s located in Japan’s northern “Alps” on Honshu main island. Another well-known volcano is Tokyo’s Mt Mitake (御岳山; Mi-také-san) at 3,048 feet (929 meters). The Kanji character for the Mi-, O- and On- peaks is the same, 御, and carries the meaning “imperial” or “royal.” It’s only the pronunciation of the mountain’s name that may be different. And speaking of that, the Kanji character that means peak, 岳, also has several pronunciations: také and daké are both used.

For hundreds of years, sulphur deposits were mined on Mt Mi but that ceased after World War II. What hasn’t ceased are the hot springs flowing from the volcano. There are two hot springs near the port. The sulfurous, mineral-rich waters of Onsen Nishiku (西区) and Onsen Higashiku (東区) are open 24/7 and are clean and free.

There’s also a free astronomical observatory, the Nakanoshima-tenmondai (中之島 天文台). It has the largest telescope in Kyushu, a 24-inch (60-centimeter) mirror. All that’s required are reservations made with the telescope’s keeper. Nakanoshima also has the Tokara Museum (歴史民俗資料館; Rekishi-minzoku-shiryokan), the only historical museum in the islands. It contains some interesting exhibits but the captioning is only in Japanese.

The island has an elementary and junior level school, with seven students at last count. Other than the school, minshuku inns, the baths and private homes, that’s about all you’ll find. On Nakano Island, and on all the Tokara Islands, there are virtually no shops, no Family-Marts or 7-11s, no gas stations, no restaurants, bakeries, book stores or anything else—nothing! You usually won’t even find vending machines because there is no one to restock them. Because it’s so isolated, most people order and buy everything, including their groceries, from the stores in Kagoshima. Goods are delivered by the ferry service. Residents who own cars must purchase fuel in 200-liter drums which are likewise delivered to the islands. Throughout the Tokaras, the ferry is an indispensible lifeline to Japan and the outside world.

There are not too many places where you’ll find the air cleaner and the skies clearer than at Nakanoshima Observatory.

Tokara horses roam wild at Cape Seri.

The port at Tairajima, the third inhabited island, is visible lower left. Dese rock is on the far right.

But, having said all that, perhaps this lack of “civilization” is the reason why you have come. For if you wanted to be on the Tokyo Ginza (東京銀座; Tōkyō-ginza), you’d be there. Rather, you’re here, and here is a quiet, calm and peaceful natural beauty. In the southeast of the island, cultivated pastures spread out before you. You’ll find Okinawan black cows, famous for their fine beef, and you’ll see Tokara horses, a smaller breed than most. There are also goats. At the south- east land’s end, you’ll come to the Yaruse Lighthouse (ヤルセ灯台; Yarusé tōdai) at the end of Cape Seri (セリ岬; Seri-misaki) and there you’ll look out over the vast and endless Pacific and perhaps think about the tiny space we each occupy, like the tiny space each of these islands occupies. And although tiny and seemingly insignificant, each of us on this great, large planet is significant.

HIRASE (平瀨; Hirasé). There are not many named “satellite” islets in the Tokaras as most islands are small enough on their own. But here’s one. It’s really tiny, a little oval about 490 by 275 feet (150 by 250 meters) planted right at the bottom of Nakanoshima, a little less than a mile (1 kilometer) southwest of Cape Seri. Hirase’s name literally means “flat stretch of shallow water ending at a sand-bank” or, more figuratively, the “flat utmost tip of a cape.”

5 TAIRAJIMA 平島

This is the third inhabited island in the middle of Tokara’s first group of islands. It’s quite small, only about 0.75 by 1.25 miles (1 by 2 kilometers), with an area of 0.08 square miles (2.08 square kilometers) and a circumference of 4.5 miles (7 kilometers).

At the most recent count, 84 persons were said to live on Tairajima (平島; Taira-jima; lit. “Flat Island”). They live in the only village which is located towards the center of the island. It’s less than a mile (1 kilometer) north of the port where there is not much more than the dock. There are three minshuku in town and there is a public bath at the village community center, Akahigé Onsen (あかひげ温泉). It’s named after a popular local bird, the “red beard.”

The island’s high point is Mt On (御岳; On-také), which rises to 797 feet (243 meters). It is claimed that Tairajima has a rich historical background and that a number of monuments and historic places exist. But for most Western tourists, these are extremely obscure, lost in translation and the mists of time. There are several massive gajyumaru (banyan) trees on the island claimed to be over 1,000 years old.

DESE (出瀨; Desé). As small as Taira is, it’s got a little sidekick. It’s that large rock on the right-hand side of the photo of Tairajima on page 44. Its dimensions are approximately 410 by 740 feet (125 by 225 meters) and it’s separated from the bottom of Tairajima by only 80 feet (25 meters) of water. The rock’s name translates as “out of a sandbank in a stretch of water that is visible at low tide.” That’s quite a mouthful from two little Kanji characters, but they can do that. Its context also has the meaning of something at the end of a cape.

A sign at the dock welcomes visitors to Tairajima.

6 SUWANOSEJIMA 諏訪之瀬島

The second largest island in the Tokara group by area, but one of the least populated, Suwanose Island is roughly an oval with dimensions a little larger than 3 by 5 miles (5 by 8 kilometers). It’s not quite 10.7 square miles (28 square kilometers) in area and has a circumference of a bit more than 17 miles (27 kilometers). The population is 67. The island’s high point is Mt Mitake (御岳; Mitaké; also pronounced On-také) at 2,621 feet (799 meters) above sea level.

The only inhabitable portion of the island is the extreme southern tip. Altogether it covers about a third of a square mile (1 square kilometer). It’s the only section that’s level enough for habitation. The rest of Suwanosejima (諏訪之瀬島; Suwanosé-jima) is too steep. On the east side of this small tip is the modest port. It has no facilites and is merely a dock.

The crater of Suwanosejima’s Mt Mitaké.

Suwanosejima’s volcano erupted a moment before this photo was taken.

From the dock, a road leads up a slight hill and crosses over a plateau about three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) to the west side of the island, where the village lies. There are three minshuku here. About 1,640 feet (500 meters) to the south of the town is an airstrip. Suwanose is the only Tokara Island to have an airstrip although there are no flights! It was built some years ago when Yamaha Resorts was contemplating building a luxury resort on the island. Presumably, it might be used to airlift the residents in the event of a major eruption by Mitake. To the north of the village, a road runs about three-quarters of a mile towards the center of the island and the volcano. There are no other roads on the island. From the end of the road, a paved path leads another three- quarters of a mile towards the summit. Given Mitake’s almost constant activity, great consideration should be given to the thought of climbing this volcano.

Mitake is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan—and the world. Essentially, apart from the settlement at the southernmost tip of Suwanosejima, the entire island is a volcano, one that’s erupting in one manner or another every single day. Several of Suwanosejima’s more recent dramatic seismic activities were in November 2008, when multiple explosions created ash plumes that rose 1.25 miles (2.4 kilometers) into the sky; and in October 2009, when a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred 34 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of the island. The island’s largest recorded historical eruption took place in 1813–14, when it had to be completely evacuated. It remained unpopulated for the next 70 years.

7 AKUSEKIJIMA 悪石島

Akusekijima (悪石島; Akuséki-jima; lit. “Evil Stone Island”) is the fifth and final inhabited island in this northern cluster of the Tokararettō. If you let your imagination run a bit wild, you might say that the shape of this small island is that of a headless, armless and legless torso. It’s a little over 1 mile (2 kilometers) across from east to west, and about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from north to south. Altogether, it has an area of 3 square miles (7 square kilometers) and a circumference a bit more than 8 miles (13 kilometers). You’d have to run around the island’s perimeter more than three times to complete a marathon. And that would be dangerous as Akuseki Island is encircled by steep cliffs. As is the case with most of the Tokara Islands, there are no beaches on Akusekijima.

The port at Akuseki forms a small bay.

Akuseki is surrounded by steep cliffs.

The island’s port is built into a natural inside elbow on the center west side of the island, which, with the addition of tons of sturdy Japanese concrete, forms a small bay. There’s no village there, however. To reach town you travel up the hillside a little less than a mile (1 kilometer). Because Akuseki is fairly popular with adventurous Japanese travelers, it gets more visitors than most other Tokara Islands. Thus, there’s a grand total of five minshuku on this island! The village is set on a plateau in the southwest corner of Akusekijima.

Akuseki has two fairly good-sized peaks: 1,916-feet (584-meter)-tall Mt Ontake (御岳; On-také) and 1,453-feet (443-meter) Mt Nakadake (中岳; Naka-daké), But as the whole island is relatively elevated, they don’t particularly stand out. The population is about 75 and, like many of Japan’s remote islands, has been gradually declining for years. Most young people today are simply not content with a sugar cane farmer’s life or a fisherman’s. Once they leave, they essentially never return. That’s why on almost all the smaller Ryukyus, you’ll see lots of old people, a few youngsters and not so many middle-aged. It’s a real conundrum and is nowhere close to being solved.

It’s difficult to say why the early peoples who named Akuseki decided that it was a “bad” or an “evil” stone island, but they did, and that’s its name. Perhaps from an agriculturalist’s point of view, it was just a rock and thus infertile. With its dramatic cliffs, it was also tough to approach. That sounds like a good reason to name it “bad,” but “evil” ?

In more recent times however, there was a terribly tragic event nearby Akuseki. Just offshore, on the night of August 22, 1944, the Tsushima-maru (対馬丸), an unmarked, unlit passenger and cargo ship, fully loaded with 1,484 evacuee civilians, including 826 schoolchildren, on their way to Kagoshima from Okinawa, was torpedoed by the USS Bowfin, an American navy submarine. Only 59 children survived. Everyone else perished. It’s one of the uglier incidents in a terrible war and something that’s not usually mentioned in US schoolchildren’s history books. Not until 20 years after the sinking did the crew of the Bowfin learn of the victims. In Japan, the survivors were forbidden to speak of the incident. The Bowfin was decommissioned in 1954 and presently serves as a memorial and submarine museum in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The wreck of the Tsushimamaru was located and identified in December 1997. There is a small museum dedicated to the Tsushima-maru story in Naha, Okinawa.

Akusekijima has a couple of hot springs less than a mile (1 kilometer) north of the port, but the island is best known for its unusual Mask God Festival, held every year. The Bozé Matsuri (ボゼ祭) is dedicated to the island’s mask god Bozé. It’s a local variant of Japan’s Bon festival, held each year on the 16th day of the 7th month on the traditional lunar calendar, which translates to sometime between August and September on today’s Western calendar. The festival is a unique and special event. The island’s men dress up in bizarre but spectacular costumes made of palm leaves and husk, representing the masked god Bozé. Their dance is supposed to scare away the devils and bring in the New Year.

Akusekijima Bozé mask gods.

8 KOJIMA 小島

Kojima (小島; Ko-jima) is an uninhabited islet about three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) to the east of Kotakarajima, its big brother. The ferry does not stop, it just passes by on its way to Kotakara Island. Kojima’s name, which most appropriately means “Little Island,” is a fairly well-formed circle about 1,890 feet (575 meters) across when the tide’s out. When the tide’s in, that is during a high tide, only its central, vegetated core is above water. At those times, it would be an isle with a diameter of approximately 660 feet (200 meters). Kojima and its two “treasure island” neighbors to the west and southwest form a little subgroup of three 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the southwest of the first seven islands and an equal distance to the northeast of the final, tiny group of two uninhabited islets.

Kojima’s Most Common Residents

Typical on all the Tokara Islands are wild hibiscus bushes (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) and the Red Helen butterfly (Papilio helenus), a type of black swallowtail.

9 KOTAKARAJIMA 小宝島

As the ferry makes its way south, island to island, perhaps you might have mused that the previous inhabited island, Akusekijima, was indeed small, about 1.25 by 2 miles (2 by 3.5 kilometers) and, after all, how can anyone live there? Well, contemplate this: Kotakarajima (小宝島; Ko-takara-jima) is smaller. In fact, this island, whose name means “Little Treasure Island,” is the smallest inhabited island in the Tokara Archipelago, measured both by population and area. As for people, the most recent population count was 37 inhabitants. As for size, the island is a little round circle just about exactly three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) in diameter.

Since one is such a nice easy number, let’s figure out just how big (or small) this island really is. If you remember your high school geometry, the area of a circle is its radius squared times pi. For our purposes, pi (π) can be approximately 3.1416. The mathematical formula is: A = r2 x π. Therefore, since the diameter of Kotakara is three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer), its radius is ½ or .50 of three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer). One-half times one-half equals one-quarter (½ x ½ = ¼ or .50 x .50 = .25). One-quarter times π equals 0.7854 kilometers (.25 x 3.1416 = 0.7854). Thus, Kotakarajima’s area is a bit more than ¾ of a square kilometer. Euclid move over!

The southern port side of Kotakarajima, the smallest inhabited island in the Tokara Archipelago.

Expressed another way, 0.7854 square kilometers equals 0.3033 square miles or less than ⅓ of a square mile. By any means of reckoning, that’s pretty small.

Here’s one more calculation. The circumference of a circle is its diameter times pi, or expressed mathematically, C = d x π. It can also be expressed as C = (2 x radius) x π. Therefore, the circumference of Kotakara is three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) times π (1 x 3.1416 = 3.1416) or 3.1416 kilometers. In fact, the circumference of the island is a little bigger as it’s not a perfect circle. Walking its slightly irregular shoreline measures 3 miles (4.5 kilometers); and similarly, its area is a bit closer to one full square kilometer. Like tiny uninhabited Kojima next door, Kotakarajima loses about one-quarter to one-third of its surface area twice a day during high tides. Therefore, the homes and other structures on the island are built on the higher ground, which is otherwise covered in year-round vegetation.

Kotakarajima is not particularly flat or low. Its high point reaches 338 feet (103 meters) above sea level, and most of the island is elevated. It’s the island’s 650-foot (200-meter)-wide outer rim that is bare, barren coral rock. That’s the section that’s washed over by the sea in very high tides.

Kotakara Island has a complete circle island road. Taking it from the port, which is on the island’s southwest side, either clockwise or counter-clockwise, to the only village, which is on the island’s northeast side, is also almost exactly three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer). You just can’t go too far on Kotakara. There are three minshuku in the village and a free hot spring natural bath. There’s another small port on the island’s northern side as well, but it’s for small fishing craft, not the commercial ferry service. So, if you were looking for a getaway to a place that’s not too big and not too busy, you might have found your type of place here.

10 TAKARAJIMA 宝島

On a southbound sailing out of Kagoshima, this coral, not volcanic, island is the last stop in the Tokaras. There are two more Tokara Islands to the southwest, but they are uninhabited and no stops are made by the ferry. Takarajima (宝島; Takara-jima) is the seventh inhabited island and the ferry’s final port of call in the archipelago. Again, depending on the sailing, the ship alternates its twice-weekly journeys with once a week overnight stops at Takara, reversing and returning to Kagoshima the next day, or once a week continuing to Nazé City on Amami Ōshima before reversing and sailing back to Kagoshima the next day. There is no airport on the island.

Along with Akusekijima, Takarajima is the most popular island of all the Tokaras for visitors. It has a few minor sights, some good hiking opportunities, a bit of historical lore and, unlike many Tokaras, a few beaches.

Unlike the circular-, rectangular-, egg- or torso-shaped islands previously visited in the Tokara group, Takara is a nicely formed triangle. Its Pacific (eastern) shoreline is just about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long and its northern top coastline is also approximately 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) across. The island’s western to southwestern side, which faces the East China Sea, is 3 miles (5 kilometers) in length. All told, this gives the island an area of 2.75 square miles (7.14 square kilometers) and a circumference of 8.5 miles (13.77 kilometers). Takara Island’s highest spot is Mt Imakira (イマキラ岳; Imakira-daké) at 958 feet (292 meters) above sea level. Takarajima also has several other peaks over 660 feet (200 meters), among them Mt Hiru (蛭岳; Hiru-daké), Mt Gonata (ごんた山; Gonata-yama), and “Goddess” Mountain, Mt Megami (女神山; Mégami-yama).

Exactly in the center of the northern shoreline is a good-sized natural harbor where the ferry lands, and only a few hundred feet up the road from the port is the island’s only village. There are approximately 120 residents on Takara. The islanders are dependent mainly on fishing and seasonal tourism. There are four minshuku inns available for tourists. The town also has a free public onsen with separate facilities for men and women. The island is ringed and crisscrossed by a series of roads and virtually no place is inaccessible. You can even drive to the top of Imakira. There’s a great observation platform and viewpoint up there.

Approach to Takarajima.

Great limestone cave and Kannon-dō shrine.

The name Takarajima literally translates as “Treasure Island” and the few travel brochures one finds on the Tokaras usually make the claim that Takara was the inspiration, if not the actual burial place, of pirate’s gold, believed to be at the center of Robert Louis Stevenson’s work Treasure Island. The tourist information map displayed at the harbor where the ferry arrives states: “As the name Takarajima (Treasure Island) implies, there is a legendary story that says Captain Kidd once hid his treasures on this island. There is a limestone cave which is believed to be the place where treasures were hidden. This island has been visited by many explorers and bounty hunters from all over Japan and the world.”

The legend has it that Kidd and his men attacked Takarajima seeking food and cattle from the island’s inhabitants. They were refused and as a result 23 of the pirates landed and burned the inhabitants alive in a lime cave. Afterwards, it is said that Kidd hid his treasure in the cave and never came back for it due to his execution in England. In real life, Captain William Kidd (ca. 1654–1701), a Scottish seaman and privateer, sailed the waters of Britain, the Bay of Fundy, New England, New York, the Caribbean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and Madagascar. He was eventually tried in London for piracy on the high seas, convicted and hanged. His body was gibbeted—left to hang and decompose in an iron cage—over the River Thames for three years as a warning to other pirates and ne’er-do-wells.

“Treasure Island”—Takarajima?

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson’s (1850–94) Treasure Island was first published in 1883. It quickly became one of the most popular books for young people ever written. Its depictions of pirates and adventure, tales of buried gold, treasure maps marked with an X, and peg-legged, bloodthirsty seamen with parrots on their shoulders soon became archetypes of what it means to be a pirate. Stevenson was 30 years old when he started writing the book in the summer of 1881 while in the Scottish Highlands. Starting at an early age, and although sickly (he was believed to have suffered from tuberculosis), he traveled widely, including journeys to Europe, North America, Hawaii and many islands of the South Pacific. At the age of 44 he died and was buried in Samoa. There is no evidence to suggest that he ever visited, or indeed ever heard of, Takarajima. Rather, the most widely speculated upon contenders for his Treasure Island are Unst in Scotland’s Shetland Islands, Norman Island or Dead-Man’s Chest Island in the British Virgin Islands of the Caribbean, or Osborn, a small islet in Brielle, New Jersey’s Manasquan River, where Stevenson once spent a month. Most scholars agree that it’s probably Unst. The drawing of Treasure Island at right resembles that island and is thought to have been penned by Stevenson’s own hand. It was published in an early edition of the book.

So far as is known, William Kidd never sailed the waters of Japan—or anywhere in Asia for that matter. Therefore, it is doubtful that there is any truth to Takarajima’s legend of Captain Kidd and his buried treasure. And although it is true that Robert Louis Stevenson spent a good part of his short life in the Pacific—he traveled in the South Pacific and died and is buried on the island of Samoa—he had no known association with any of the islands of the North Pacific or Japan. It is highly improbable, therefore, that he knew of this particular Treasure Island, Takarajima.

Whether the treasure stories were inspired by the limestone cave or whether the cave inspired the legends, or whether the mere coincidence of the name “Treasure Island” is behind the legends, it’s hard to know, but in any case, Takarajima’s Kannon-dō Cave (観音堂; Kannon-dō) is an interesting little spot and worth a visit. It’s located a little over a mile (2 kilometers) from the village on the island’s west side. There are several small shrines within the cave, including a Kannondō shrine. Note that the cave is also called “Dai shoun yuu-dō” (大鐘乳洞).

If the limestone cave doesn’t impress you, you can walk about 985 feet (300 meters) down to one of Takara’s beaches, this one over a mile (2 kilometers) long and encompassing virtually the entire mid-section of Takara’s west coast. There are also a couple of small beaches on Takara’s southeast and northeast shore, plus the island’s best beach, the Ōkago bathing beach (大籠海水浴場; Ōkago-kaisui-yoku-jō), which is adjacent to the port. None of Takara’s beaches are great, but they’re modestly sandy and accessible, something that’s not true on most of the other Tokara Islands.

For many visitors, Takara’s big “sight” is the fanciful mural at the port. For one, you can’t miss it when you arrive. It’s a giant, wildly imaginative drawing that covers most of the cemented hillside. Whatever your take on the aesthetics, it has to be said that it’s different.

The last sightseeing spot we’ll mention is the island’s final spot: the southernmost extremity, Cape Araki (荒木崎; Araki-zaki). Here, the triangular-shaped Tarakajima narrows down to its most acute angle. The road goes right to the end and then it’s a short 300-feet (100-meter) walk to the Cape Araki Lighthouse (荒木崎灯台; Araki-zaki tōdai). From here, there’s nothing but ocean on all three sides. And from there, it’s open waters until our next archipelago—the Amami-shotō.

MUUTACHIIWA (舞立; Muu-tachi iwa). If you do go to the beach on Takarajima’s west coast, near the Kannon-do cave and shrine, you’ll see this little rock. It’s only some 660 feet (200 meters) offshore, about exactly midway along the west coast measuring from north to south. It’s a little more than three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) south from the cave. Muutachi Rock is no big deal, only a green-covered rectangular islet about 330 feet (100 meters) long from east to west and approximately 100–130 feet (30–40 meters) wide from north to south.

The mural on a cemented hillside at Takarajima’s Maégomori-kō Port (前籠漁港).

The only way to visit Kaminoneshima and Yokoatejima is to sail, swim or paddle a kayak there. These isolated rocks are well off the regular shipping channels.

FUCHI-NO HANARE (ふちのはなれ; Fuchi-no hanare). To get a little technical, Cape Araki, mentioned above, is not quite the very end of Tarakajima. These rocks are. Just offshore, just off the very end of the cape, lies this little collection of stones. From the Cape Araki Lighthouse you’ll have to scramble over rock about 820 feet (250 meters) to the very end of the island. From there it’s about 165 feet (50 meters) over water, south and a bit west, to this last piece of Treasure Island. It’s not exactly one large rock. Rather, it’s a fused collection of several. They’re so tightly bound together, however, that it almost appears as one. The tiny islet is more or less an oval in shape, approximately 165 feet (50 meters) long and 80 feet (25 meters) wide.

11 KAMINONESHIMA 上ノ根島

Once a week the Tokara ferry sets sail from Takarajima and travels south 55 miles (90 kilometers) to Nazé, Amami-Ōshima’s port and main city. The trip takes three hours. About halfway there, if you could change the ship’s course and travel due west about 25 miles (40 kilometers), you would arrive at Kaminoneshima (上ノ根島; Kaminonéshima) and its larger neighbor Yokoatejima. Both are tiny volcanic islands and both are uninhabited. That’s why the ferry doesn’t go there. Since they’re so far away, you won’t, in fact, see them. Kaminone Island is the smaller and more northerly of the two. It’s an oddly shaped rectangle with a number of little protrusions. The islet is about 1,640 feet (500 meters) across from east to west and almost three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) in length from north to south.

Yokoatejima’s eastern half is a perfectly formed strato volcano, while its other side, connected by an isthmus, is a lava flow. Barely visible at the far right of the photo is Kaminoneshima.

12 YOKOATEJIMA 横当島

Only 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) south of Kaminone Island is Yokoatejima (横当島; Yokoaté-jima), the most southerly of the islands in the Tokara chain. This uninhabited rock may also be the most unusually shaped islet in the Tokara-rettō. It resembles a sideways figure eight, with its eastern side about twice as large as its western. Forming two halves of an island, they are connected by a narrow 490-foot (150-meter)-wide isthmus. The larger half of the island is circular and about a mile (1.5 kilometers) in diameter. It is nothing more or less than a perfectly shaped volcano, with a crater dead center at the top. The western side of the island is somewhat of a squished box in shape, perhaps 2,620 feet (800 meters) at its longest in any direction.

Unless you have paddled out to these remote little isles, you more than likely have safely arrived in Nazé (Amami City) on the Tokara ferry. That’s the starting place for our next group of Ryukyu Islands: the Amamis or the Amami-shotō. It’s a particularly beautiful set of islands and, after coming from the Tokaras, will seem like Robinson Crusoe is indeed rejoining civilization.