Bonin Islands: Difference between revisions

The '''Bonin Islands'''<!-- Japanese in #Name section -->, also known as the '''Ogasawara Islands''' (小笠原諸島), is a [[list of islands of Japan|Japanese archipelago]] of over 30 subtropical and [[Island#Tropical islands|tropical islands]] located around {{convert|1000|km|mi|lk=out|sp=us}} SSE of [[Tokyo]] and {{convert|1000|mi|km|sp=us|order=flip}} northwest of [[Guam]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/12/national/history/ogasawara-islands-remote-witnesses-front-lines-japanese-history/|title=Ogasawara Islands: Remote witnesses on the front lines of Japanese history|last=Yoshida|first=Reiji|date=2018-07-12|work=The Japan Times Online|access-date=2019-09-25|issn=0447-5763}}</ref><ref name=Coppock /> The group as a whole has a total area of {{convert|84|km2|sp=us}} but only two of the islands are permanently inhabited, [[Chichijima]] and [[Hahajima]]. Together, their population was 2,560 as of 2021. Administratively, [[Tokyo Metropolitan Government|Tokyo]]'s [[Ogasawara Subprefecture]] also includes the settlements on the [[Volcano Islands]] and the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force|Self-Defense Force]] post on [[Iwo Jima]]. The seat of government is Chichijima.

Because of the Bonins' isolation, many of their animals and plants have undergone unique evolutionary processes. It has been called "the [[Galápagos Islands|Galápagos]] of the [[Orient]]" and was named a natural [[World Heritage Site]] in 2011. When first reached during the [[early modern period]], the islands were entirely uninhabited, from which the word "uninhabited" described in the [[Japanese language]] historical materials, through a mistake, eventually evolved to become the [[Western world|Western]] sounding [[#Names|the name "Bonin"]]. Subsequent research has found evidence of some prehistoric habitation by [[Micronesians]]. Upon their repeated rediscoveries, the islands were largely ignored by the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]], [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]], and [[sakoku|isolationist]] [[Edo period|Japanese]] until finally being claimed by a passing [[British Empire|British]] captain in 1827. [[United States|American]], [[Europe]]an, and [[Native Hawaiians|Hawaiian]] colonists arrived from the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]] in 1830. Subsequently, [[Meiji Restoration|Meiji Japan]] successfully colonized and reclaimed the islands in 1875 but [[Ōbeikei Islanders|the original multicultural community]] continued up to [[World War II]], when most islanders were forcibly relocated to [[Honshu]]. Following [[surrender of Japan|Japan's defeat]], the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] occupied the island, bulldozing existing Japanese homes and restricting resettlement until full control of the Bonins was returned to Japan in 1968. Ethnically, the island is now majority [[Japanese people|Japanese]] but remains unusually diverse, which is reflected in the local creole language known as [[Bonin English]]. Improved transportation has made agriculture more profitable and encouraged tourism, but the development required for an airport remains a contentious local issue.

The name ''Bonin'' comes from an 1817 article in the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|French]] {{lang|fr|[[Journal des sçavans|Journal des Savans]]}} by [[Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat]] in which{{mdash}}among various other misunderstandings of [[Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu|his source material]]{{sfnp|Kublin|1953|p=35}}{{mdash}}he misread a description of the islands as uninhabited ({{lang|ja|[[:wikt:無人島#Japanese|無人嶋]]}}, "[[desert island]][s]") for their actual name, used the wrong reading of the [[kanji|characters]] (''buninshima'' for ''{{linktext|mujintō}}''), and then transcribed the resulting reading incorrectly into [[French language|French]] as {{lang|fr|Bo-nin Sima}},{{sfnp|Rémusat|1817|p=390}}{{sfnp|Kublin|1953|p=36}} which eventually lost its original [[hyphen]].

The islanders were relegated to an insignificant status up through the early [[Shōwa period]]. After Japan's attack on the American naval base at [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]], English was banned on the Bonins, and Americans had to take on Japanese names.<ref name=Coppock /> As fighting creeped closer to Japan during the later stage of the [[World War II|war]], most inhabitants were forcibly evacuated to the mainland. There was a Japanese military base on Chichijima run by a Major {{nihongo|[[Sueo Matoba]]|的場 末男|Matoba Sueo}}, who was known for engaging in [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] and other acts on prisoners of war.{{sfnp|Welch|2002}} The [[torpedo bomber]] of later American President [[George H. W. Bush]] crashed in the ocean near Chichijima. He ended up getting rescued by [[USS Finback (SS-230)|USS Finback]] and becoming the only one to ultimately survive.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0312/20/cp.00.html |title=Story of George H. W. Bush World War II Experience |newspaper= [[CNN]]|date=December 20, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=George Herbert Walker Bush |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/biographies-list/bios-b/bush-george-h-w.html |website=Naval History and Heritage Command |publisher=United States Department of the Navy |date=19 August 2019}}</ref> Eight other airmen downed near the islands were later [[Chichijima incident|executed and cannibalized]] by the Japanese soldiers.<ref name=Coppock /> Matoba Sueo was eventually hanged for his crimes after the war.{{sfnp|Welch|2002}} The [[Battle of Iwo Jima]] in 1945, one of the fiercest battles of World War II, was fought on a garrison island in this region of the Pacific.<ref>Nicol, C. W., "[http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fe20110807cw.html "The far-out Ogasawaras]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 7 August 2011, p. 10.</ref>

**Mae-jima (前島, {{lit|Front Island|lk=no}}), formerly The Ears

A small extinct bat, [[Sturdee's pipistrelle]], is only known in one record and has not been seen since 1915. The [[Bonin flying fox]] ({{lang|la|Pteropus pselaphon}}), also called the Bonin fruit bat, is endemic to the islands. It is currently listed as [[Endangered species|endangered]],<ref name="iucn">{{Cite iucn | author = Vincenot, C. | title = ''Pteropus pselaphon'' | volume = 2017 | page = e.T18752A22085351 | date = 2017 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T18752A22085351.en }}</ref> and a survey published by the Ogasawara Office of Education in 1999 estimated their number at around 100.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion | id=oc0109 | name = Ogasawara subtropical moist forests | access-date=2008-01-17}}</ref> The Bonin sambar (''R. u.unicolor boninensis)'', an extinct subspecies of the [[sambar deer]], is known from subfossil remains.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pocock |first1=R.I. |year=1943 |title=The Skull-characters of some of the Forms of Sambar (''Rusa'') occurring to the East of the Bay of Bengal. — Part III. ''Rusa nigricans'' and ''Rusa boninensis'' |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |volume=10 |issue=63 |pages=191–196 |doi=10.1080/03745481.1943.9728010}}</ref> a subspecies of the [[sambar deer]], was supposedly a population introduced to the islands only as late as 1850, but is also known from subfossil remains{{check|date=April 2024}}{{cn|date=April 2024}}<!-- dubious due to the islands oceanic location -->; it went extinct after 1925-26, when [[Richard Goldschmidt]] saw the [[taxidermy|taxidermied]] pair of the [[Chichijima]] museum and was told by locals that merely "half a dozen" animals remained alive<ref>[[Richard Goldschmidt|Goldschmidt, Richard]] (1927). ''Neu-Japan'': 223. {{doi|10.1007/978-3-642-99454-8}}</ref>

The islands are also renowned for the many species of [[snail]]s that are found across the islands, especially the {{lang|la|[[Mandarina]]}} snails.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chiba|first=Satoshi|date=1999|title=Accelerated Evolution of Land Snails Mandarina in the Oceanic Bonin Islands: Evidence from Mitochondrial DnaDNA Sequences|journal=Evolution|volume=53|issue=2|pages=460–471|doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.1999.tb03781.x|pmid=28565404|issn=1558-5646|doi-access=free}}</ref> Most of the native snails are now endangered or extinct because of introduced species and habitat loss.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chiba|first1=Satoshi|last2=Cowie|first2=Robert H.|date=November 2016|title=Evolution and Extinction of Land Snails on Oceanic Islands|url=http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-112414-054331|journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics|volume=47|issue=1|pages=123–141|doi=10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-112414-054331|issn=1543-592X|doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[giant squid]] ({{lang|la|Architeuthis}} ''dux'') was photographed off the Bonins for the first time in the wild on 30 September 2004 and was filmed alive there in December 2006.<ref>{{cite news |date=2006-12-22 |title=Japanese Researchers Capture Giant Squid |work=Fox News |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,238263,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2007-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070826165631/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,238263,00.html |archive-date=2007-08-26}}</ref>

Previously, there had been plans for a 14,500-[[gross tonnage|ton]] "techno superliner" able to reach a maximum speed of {{convert|38|knot|km/h mph}} and make the same journey in only 17 hours with a capacity of around 740 passengers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mes.co.jp/english/press/2004/20041115.html|title=Super High -Speed Ship (Techno Super Liner) for Ogasawara Line Naming and Launching Ceremony|access-date=2007-08-24 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235920/http://www.mes.co.jp/english/press/2004/20041115.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-26}}</ref> The project was canceledcancelled in July 2005, however, due to rising fuel prices and cost overruns of ¥2 billion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMV/2005jul0252.html|title=Japan pulls plug on Techno Superliner|access-date=2007-08-24}}</ref>

To get to Hahajima, oneyou first travelstravel to Chichijima and then crossescross on the ferry ''Hahajima Maru''.

Ogasawara Village operates a bus service on Chichijima and elderly passengers may use a "silver pass". There is also a sightseeing taxi service, a rental car company, motorized scooter rental services, a bike rental service, and other amenities. Bringing one's ownyour automobile onto the island is extremely difficult and costly.

For several decades, there has been talk of building a full airport.<ref>{{cite book|title = Ogasawara Shotō Kōkūro Kaihatsu Chōsa Hōkusho : Ogasawara Shotō no Shinkōjiritsu no tameni|trans-title = Ogasawara Island Airlines Development Study Report: For the Independence of the Ogasawara Islands|language = ja |editor = Tōkyōto Sōmukyoku Santama Tōsho Taisakushitsu Ogasawara Shinkōka|publisher = Tokyo Metropolitan Government |year = 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title = Ogasawara Shotō Kōkūro Kaihatsu Chōsa Hōkusho : Ogasawara Shotō no Kōkūjuyō Yosoku|trans-title = Ogasawara Island Airlines Development Study Report: Estimated Air Transportation Demand for Ogasawara Islands|language = ja |editor = Tōkyōto Sōmukyoku |publisher = Tokyo Metropolitan Government |year = 1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title = Ogasawara Shotō Kōkūro Kaihatsu Chōsa (sono 2) Hōkusho : Shūkō Kizai tō Chōsa oyobi Kūkō Kensetsu-an Sakutē Chōsa |trans-title = Ogasawara Island Airlines Development Study Report: Survey of Air Service Equipment and others with Study on Planning Airport Construction |language = ja |editor = Tōkyōto Sōmukyoku |publisher = Tokyo Metropolitan Government |year = 1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title = Ogasawara kūkō kensetsu kēkaku tō ni kansuru teigen |trans-title = Recommendations on Ogasawara Airport Construction |language = ja|author = Ogasawara kūkō kensetsu kēkaku tō senmon iinkai |editor = Tōkyōto Sōmukyoku Gyōseibu Chiiki Shinkōka|publisher = Tokyo Metropolitan Government|year = 1998}}</ref> Sites on Chichijima and Anijima have both been rejected. Travel time to the mainland would be cut to around 2two hours, improving tourism and the provision of emergency services,<ref name="yomiuri"/> and the national, regional, and local government have all supported the idea in theory. Projects have lagged, however, due to concerns about its economic feasibility and concerns that the proposed sites are homes to numerous valuable, rare, or endangered plant species. Some locals have greatly desired an airport, while a desire to keep the natural beauty of the islands untouched has prompted othesothers to work to block one.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Ogasawara kūkō kensetsu no henkō motomeru / Nihon Seitai Gakkai dai 24-kai sōkai |trans-title = Petition to Change Ogasawara Airport Construction / 24th General Meeting, Ecological Society of Japan|language = ja|journal = Gijutsu to Ningen |editor = Agne|pages = 6–7|volume = 24|number = 10 (262)|issn = 0285-5186|oclc = 835524887|year = 1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title = Tokushū—Ogasawara no shizen to kūkō kensetsu kēkaku|trans-title =Special edition—Nature on Ogasawara and airport construction plan |language = ja|journal = Chiri|volume = 34|number = 11|pages = 21–68| issn = 0577-9308|oclc = 551698617|date = November 1989}}</ref> The issue is quite controversial on the islands.<ref name="jpri">{{cite web | url = http://www.jpri.org/publications/occasionalpapers/op15.html | title = Dilemmas of Development on The Ogasawara Islands | first = Gavan | last = McCormack | date = August 1999 | publisher = Japan Policy Research Institute | access-date = 2008-01-17 | archive-date = 2013-01-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212758/http://www.jpri.org/publications/occasionalpapers/op15.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

On 26 June 2016, the Japanese ministerMinister of environmentEnvironment Tamayo Marukawa talked about airport construction on the Bonins after the meeting in Tokyo commemorating the 5thfifth anniversary of their registration as World Natural Heritage.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASDG26H0D_W6A620C1CC1000/ |title = Minister Marukawa of Environment Ministry seeks progress "Cooperation in Construction" for Ogasawara Airport|date = 2016-06-26|publisher = [[Nihon Keizai Shinbun]]|access-date = 2017-10-12}}</ref> At a 27 July 2017 meeting with Ogasawara Village, the [[Tokyo Metropolitan Government]] announced that it was considering opening a regular air route between Tokyo and the Bonins using a proposed {{convert|1200|m|ft|adj=on|sp=us|abbr=on}} runway that would be built on Chichijima. This would allow it to land propeller aircraft with up to 50 passengers. The Tokyo government said that construction would depend on future assessment of the impact on the natural environment and economic feasibility. Ogasawara Village supported the runway in preference to expanding either the current helicopter or seaplane access.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASK7W3VTMK7WUTIL01P.html|title = Ogasawara kōkūro, kūkō kensetsu-an jiku ni kentō—Tōkyōto ga hōshin|trans-title = Tokyo Metropolitan Government suggested policy with the Airport Construction Plan on Ogasawara Island|language = ja|publisher = [[Asahi Shimbun]]|date = 2017-07-27|access-date = 2017-10-12|archive-date = 2017-10-13|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171013065007/http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASK7W3VTMK7WUTIL01P.html|url-status = dead}}</ref> In fiscal 2019, 490 million yen was included in the Japanese budget for a feasibility study and a survey on Chichijima to determine the best location to construct the runway.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20190110-OYT1T50027/ |title = 「小笠原に空港整備」測量で都が実現性検討へ |trans-title = "To Ogasawara Airport maintenance" feasibility study by survey |language = ja |publisher = [[Yomiuri Shimbun]] |date = 2019-01-10 |access-date = 2019-07-24 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190724205135/https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20190110-OYT1T50027/ |archive-date = 2019-07-24}}</ref> In August 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government held a council during which it affirmed its desire to open an airport but claimed that it would not occur until 2030 at the earliest.<ref name="yomiuri">{{cite web |title=小笠原に垂直離着陸可能な「ティルトローター機」案…滑走路５００ｍ、環境に配慮 |publisher=Yomiuri |url=https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20200802-OYT1T50158/ |date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027191817/https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20200802-OYT1T50158/ |archive-date=October 27, 2020}}</ref> To address environmental concerns, they further proposed shortening the runway to about {{convert|500|m|sp=us}} and using [[tiltrotor]] aircraft to compensate.<ref name="yomiuri"/>

In 2021, the Bonins had a total population of 2560, divided between Chichijima (2120) and Hahajima (440).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.soumu.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/07ogasawara/guidance/summary.html|title=支庁の案内: 管内概要 (Japanese)|access-date=2022-06-16|date=2021-04-01}}</ref> Virtually all of the Bonin Islands' permanent inhabitants are Japanese citizens. This includes thea significant proportion with ancestors from the United States, Europe, and other Pacific islands, who can often be distinguished by their physical features, family names spelled out with [[katakana]], and adherence to [[Christianity in Japan|Christianity]]. During and after the US military occupation of 1946–68, a small minority of islanders opted for US citizenship and/or emigrated from the islands. However, most islanders with non-Japanese ancestry now appear to be reassimilating with the ethnic Japanese majority.

The Ogasawara Village municipality operates public elementary and junior high schools, while [[Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education]] operates [[Ogasawara High School]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ogasawara-h.metro.tokyo.jp/ |title=Chichi-jima |publisher=ogasawara-h.metro.tokyo.jp |access-date=2007-10-30 |archive-date=2020-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215113124/http://www.ogasawara-h.metro.tokyo.jp/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the post-[[World War II]] era, {{nihongo|Admiral [[Arthur Radford]] Elementary School|ラドフォード提督学校}} taught elementary students, and high school students went to [[Guam]] to do their high school education. Ogasawara High opened in 1964.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metro.ed.jp/ogasawara-h/our_school/history.html|title=トップ > 学校案内 > 沿革|publisher=[[Ogasawara High School]]|access-date=2024-03-21|language=ja}}</ref>

The Bonins have been referenced in a number ofseveral works of fiction. ''Bonin'' by [[Digby George Gerahty|Robert Standish]] describes itself as 'a novel', but claims 'this book is an accurate history of the Bonin Islands', based mainly on information from Nathaniel Savory's great-granddaughter, and includes descriptions of maltreatment of the Anglo-Polynesian population by the later Japanese settlers and authorities and a detailed map of the Chichijima group (on the back end-paper), including over 50 English place-names.<ref>Standish, Robert (pseudonym of Digby George Gerahty). (1943). ''Bonin: A Novel'', London: Peter Davies.</ref>

* {{citation |last=Kublin |first=Hyman |contribution-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2561081.pdf |contribution=The Discovery of the Bonin Islands: A Reexamination |title=Annals of the Association of American Geographers |date=March 1953 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=27–46 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Milton Park |doi=10.2307/2561081 |jstor=2561081 }}.

* {{citation |last=Rein |first=J.J. |date=1884 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BrzteY1ur2kC |title=Japan: Travel and Researches |publisher= Psychology Press|location= |isbn=9780700710164 }}.