Are you at the point, in your year, when you could use a little vacation? A getaway to, perhaps some far away, tropical, quiet and peaceful little haven of Mother Nature? Can you picture it? It’s an Island, with the sea lapping at the rocky shores, lush green plant-life thick and flourishing everywhere, winding little paths that lead off into the woods, searing red lava pooling at your feet, and melodious little birds singing from every branch. Sigh! Isn’t it heavenly?
Well, except, perhaps, for that searing red lava at your feet. Some people don’t find that terribly relaxing.
Welcome to the Japanese Island of Aogashima, a lush, beautiful, peaceful, quiet little paradise in every way, except that it happens to also be an active volcano. (The searing lava at your feet was total exaggeration on my part, by the way.)
Situated 222 miles (358 km) away from the mainland, it’s remote enough from the thick of civilization that you need to take two helicopters or boats to get there. And it’s not very large at only 2 miles (3.5 km) long, and 1.5 miles (2.5 km) wide.
But the travel literature on the place, not to mention numerous photographs, describe a beautiful, enviable place that, under other circumstances, might give other famous tropical locales a bit of competition.
The population of Aogashima is sparse, with only around 200 residents, so on much of the Island, Mother Nature has been allowed to flourish uninterrupted. There’s a small, winding road, barely wide enough for one car, that circumnavigates the little Island and several little paths that offshoot from that. Lush forest borders the road on either side and sheer cliff faces jut straight up in the air.
There are campsites from which, apparently, the stars are dazzling on a clear night. And, on one end of the Island, is the wee little village, also named Aogashima, with its single post office and little school and quiet streets.
So peaceful and Idyllic.
And then, of course, right in the middle of it all, is that big, old volcano.
To some it’s just amazing that anyone would choose to purposefully live on an active volcano, but when I read about that little school in the village, I realized, that must mean there are even kids living there! And there have been people on the Island for a long, long time, too. It’s a bit of a mystery to historians how and why people starting living on this Island, but there has been civilization there for an age.
Being an active volcano (technically, a small volcano inside a larger volcano, of course, there has been some seismic activity, and the residents still heat their homes using naturally occurring, volcano-heated water. There’s even a lava-heated hot-springs where you can take a soak, if you want. And way back in the 1780’s, there was such a terrible eruption that lava burned down all the houses, about half the residents were lost, and the survivors had to flee to another Island. It was forty years before they could return, and only then because a man named Jirodayu Sasaki missed his volcano Island home so much that he led an expedition back there.
But the mighty volcano seems (fingers crossed) fairly calm and dormant right now (knock wood).
(Not that I’m superstitious or anything.)
And if you can ignore the volcanic activity in middle of everything and steady your nerves tremendously, it looks like a simply gorgeous place to visit. A real paradise of peace and quiet, this lush, velvet green bowl in the middle of the smooth blue ocean waters.
It just goes to show what a puzzle Mother Nature can be, that she made one of her most frightening and deadly natural occurrences also one of her most beautiful and mesmerizing!
Well, except, perhaps, for that searing red lava at your feet. Some people don’t find that terribly relaxing.
Welcome to the Japanese Island of Aogashima, a lush, beautiful, peaceful, quiet little paradise in every way, except that it happens to also be an active volcano. (The searing lava at your feet was total exaggeration on my part, by the way.)
Situated 222 miles (358 km) away from the mainland, it’s remote enough from the thick of civilization that you need to take two helicopters or boats to get there. And it’s not very large at only 2 miles (3.5 km) long, and 1.5 miles (2.5 km) wide.
But the travel literature on the place, not to mention numerous photographs, describe a beautiful, enviable place that, under other circumstances, might give other famous tropical locales a bit of competition.
The population of Aogashima is sparse, with only around 200 residents, so on much of the Island, Mother Nature has been allowed to flourish uninterrupted. There’s a small, winding road, barely wide enough for one car, that circumnavigates the little Island and several little paths that offshoot from that. Lush forest borders the road on either side and sheer cliff faces jut straight up in the air.
There are campsites from which, apparently, the stars are dazzling on a clear night. And, on one end of the Island, is the wee little village, also named Aogashima, with its single post office and little school and quiet streets.
So peaceful and Idyllic.
And then, of course, right in the middle of it all, is that big, old volcano.
To some it’s just amazing that anyone would choose to purposefully live on an active volcano, but when I read about that little school in the village, I realized, that must mean there are even kids living there! And there have been people on the Island for a long, long time, too. It’s a bit of a mystery to historians how and why people starting living on this Island, but there has been civilization there for an age.
Being an active volcano (technically, a small volcano inside a larger volcano, of course, there has been some seismic activity, and the residents still heat their homes using naturally occurring, volcano-heated water. There’s even a lava-heated hot-springs where you can take a soak, if you want. And way back in the 1780’s, there was such a terrible eruption that lava burned down all the houses, about half the residents were lost, and the survivors had to flee to another Island. It was forty years before they could return, and only then because a man named Jirodayu Sasaki missed his volcano Island home so much that he led an expedition back there.
But the mighty volcano seems (fingers crossed) fairly calm and dormant right now (knock wood).
(Not that I’m superstitious or anything.)
And if you can ignore the volcanic activity in middle of everything and steady your nerves tremendously, it looks like a simply gorgeous place to visit. A real paradise of peace and quiet, this lush, velvet green bowl in the middle of the smooth blue ocean waters.
It just goes to show what a puzzle Mother Nature can be, that she made one of her most frightening and deadly natural occurrences also one of her most beautiful and mesmerizing!
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