Ogasawara, Tokyo - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map of Tokyo showing Ogasawara Village in bottom inserts
Map of Pacific Ocean showing islands of Ogasawara Village
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Ogasawara (小笠原村, Ogasawara-mura) is a Japanese village in the Ogasawara Subprefecture of Tokyo.[1]

History[change | change source]

In 1940, municipalities were created for groups and single isolated islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government was made responsible for local government on the islands, including

  • Ōmura (大村) on Chichijima (父島列島, Chichijima rettō)
  • Ōgimura-Fukurosawa (扇村袋沢村) on Chichijima
  • Kitamura (北村) on Hahajima (母島列島, Hahajima rettō)
  • Okimura (沖村) on Hahajima
  • Iōtōmura (硫黄島村) on Iwo Jima, including the Volcano Islands (火山列島, Kazan-rettō)

The local government structure of the post-war occupation of these islands is still used today.[1]

Geography[change | change source]

The islands of the village include:

  • Bonin Islands (小笠原群島, Ogasawara Guntō) 73.00 km²
    • Mukojima (聟島列島, Mukojima rettō)[2] 6.57 km²
    • Chichijima[1] 38.89 km²
    • Hahajima[1] 27.54 km²
  • Nishinoshima (西之島, literally, "Western Island") 0.29 km²
  • Volcano Islands 29.71 km²
    • North Iwo Jima (北硫黄島, Kita-Iōtō, literally, "North Sulphur Island") 5.57 km²
    • Iwo Jima 20.60 km²
    • South Iwo Jima (南硫黄島, Minami-Iōtō, literally, "South Sulphur Island") 3.54 km²
  • Okinotorishima (沖ノ鳥島 or 沖鳥島, literally, "Remote Bird Island")[3] 0.01 km²
  • Minamitorishima (南鳥島, literally, "Southern Bird Island") 1.40 km²

The Japanese government identifies Okinotori as Japan's southernmost island. It is 1,700 kilometers south of central Tokyo.[4]

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 McCormack, Gavan. "Dilemmas of Development on The Ogasawara Islands," Archived 2013-01-16 at the Wayback Machine JPRI Occasional Paper, No. 15 (August 1999). Japan Policy Research Institute (University of San Francisco). Retrieved 2013-2-27.
  2. Freeman, Otis W. (1951). Geography of the Pacific, pp. 229-235.
  3. Yong Hong, Seoung. (2009). Maritime Boundary Disputes, Settlement Processes, and the Law of the Sea, p. 148; Onishi, Norimitsu. "Japan and China Dispute a Pacific Islet," The New York Times. July 10, 2005. Retrieved 2013-2-27.
  4. "Japan hopes to build lighthouse on atoll disputed with China," Xinhua (China). August 5, 2005. Retrieved 2013-2-27.

Other websites[change | change source]

Media related to Ogasawara, Tokyo at Wikimedia Commons