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Ogasawara NP, Tokyo
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This roughly 300 m sea cliff stacks pillow lavas and other volcanic layers erupted 48–46 million years ago—a 2-million-year cross-section of Chichijima’s submarine volcano, exposed in one spectacular wall.
A mid-19th-century Japanese expedition map already labels the cliff 千尋岩 (Chihiroiwa). The familiar “Heart Rock” nickname came much later, after Ogasawara returned to Japan in 1968.
The heart isn’t a separate boulder: it’s the cliff’s uppermost rock layer, dropped more than 100 m along a major fault. The red heart is part of the cliff face itself.
The trail to Heart Rock partly follows an old military road. Near Mt. Tsuitateyama, guides point out remains of an Imperial Army radar-warning post and a concrete communications room.
Visitors were contributing to soil loss on the sparsely vegetated summit. In 2021, 15 rangers, village staff, forestry officials and guides wrapped stones in palm-fiber netting to catch soil and help plants return.
The cliff is only the finale: the forest trail passes Ogasawara-endemic plants, including the maruhachi tree fern. After the rainy season, the endemic Munin-hime-tsubaki can bloom along the route.
In winter, the 200 m-plus cliff doubles as a land-based whale-watching perch: humpbacks can sometimes be spotted from Chihiroiwa above the open sea.
