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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Tokyo
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Hachijo’s island sushi swaps wasabi for mustard. Its fish is marinated in soy sauce—a practical way to preserve the catch on warm fishing trips that grew into a much-loved local style.
A record for January 23, 1606, describes an undersea eruption near Hachijo that created a volcanic island. Its location and what happened to it afterward were never recorded.
Humpbacks were reported only a few times a year around Hachijo—until 2015. That December, researchers spotted more than 10 in a single day; the whales now gather around the island from November to April.
Hachijo’s “spring tobi” can top 50 cm, making the hamatobiuo the world’s largest flying fish. Its first catch of the season is said to send spring news racing across the island.
Hachijo’s large fruit lemons trace back to a lemon brought from Tinian in 1940. Left to ripen on the tree, the thick white pith turns gently sweet, so the whole fruit can be eaten.
Ukita Hideie, a defeated lord from the Battle of Sekigahara, was Hachijo’s first official exile. He arrived in 1606 with a party of 13 and lived on the island until his death in 1655; about 1,900 exiles followed over 265 years.
Hachijo kusaya makers received starter brine from nearby Niijima, where the tradition began, then developed their own treasured vats. The brine gives local flying fish and mackerel a famously savory, pungent flavor.
In the Edo period, Hachijo paid its tax in woven silk rather than rice. The prized yellow cloth went to the shogunate and was worn in the women’s quarters of the palace, helping support the island’s economy.
In 1727, condemned O-Kuma wore yellow Hachijo silk during her public procession, making the outfit a talking point. The episode later inspired the 1775 puppet play “Koi Musume Mukashi Hachijo” and a kabuki production in 1776.
Hachijo silk’s yellow, brown and black dyes come from local plants. The glossy black is made with shii-oak bark alone; dyers repeat the dyeing and sun-drying process about 40 times.
Hachijo’s Kashitate hand dance grew from songs and dances brought by exiles, shipwreck survivors and government-ship crews from across Japan. Islanders arranged them into a local Bon-dance tradition that is still performed today.
In 1962, a junior-high student found a stone tool that led to Hachijo’s first major prehistoric-site investigation. Excavations revealed homes from about 7,000 years ago and obsidian tools linked to nearby Kozushima.
Hachijo’s endangered island speech preserves grammatical features also found in songs recorded in the eighth-century Man’yōshū. Linguists study it closely, while the town shares recordings and supports efforts to pass it on.
The first male-and-female pair of Phoenix roebelenii palms brought to Japan arrived on Hachijo in 1921. The island now supplies over 90% of the cut-leaf volume sold through Tokyo’s central wholesale market.
Hachijo taiko is a way of playing, not a special drum: 2 people face opposite sides, one keeping a steady rhythm while the other improvises. An 1848 illustration even shows women performing it.
Hachijo is formed by 2 joined volcanoes: older, deeply eroded Mihara-yama in the east and the younger, cone-shaped Hachijo-Fuji in the west. Their contrasting profiles give the island its distinctive double-mountain skyline.
The island’s year-round Akakokko thrush is called “kokkome” in Hachijo speech and is the town bird. This Japanese endemic is also designated a national natural monument.
Ashitaba’s name comes from the saying that if you pick a new shoot today, another will appear tomorrow. Hachijo cooks its slightly bitter leaves in tempura and noodles, and even uses them in sweets.
Hachijo’s geothermal plant began operating in 1999—the first geothermal station on a remote Japanese island. Its 3,300-kW output matched the island’s minimum nighttime demand before the plant retired in 2019.
