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Ogasawara NP, Tokyo
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After 10 years without a landing, a pair of Brown Boobies nested at Minamizaki in 2014 and fledged a chick that September. Nesting returned annually; Streaked Shearwaters have fledged young here every year since 2009.
Minamizaki’s seabird fence became a cat-and-mouse puzzle: one black cat kept finding new ways in, a second followed, and the first returned. Rangers added motion cameras to trace their routes.
On the approach trail between Miyuki-no-hama and Nanjingahama, cliffs reveal fossils of giant, coin-shaped foraminifera—up to 5 cm across—from the warm shallow sea around Hahajima about 38 million years ago.
The South Cape trail’s leaf litter shelters island originals: Kogane-katamai occurs only on Hahajima, while the tiny Tryon-nomigai carries its discoverer’s name. Their world is tucked beneath fallen leaves.
Suribachi was carved by rain, wind and typhoons—and, according to a local guide, it was also a prewar school-trip playground. Children sledded down its slope on fan-palm leaves or cardboard.
Near the Kofujii fork on the Minamizaki trail, native teriha-hamabou flowers open yellow, turn reddish by evening, then drop the same day. Islanders call the plant “ichibi.”
Minamizaki is relatively dry compared with much of humid Hahajima, supporting a distinctive island-type dry scrub. Conservation plans target invasive plants there to help restore native forest and protect local wildlife.
