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Ogasawara NP, Tokyo
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Before WWII, Hahajima school trips came to Kofuji’s “Suribachi” slope: children slid down its red earth on palm leaves or cardboard. Rain and typhoons still erode and reshape the bowl.
Foresters recorded a black-footed albatross at Kofuji on Dec. 9, 2024—an unusual visit from a bird usually seen offshore. Cat control and invasive-plant removal are helping seabird habitat recover.
Nearby Minamizaki is the only seabird breeding site on Ogasawara’s inhabited islands. After feral cats sharply reduced the colony, long-tailed shearwaters bred there again in 2007; brown boobies returned to nest in 2014.
Near Kofuji, terihahamabō flowers change color in a single day: bright yellow in the morning, reddish by evening, then they drop. Islanders call this Ogasawara-native hibiscus “ichibi.”
Kofuji’s sea view changes with the season: brown boobies fly to breed on nearby Katsuodori Island in spring and summer; from winter into spring, humpback whales sometimes surface offshore.
At just 86 m, Kofuji is a “little Fuji” in name and stature; Tokyo’s island guide describes it as Japan’s southernmost kyōdo-Fuji—a local mountain honored with Fuji’s name.
Kofuji’s summit certificate is a personal keepsake: Hahajima’s Tourism Association issues one marked with the climber’s name and date for ¥300—a memento from an 86-metre peak.
