Hachijo Island (Hachijo-jima, 八丈島) is an island located about 300km south of Tokyo, and it’s belongs to Tokyo Metropolitan.
I went on a trip to Hachijo Island during the Japanese holidays from late April to the beginning of May. The first half of the trip was heavy rain. But I could also see the special scenes brought by the rain.
Diary
4/29 : Ferry Tachibana-maru
4/30 : Hachijo Botanical Garden, Nagatoro Hotel
5/1 : Diving, Urami Waterfall, Pension Blue marine
5/2 : Mt. Mihara trekking, Miharashi-no-yu onsen, Pension Blue marine
5/3 : Mt. Hachijo-fuji trekking
Day 1-2
There are two ways to go to Hachijo Island. One is ferry and the other is airplane. We used ferry Tachibana-maru(橘丸) to go to Hachijo Island. It leaves Takeshiba pier(竹芝桟橋) at 22 pm and arrive at Hachijo Island at 9 am, the next morning.
The first day in Hachijo Island was a storm. This day, we went Hachijo Botanical Garden(八丈植物園). This botanical garden is free. There are a green house, an exhibition room where you can learn the nature of Hachijo, and forest park.
This day, we stayed Nagatoro Ryokan (長戸路旅館) hotel. We didn’t go out so much because it was heavy rain.
Day 3
Diving
We dived at a place called Sanmata(三又) near Sokodo Port(底土港). There were complex lava structures such as lava-arch, lava-tunnel. We could see many tropical fishes and a sea turtle.
Urami Waterfall (裏見ヶ滝)
Urami Waterfall(Urami-ga-taki, 裏見ヶ滝) is located in southeast of the island. We went there by bus.
The characteristic of the waterfall is that you can walk to the back of the waterfall.
After enjoying waterfall, we bathed the hot spring : Uramigataki Onsen(裏見ヶ滝温泉). This onsen is an open-air bath and we could see small waterfall from the bath.
This day we stayed Pension Blue-marlin（ペンション ブルーマリン）. It’s located near Hachijo airport. Famous for delicious dinner.
Day 4
Osato Old Village (大里)
A long time ago, Hachijo Island was a penal colony. Their job was to make stone wall made of round stones picked from the sea. The stone wall is called “Tama-ishigaki” (玉石垣) and many Tama-ishigaki still exist in Osato(大里), today.
We went there by walk. The street of Osato was very photogenic!
Mt. Mihara (三原山) Trekking
There is a beautiful waterfall in Mt. Mihara. The name is “Karataki” (唐滝). We trekked to the waterfall. Because it was after two days of heavy rain, there was a lot of water and it was very powerful.
The trail to Karataki waterfall starts from Tomijiro-shoten(富次郎商店) bus stop and it takes 1 hour to the waterfall. There are supermarket and Soba restaurant “Senryo”(千両) near the bus-stop.
Miharashi-no-yu Onsen (みはらしの湯)
After trekking, we went Miharashi-no-yu(みはらしの湯) onsen. It’s also called Sueyoshi Onsen (末吉温泉). “Miharashi” means “view”. We could see the Pacific Ocean from the bathtub.
Aigae Suisan (藍ヶ江水産)
Aigae suisan is a seafood restaurant. We went there for dinner. The most popular dish is Kusaya(くさや). It means “Smelly fish”. It smells like dirty toilet, but delicious. By all means, please try Kusaya!
Day 5
Mt.Hachijo-fuji (八丈富士) Trekking
Mt.Hachijo-fuji is the symbol of the island. It’s stratified volcano shaped like Mt. Fuji, so the name include the word “fuji”.
The trailhead of the Mt.Hachijo-fuji is at an altitude of 540m. There is a cattle farm near the trailhead. We went there by taxi from the airport.
We arrived at the rim of the crater on the top of the mountain after 1-hour climbing. The crater was covered with green.
There is a trail on the rim of the crater. The trail has a good view and you can see the Pacific Ocean around the island. The day I went was cloudy, so the view was not so good, but I was satisfied because I found interesting lava terrain.
