I was joking to a friend the other night that I was headed off to a small volcanic island somewhere in the middle of the pacific. Not long after I happened to see a poster of an aerial view of Hachijo island, which is more or less a cinder cone with some island around it. heheh. (correction. one prominent cinder cone and one other mountain that was once an active crater but looks much less like a stereotypical volcano).
Fortunately this volcano is dormant. The one on Miyake is active enough that they recommend passengers purchase a gas mask, available at the ferry port for about $20.00. The good news being,however, people are once again living back on the island.
We made arrangements to take the evening (10:30pm) ferry which, all things considered, was a good move since the one-way trip takes about 11 hours. Heading out of the port you pass under the Rainbow Bridge. It was fairly smooth sailing most of the first couple of hours. I finally slept around midnight. Woke up some time around 4am to find all the doors to the outside locked down. I was feeling mighty happy about not being claustrophobic, but it’s still a funny feeling, being locked in the belly of a ship. I slept some more and woke up at one of the other stops along the way…not sure which island. Another hunk of basalt covered in lush green foliage. I had to wonder how people manage to make a sustainable living on an island that small. Some are fisherfolk, for sure, but what about everyone else? Logistically speaking, getting supplies in and out must be a daunting task…and then what happens when your volcano suddenly starts to erupt!?
We are on Hachijo now and it’s quite beautiful. The schedule is full with sightseeing, a trip to an onsen or two, taiko workshops and so on.
The minshuku we’re staying at actually houses a keikoba. There’s a cute white cat with pale orange spots and a funky bobbed tail that greeted us at the door, and a handsome shiba-inu outside…and a heavenly old WIN98 system with DSL, slow but great allasame…When I get home I figure I am going to have a heckuva time readjusting to a western keyboard. I am finally getting used to the Japanese setup and able to not hit the key right next to the spacebar that switches everything from English to Japanese…
HUGE THANKS to Kuniko Takeuchi and Asanuma-san (and his cousin!) for making all of the arrangements, and taking such good care of us.