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Iojima
硫黄島
In three words (or more): Sulphur. Onsen. Djembe. Peacocks. Volcanos.
Recommended for: Onsen lovers. Volcano enthusiasts. For anyone wanting to see something truly unique and interesting in Japan. This is it.
Size: About 12km²
Population: About 100
Accessed by boat from: Kagoshima
Accessed by plane from: Kagoshima
In Brief:
Around 100km south of Kagoshima, Iojima is an incredibly unique volcanic island. It is part of the village of Mishima which also features Takeshima and Kuroshima. Iojima means ‘sulphur island’. Named because, you guessed it, it is covered in sulphur. The islands biggest volcano is Mount Io, with is covered with smouldering florescent yellow sulphur. The whole island is covered in hot springs which leak out on the beaches, the coast lines and in the ocean itself. Iojima’s Higashi-Onsen is known as Japan’s wildest onsen.
Amazingly a lot of the villager’s identity has been founded on the African djembe drum. The island boasts Japan’s biggest and oldest djembe school and it really defines the children’s education and the adult’s free time too.
The symbol of Iojima is the white peacock. Yamaha built a huge resort hotel and brought the birds of paradise over in the 1980’s during Japan’s economic bubble. When the project went bust the birds remained. They went feral. Fascinatingly, some of them have a rare genetic trait meaning they are pure white in colour. It is said that if you see two white peacocks together, you are going to be lucky in love.
Too touristy?:
The Mishima Village is an un-touristic as you can possibly imagine. It is totally silent but for the sound of the waves. Of the three islands Iojima gets the most tourists. Almost all are Japanese hobby fishermen or onsen purists chasing their hot spring dream. There are no restaurants and the one shop seems to open at 5pm for about 30 minutes when the locals come to buy drinks and snacks. All other food for the residents is ordered in from Kagoshima. Gasoline too is ordered in barrels as there is no gasoline stand on Iojima.
Getting there:
By boat:
There is one boat going to all three of the Mishima Village islands. It is called the ‘M-Line’. It makes its way from Kagoshima at 9:30. It arrives in Takeshima at 12:30, Iojima at 13:25, Ozato (Kuroshima) at 14:50 and Katadomari (Kuroshima) at 15:35. Then, it either turns around and goes back the same day, or stays overnight in Kuroshima and returns the next day, arriving in Kagoshima at either 20:00 or 14:05 accordingly.
The schedule is really rather irregular and difficult to make sense of but it works out something like this:
Mondays - No boats
Tuesdays and Fridays - Day trip (returns to Kagoshima at 20:00)
Wednesdays and Saturdays - Outbound trip from Kagoshima
Thursdays and Sunday - Return trip (arriving in Kagoshima at 14:05)
There are some serious irregularities to this so check the schedule in Japanese here. Or contact us to make use of our booking service.
By plane:
From 2015 there are two weekly planes flying to Iojima. This flight in a tiny propellor plane carries a maximum of three people! It leaves from Kagoshima and 50 minutes later arrives in Iojima. It leaves and returns on Mondays and Wednesdays and costs 20,000 yen one way. This is style!
Getting around:
The onsens and sights tend to be around 2km to 4km away from the village in all directions. So while it is possible on foot, it is going to be rather time and energy consuming. Not to mention dangerous on a hot, humid day.
Luckily you have two options:
Rental bicycles - from the port at a really reasonable 1300 yen per day are power assisted bicycles to rent. 800 yen for a half day. They are open from 9:00 until 17:00.
Cars - if you are lucky and your accommodation is not busy and feeling generous it is kind of an island rule that they will let you borrow their car for your excursions. But don’t count on this as it is totally unofficial and will depend on availability.
The sights:
Onsen:
Let’s get straight to it. The main event are the hot springs:
Higashi Onsen is a coastal onsen voted the hot spring Japanese people most want to visit. It is the wildest hot spring in Japan. The source of the spring is flowing out of the rocks on the mountain side and gushing into the pools you bathe in. The water is extremely acidic and has benefits for skin ailments. It may get a bit itchy if you stay in for too long and don’t get the water in your eyes.
Ana-no-hama onsen and Utan onsen are both tidal hot springs. White magnesium rich springs flow into the sea and at low tide it is possible to find pools of hot water to bathe in. These can be rather tough to find and get to so persistence is needed.
Sakamoto Onsen used to be a large coast side onsen but is now closed after typhoon damage.
Hot water flows all over the coast and the beach in the village is warm with volcanic activity.
View points:
Koibito Misaki (恋人岬）meaning lovers cape. This cape feature two viewpoints with bells, one for love and one for happiness. Ring three times for true love. It also features a ridiculously beautiful bridge steeply sloping with unimaginable views of Mount Io.
Heikejo View Point (平家城展望台) - This view point is near the two tidal hot springs and shows Mount Io from a different angle as well as a statue of Shunkan, a monk sent in exile to Iojima about 1000 years ago.
others:
Mount Io - A 600 meter volcano on the edge of one of the earths most active calderas. This sulphur spewing beast is constantly throwing volcanic, acidic gas into the air. When the wind blows from the east it brings the smell of sulphur to the village, and sometimes acid rain.
Kikai Caldera - This is the volcano basin that the island sits on top of. It is huge and stretches 20km in diameter. It erupted 7,300 years ago, forget Pompei, this was the most recent eruption of this scale in the world. And it transformed the world.
Shunkan’s House - A grave to the monk who lived his last years in exile in Iojima after being caught trying to overthrow the emperor in Kyoto. He was brought with two others, but the other two were forgiven and released and in Iojima his starved himself to death. His story became a popular Noh play.
Djembe School - Iojima is famous for it’s djembe (African drum) players. A world famous djembe player called Mamade Keita from Guinea was looking for a small village to teach the djembe. The mayor of Iojima invited him to teach there and a new tradition was born on the island. He started by teaching under a big tree. But around that tree grew a djembe school building which hosts many people coming to play each year.
Accommodation:
There are some rather highly rated minshukus (Japanese mid-range inns) in Iojima. Here are some high points:
Minshuku Honda - a clean and convenient place to stay right by the port.
Marine House Kujaku - A small but delicious and warm place to stay in the town.
Minshuku Miyuki - A larger and slightly out of the village place to lay your head.
Iojima Minshuku - Another place to lay your head in Iojima.
All of these places are around 7,000 yen for a full three meals per day and your stay making Iojima incredible value for money. They may or may not be able to lend you a car for the day too. They are all only available on Japanese on the phone. Please contact us to use our booking service.
Tours and Organised Activities:
Mr. Oiwane is a geologist and guide in Iojima and he takes people on tours of the island explaining the volcanic past of Iojima. There are a few tour options he may be able to take you on depending on weather and safety: (1) Going onto the volcano, extracting sulphur and using it to make a firework. (2) Coastal hot spring kayak tours. (3) Showing you the island via car or boat and explaining the geology and history of the volcano.
Contact us to see if you can book a tour with Mr. Ooiwane.
There are a few scuba diving spots in Iojima, diving in bubbling onsen waters full of fish. You will have to use a diving shop in Kagoshima or Yakushima because there are no diving shops in Iojima. The good news is that these tours do stay overnight on the island. Contact us for more information.
2 night, 3 day itinerary:
Day 1 - Arrive, check in and if you can borrow a car from your minshuku, drive around to the view points for photos and unbelievable views. Make sure you go to Higashi onsen either before or after dinner. If you can’t rent a car, rent a bicycle from the tourist info centre at the port.
Day 2 - Book a tour to truly understand the volcano. In your free time, laze in hot springs and walk/cycle/drive around. You may be lucky enough to join a djembe lesson.
Day 3 - Wake up for sunrise from Higashi onsen before you depart.
Festivals/Culture:
Iojima’s god is a demonic looking creature called Mendon. At festival time on August 1st some men wear the big scary masks with a straw skirts and slap the women, children and watching men with bamboo (playfully), to expel the bad spirits. They are scary looking things like the mask of the ‘Saw’ movies. Expect crying children and laughing parents. This is tribal Japan.
people:
With a shrinking population and no job prospects for young people wanting to move to Iojima, the government set up a programme which pays new residents a small wage to live on the island for the first three years that they live there. Among these people some have stayed and raised families there. One member of one such family is Estonian national Erogu, who now makes his family’s living as an independent fisherman.
Another great help and contributor is the English teacher for the island, Steven Macharia. He is a very lucky guy working on these islands in the weekdays and having a city life in Kagoshima on the weekends. Thanks for all your help Steven!